Summary

• Matthew Vaughn's "The Stuntman" is part of the Kick-Ass universe.
• "The Stuntman" will focus on two brothers becoming stuntmen, possibly connecting to future violent missions in the Kick-Ass universe.
• The reboot may introduce new characters to Kick-Ass in future movies, creating a diverse range of heroes and villains.

Matthew Vaughn is working on a new Kick-Ass movie, but this announcement, along with a previous update, makes his plans for Kick-Ass’ reboot trilogy even more confusing. The rise of the superhero genre made way for darker and more violent characters to get a chance on the big screen, and among them is Kick-Ass. Created by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr., Kick-Ass focuses on the young vigilante of the same name, who, after meeting fellow vigilante Hit-Girl, goes on violent missions to stop crime across the city.

Kick-Ass made his big screen debut in 2010 with Matthew Vaughn as director, Aaron Taylor-Johnson playing Dave Lizewski/Kick-Ass, and Chloë Grace Moretz as Mindy Macready/Hit-Girl. Kick-Ass was more graphic and violent than other superhero movies at the time, but despite controversy about that and more, Kick-Ass was a critical and commercial success, making way for a sequel. Unfortunately, Kick-Ass 2 didn’t have the same success, putting an end to the franchise – but now, the world of Kick-Ass is being rebooted with a new trilogy, which just gets more and more confusing.

The Stuntman Might Be The Second Movie In Kick-Ass’ Reboot Trilogy

In January 2024, Vaughn revealed his plans for a new Kick-Ass trilogy, surprising the audience by sharing that the first movie has already been filmed. According to Vaughn, the Kick-Ass reboot trilogy will begin with School Fight, directed by Damien Walters. School Fight tells the story of a teenager who gets into a fight with a love rival at school, and that’s all that’s known about it so far. Although School Fight hasn’t been released yet and doesn’t have a projected release date either, Vaughn revealed that the second installment of the trilogy was already in production and was tentatively titled Vram.

Now, Vaughn has given an update about his new project, The Stuntman, sharing that the movie has begun production and it’s part of the new Kick-Ass trilogy. Also directed by Damien Walters, The Stuntman tells the story of two brothers who become stuntmen, so it’s unclear how it fits into the universe of Kick-Ass. Even more confusing is how it fits into the Kick-Ass reboot trilogy, especially as Vram was supposedly already in production in January, but it’s likely that The Stuntman is what was initially known as Vram. As for the final movie, it will be titled Kick-Ass, which caused even more confusion among fans.

Before becoming a director, Damien Walters was a stunt performer.

How The Stuntman Can Connect To Kick-Ass

During a New York Comic Con in October 2023, Matthew Vaughn explained that the Kick-Ass reboot trilogy won’t have any of the characters from the past two movies, but that they would like to bring them back after the reboot. It’s unclear, then, who will be taking the role of Kick-Ass in the reboot if not Dave Lizewski, as well as who will take Hit-Girl’s place. In addition to that, Vaughn’s plans to bring characters from the past movies back after the reboot suggest that there will be different Kick-Ass timelines or a wide variety of characters within the same universe going on violent missions.

Kick-Ass 2 introduced new villains and heroes who ed Chris’ (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) and Kick-Ass’ teams, so School Fight and The Stuntman could be following that line by introducing characters that will go on to Kick-Ass in the third movie. The advantage the reboot movies have is that they will have enough time to properly develop these characters before they can share the screen with Kick-Ass. Another possibility is that the new Kick-Ass (whether a new version of Dave or someone else) will be present in the first two movies to give some cohesion to the trilogy, but won’t take center stage until the final movie.

The skills and abilities that the brothers will acquire in The Stuntman will surely come in handy when the time comes to team up with others or/if they choose to fight crime (after all, it’s a Kick-Ass movie), and it’s to be seen what type of challenges and enemies they will come across in their first big-screen adventure.