Kick-Ass (film)/Characters

Comic Book

Kick-Ass/Dave Lizewski

• The Ace: He's not, but Justice Forever gladly accept his offer to join the team based on his reputation as one.
  • He is one of the more competent and likely the most experienced hero.
• Adorkable
• Anti-Hero: Type I throughout, though he's quite a bit more competent than most other examples.
• Ascended Fanboy
• Casual Kink: His superhero obsession is presented as such. Unusually for such a... weird fetish (but in line with the trope), it's shown to be a healthy outlet for his fantasies, since said fantasies involve community activism and an altruistic outlook on life and society.
• Costumed Nonsuper Hero
• Determinator: The comic zigzags on whether this is a product of stupidity and nihilism or Heroic Willpower, but it tends to be to his benefit.
• Did Not Get the Girl: After finding out that Dave was pretending to be gay, Katie's reaction in the comic is a lot more likely to happen than her hooking up with him in the film.
• Memetic Badass: An in-universe example. Even though the clip clearly shows him being terrible at being a superhero, because he refuses to give up the fight, he becomes so popular that he inspires a comic based on himself as a legitimate superhero along the lines of Green Arrow or Batman.
• The Messiah: Like many other superheroes in the movement, he enjoys doing good for the sake of doing good, both on the level of vigilantism and basic social work.
• Mistaken for Gay
• Nice Guy
• Parental Abandonment: His mother died of aneurysm some time before the start of the story. His father is later killed by Red Mist's goons after claiming to be Kick-Ass in order to prevent Dave from going to prison
• Super Zeroes: At least initially. He does toughen up however.
• This Loser Is You
• Took a Level in Badass: Goes from being absolutely pathetic in a fight in Volume 1, to able to single handedly take on several thugs and win in Volume 2.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: And rather incredibly, refuses to become a Knight in Sour Armor in spite of all the harsh realities of life he is exposed to.
• Weapon of Choice: Two large unfortunately dildo-like batons, which, if lost, he'll sometimes appropriate from the surrounding environment (like chair legs or plywood) and occasionally modify with nails to make them more like a mace.

Big Daddy/ Damon McCready

• Based on a Great Big Lie: It turns out that the story he told Dave is complete bullshit, and that he kidnapped his own daughter & raised her as a killer in order to play vigilante.
• Captain Ersatz: Of Punisher, minus the skull. And tragic backstory, it turns out.
• Gun Nut
• I Just Want to Be Special
• Informed Ability: He kills one person in the comic, and it's via Sniper Rifle.
• Killed Off for Real
• Where Does He Get All Those Wonderful Toys?: By selling his collection of classic comics.

Hit-Girl/ Mindy McCready

• Action Girl
• Alliterative Name
• Anti-Hero: Type IV
• Anti-Villain
• Badass Adorable
• Badass Normal
• Big Damn Heroes: Twice. Once when Kick-Ass is about to be sliced open by Razul, and again when he and Big Daddy are just about to be set ablaze by Frank D'Amico's men.
• Blondes Are Evil
• Child Soldier
• Costumed Nonsuper Heroine
• Cute Bruiser
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: Is usually pretty hard on Kick-Ass in order to snap him out of whatever funk he's dealing with.
• Enfant Terrible
• Good Is Not Nice
• He's Back: In Volume 2 #5, after Red Mist bombs the funeral of Dave's father & tries to kidnap him.
• I Just Want to Be Normal: In Volume 2, until issue 5
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold
• Kids Are Cruel
• Knife Nut: She adores butterfly knives and swords, although she is a pretty good shot as well.
• Little Miss Badass: Possibly the epitome of this trope.
• Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant: She enjoys slaughtering thugs with a little too much childish joy...
• One Girl Army
• Pay Evil Unto Evil
• Refuge in Audacity
• Sociopathic Hero
• True Companions: With Kick-Ass, after her dad died. He's pretty much the only person she opens up to at all, and cares dearly for his well-being. He's also her go-to sidekick in the second volume.
• Tyke Bomb
• Vigilante Girl
• Weak but Skilled: Relies mostly on weapons, because her small size limits mobility and strength.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist
• You Gotta Have Purple Hair: It's a wig, but still.

Red Mist/The Motherfucker/Chris Genovese

• Ascended Fanboy: Except it's of supervillains
• Big Bad Wannabe: Dave initially scoffs at the idea of Red Mist being out for vengeance against him. Holy shit, was this trope ever averted. So far he's raped Katie, arranged the murder of Dave's father, and is now planning to bomb the entire city of New York.
• Color Character
• Create Your Own Villain
• Dirty Coward
• Evil Costume Switch
• From Nobody to Nightmare
• Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Talks big, but when push comes to shove, he's just a Dirty Coward who hides behind his mooks.
• Laser-Guided Karma: After being revealed as The Mole, Kick-Ass soundly beats the shit out of him the first chance he gets, and without much effort to boot. And this is pre-Took a Level in Badass Kick-Ass, for those keeping track.
• Late Arrival Spoiler: If you saw The Movie first, it comes as no surprise that Red Mist is The Mole
• The Mole
• Psychopathic Manchild
• Took a Level in Badass: Averted & lampshaded in Volume 2 - Before killing Colonel Stars, Red Mist says he was going to travel the world & learn martial arts... Until he remembered he was rich & could just pay other people to do his fighting for him.

