Kick-Ass (film)/Trivia

Actor Allusion:
- In the film, Big Daddy was a cop and burns to death. Keep in mind, neither of these things happened in the comic when Nicolas Cage wasn't involved.
- While Big Daddy questioning Hit-Girl on John Woo was in the comics, it helps that he starred in one John Woo directed film, Face/Off.
The Danza: Christopher Mintz-Plasse plays Chris D'Amico.
Dawson Casting: Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Red Mist) and Lyndsy Fonseca (Katie), as well as several other actors, are in their early 20's yet play teenage characters. Somewhat averted with Kick-Ass himself, Aaron Johnson was 19 when the film was released.
Development Hell: The sequel. It was initially announced to be made for a 2012/2013 release but is on hold due to Aaron Johnson taking time off acting to be with his daughter and Matthew Vaughn directing other projects.
Dueling Movies: With Defendor.
Executive Meddling: Averted, or rather 'avoided'. It seems that before ending up in Lionsgate Studios, the producers of the movie tried several other studios who all had the same ultimatum: "We'll take it, if you drop Hit-Girl or make her 19." Thankfully, they didn't.
Fake American: Aaron Johnson (Dave) and Mark Strong (Frank D'Amico) are both English.
- Also, Jason Flemyng and Dexter Fletcher, who play two of D'Amico's henchmen.
Hey, It's That Guy!: Red Mist is McLovin, his dad is Lord Blackwood, his mom is Sara Pezzini, Kick Ass is the love interest from Angus, Thongs, & Full-Frontal Snogging, and Hit Girl is the little sister in Five Hundred Days of Summer and Angie the newspaper editor from the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie.. Marty also appeared in Superbad, and recently played Jacob in Hot Tub Time Machine. Two of D'Amico's Mooks are played by Dexter Fletcher and Agent Clay from Hellboy/Henry Van Statten- see Fake American. Katie is both Ted Mosby's daughter as well as Katherine Mayfair's. Todd is Tate Langdon.
Name's the Same: Mindy Macreedy is the name of a country singer.
Playing Against Type: Christopher Mintz-Plasse normally plays the Plucky Comic Relief -- here, he's a Lonely Rich Kid desperately seeking a "Well Done, Son" Guy, and when he doesn't, he becomes the world's first supervillain.
- The Sequel takes it further with Jim Carrey playing Colonel Stars and Stripes - a no-nonsense former Mafioso-turned-Superhero with a thick Brooklyn accent.
Shout-Out:
- The scene where Kick-Ass attempts to jump the roof is the same roof used in Spider-Man.
- The movie ends with Red Mist quoting The Joker from Tim Burton's Batman. "Wait till they get a load of me."
- A line from Bride Of Frankenstein.^[context?]
- Music from The Dollars Trilogy as Hit Girl enters the mafia safehouse.
- Hit Girl's nightvision rampage resembles Modern Warfare 2‍'‍s multiplayer, where Hit-Girl's apparently using the USP with a tactical knife attachment. Which is what some criminals were playing earlier on in the film.
- When Dave was partly distraught about the prospect of his death because he won't get to see what happens on Lost.
- Then he says "If you're reassuring yourself that I'm going to make it through this since I'm talking to you now, quit being such a smart-ass! Hell dude, you never seen Sin City? American Beauty? Sunset Boulevard?"
- "With no power comes no responsibility" references the famous mantra of the Spider-Man franchise.
- "I WILL AVENGE YOU, MOTHER!!!!" in a style reminiscent of Tobey lurking around ol' Uncle Ben's grave in said Spider-Man franchise. And then you get told off by Dave for expecting that.
- Scott Pilgrim is among the many comics mentioned by name; coincidentally, the first trailer for Scott Pilgrim vs. the World was attached to Kick-Ass.
- In the same scene, the shojo manga magazine Shojo Beat is mentioned.
- Big Daddy name-drops John Woo while quizzing Hit Girl.
- The microwave chamber torture scene is lifted almost wholesale from the James Bond movie Licence to Kill, but in that movie it was a decompression chamber. Same effect, though.
  - In light of this, the car crushing scene is likely a shout out to Goldfinger
- When Kick-Ass dons his costume for the first time, this is accompanied by upbeat music resembling John Williams' Superman march. Also, when Red Mist rides through the city in the Mist Mobile, the soundtrack heavily resembles the Batman theme from the Tim Burton movies.
- The Mook who gets thrown under a bus to establish Red Mist as a superhero is named Tony Romita. John Romita Sr. was the second penciler on the original Spider-Man comic book and one of the most influential and best-known. His son, John Romita Jr., is also a comic book artist well-known for his own take on Spider-Man and, of course, the Kick-Ass comic book itself.
- The shoot-out in darkness is one big 'Hello!' to Equilibrium.
- The music that plays during Big Daddy's assault on the warehouse and the end of the pitch-black shoot-out sound nearly identical to the themes from 28 Days Later and Sunshine, both directed by Danny Boyle.
  - Not "sounds nearly identical". They are those themes.
- The yellow car driven by Dexter Fletcher's character is the same one his character drove in Layer Cake, also directed by Matthew Vaughn. Both characters are called Cody.
- Chris's bodyguard exclaims he's always wanted to yell "SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE FRIEND!!" as he's preparing to shoot Hit-Girl with a bazooka.
- After he gets numerous metal implants to reinforce his broken bones, Dave is compared to Wolverine.
- For those of you who watched the 2003 Anime series .hack//Dusk, look very carefully in the background of the comic book store and you'll see a cardboard cutout of Rena in the background, as well as several Hellboy posters.
- In one scene Dave and his friends are reading an issue of Runaways.
- When Dave is leaving the hospital, his Dad puts a copy of Watchmen in his bag.
- Who am I? I'm Kick-Ass!
- When Kick-Ass tries on his costume for the first time: "You talkin' to me?"
- Hit-Girl's way of slaughtering her adversaries is similar to The Bride's modus operandi.
Star-Making Role: Hit-Girl, for Chloë Grace Moretz.