Johnny G

• Killed Off for Real
• Name's the Same: Not the guy from Mementoƒ

Marty Eisenberg/Battle Guy & Todd Haynes/Ass Kicker

• Ascended Fanboy: In Volume 2
• Blatant Lies: Marty tells Justice Forever a story involving his parents being killed & eaten in front of him to serve as his motivation for becoming a vigilante. Dave immediately sees through it & reveals that it's all a lie.
• Follow the Leader: Marty becomes Battle Guy after being inspired by Kick-Ass, before finding out that his best friend Dave is Kick-Ass; they later bring Todd in on the action & he keeps coming up with names derivative of "Kick-Ass", which Dave & Mart call him out on.
• Memetic Mutation: In-universe, Marty & Todd are the source of "Tunk", the Spear Counterpart to... that word Hit Girl infamously said.
• Those Two Guys

Movie

Kick-Ass/Dave Lizewski

Come on, be honest with yourself, at some point in our lives we all wanna be a superhero.
Played By: Aaron Johnson

• Adorkable
• Anti-Hero: Type I
• Ascended Fanboy
• Costumed Nonsuper Hero
• Determinator
• Fake American: His actor's British.
• Memetic Badass: An in-universe example. Even though the clip clearly shows him being terrible at being a superhero, because he refuses to give up the fight, he becomes so popular that he inspires a comic based on himself as a legitimate superhero along the lines of Green Arrow or Batman.
• The Messiah: Dave finds it fucked-up that nobody cares enough to protect his fellow man, and became Kick-Ass to do something about it.
• Mistaken for Gay: Although, it works out much better for Dave in the film than in the comic.
• Nice Guy
• Parental Abandonment: His mother died of an aneurysm some time before the start of the story.
• Super Zeroes: Though he eventually mans up and saves the day.
• This Loser Is You
• Took a Level in Badass: He is much better in his final fight, where he uses a jetpack to block almost all Chris's attacks, while in the first he just swings his batons around, hoping that thugs will run into them.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: And rather incredibly, refuses to become a Knight in Sour Armor in spite of all the harsh realities of life he is exposed to.

Big Daddy/Damon McCready

Tool up, honey bunny. It's time to get bad guys.
Played By: Nicolas Cage

• Anti-Hero: Type IV
• Anti-Villain: Type II
• Badass
• Badass Cape
• Badass Normal
• Captain Ersatz: Of Batman
• Costumed Nonsuper Hero
• Crusading Widower
• Dark Is Not Evil: Like the typical Batman routine. However...
• Good Is Not Nice
• Lightning Bruiser
• Sociopathic Hero
• I Just Want to Be Special: Heavily averted, prior to being framed by Frank D'Amico, he had no consideration of becoming a vigilante men. He had a happy, normal life. At least, until Frank D'Amico tears his family apart.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold
• Killed Off for Real
• Knight in Sour Armor
• Pay Evil Unto Evil
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: This time is for real.
• Tragic Hero
• Vigilante Man
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: A rare "good" example.
• Widower Hero
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds

Hit-Girl/Mindy McCready

So, you wanna play?
Played By: Chloë Grace Moretz

• Action Girl
• Alliterative Name
• Anti-Hero: Type IV
• Anti-Villain: Type II
• Badass Adorable
• Badass Normal
• Big Damn Heroes: Twice. Once when Kick-Ass is about to be sliced open by Razul, and again when he and Big Daddy are just about to be set ablaze by Frank D'Amico's men.
• Blondes Are Evil
• Child Soldier
• Costumed Nonsuper Heroine
• Cute Bruiser
• Defrosting Ice Queen
• Enfant Terrible
• Fille Fatale: She's played by Chloë Grace Moretz.
• Good Is Not Nice
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold
• Kids Are Cruel
• Knife Nut: She adores butterfly knives and swords, although she is a pretty good shot as well.
• Little Miss Badass: Possibly the epitome of this trope.
• Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant: She enjoys slaughtering thugs with a little too much childish joy...
• One Girl Army
• Pay Evil Unto Evil
• Refuge in Audacity
• Sociopathic Heroine.
• Tyke Bomb
• Vigilante Girl
• Well-Intentioned Extremist
• The Worf Effect: Played straight, twice. She's a human killing machine, going through Mooks like they were nothing. However, during her Roaring Rampage of Revenge at the end of the film, she is almost killed when she runs out of ammo and was about to be killed by a rocket launcher when Dave/Kiss Ass came out to help with the jetpack they modified with mini-guns. And then, during her fight with Frank D'Amico, it was a Curb Stomp Battle that nearly killed her and was only lucky because Dave/Kiss Ass was able to grab the rocket launcher from before and use it to kill D'Amico. If it wasn't for Dave, she would have been dead both times.
• You Gotta Have Purple Hair: It's a wig, but still.

Red Mist/Chris D'Amico

As a great man once said... wait 'til they get a load of me.
Played By: Christopher Mintz-Plasse

• Adaptation Name Change
• Ascended Fanboy
• Anime Hair
• Big Bad Wannabe: After his father's death
• Color Character
• Create Your Own Villain
• Even Evil Has Standards: After he learned that Dave is nothing in the grand scheme of things, Chris wanted him spared. Unfortunately for him, his father is adamant on having him killed to give a message to other would-be superheroes.
• Evil Costume Switch: After being revealed as The Mole and his father's death, Chris switches to a new costume. It's pretty much the same, but with a more menacing mask, the Anime Hair toned down, & the red switched to a creepy orange.
• Evil Counterpart: To Kick-Ass & Hit Girl.
• From Nobody to Nightmare
• Genre Savvy: Figures out that Kick-Ass is a comic geek, and uses that to gain his trust as Red Mist.
• Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: YMMV.
• Mafia Prince
• The Mole
• Sliding Scale of Antagonist Vileness: Significantly less vile than his father in the first film, but it remains to be seen if he remains this way in the sequel.
• Would Shoot A Girl

Frank D'Amico

I gotta send a public service message to the people out there that being a superhero is bad for your health.
Played By: Mark Strong

• Adaptation Expansion: His comic book equivalent, Johnny G, spends far less time in focus than Frank.
• Adaptation Name Change
• Affably Evil
• Big Bad
• Bald of Evil
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: His clothing and possessions have are usually orange. His son takes after him as a villain.
• Deadpan Snarker
• The Don
• Killed Off for Real
• Kingpin in His Gym: Keeps a dojo in his penthouse and is a capable martial artist.
• Red Right Hand: The scar on his forehead, which looks like a cross between a spiral and parentheses.
• Villainous Breakdown: Has one increasing steadily throughout the movie. He executes someone in broad daylight, goes batshit at his henchmen and starts doing cocaine (which was implied he kicked several years before).
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: His interaction with his son is a very weak Pet the Dog.
• Would Hit a Girl / Would Hurt a Child: He has no qualms in giving a roundhouse kick to an eleven year old girl's face and then giving her a thorough vicious beat down. Though in his defense she is also an unstoppable killing machine who single handedly slaughtered his entire building full of mooks.

Big Joe

Gentlemen...time to die.
Played By: Michael Rispoli

• Affably Evil: He seems like such a nice guy when not murdering people on behalf of his boss.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: Well, it is torture. But it seems pretty passionate in its execution.
• The Dragon: for Frank.

Katie Deauxma

Dave? What the fuck are you doing? Why are you dressed as Kick-Ass?
Played By: Lyndsy Fonseca

• Fag Hag: She wishes
• The Messiah: Has this in common with Dave
• Ms. Fanservice
• Shallow Love Interest: Played with. She's ultimately still an endearing character in spite of this.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Her relationship with Dave. And she dated Rasul because she thought he was a kind woobie before realizing he was far from it.
• Where Da White Women At?: Dating Rasul

Marty Eisenberg & Todd Haynes

Played By: Clark Duke & Evan Peters

• Adaptation Expansion: Significantly more screen time than the comic.
• Deadpan Snarker: Marty.
• Jail Bait Wait: After seeing Hit Girl save Kick-Ass & Big Daddy, Todd exclaims that he thinks he's in love with her, only for Marty to point out that she's around 11. He then declares he'll save himself for her.
• Pair the Spares: Subverted, Marty winds up hooking up with Erica but Todd is still single at the end of the film.
• Those Two Guys

Vic Gigante

Played By: Xander Berkeley

• Corrupt Cop
• Deadpan Snarker
• Even Evil Has Standards: He appears a little disturbed by the live online feed of Big Daddy and Kick-Ass being tortured. Not that he lifts a single finger to do anything or ever complains to Frank.
• What Happened to the Mouse??

Marcus Williams

You owe that girl a childhood.
Played By: Omari Hardwick

• Black Best Friend
• Promotion to Parent
• What the Hell, Hero?: Delivers one to Big Daddy.

Some Armenian Kid With A History Of Mental Issues

• Decoy Protagonist: Very Very briefly
• I Believe I Can Fly: Averted.
• One-Scene Wonder