Kick-Ass

I am rereading the first Kick-Ass collection. It is good and the film was an authentic adaptation. However, I think that the comic cheats on its premise. Kick-Ass would have been killed or at least seriously injured again on his third outing if Hit-Girl had not intervened (and she is implausible as well).

The initial premise was that, if an ordinary guy put on a costume and confronted thugs, he would come to grief. But the premise changes to what if, at the same time, a father-daughter team were doing it properly, training and using effective weaponry? Then the answer is that the team can save the ordinary guy.

The main problem with patrolling the city in costume is simply that you are extremely unlikely to interrupt muggings or robberies in any case. Kick-Ass recognises this when he advertises his services on the internet. And the use of the internet to publicise superheroics is very plausible. So some of Kick-Ass makes sense.

Googling reveals that there are some real life superheroes but they mostly just do good in their communities. They certainly do not challenge organised crime. How would anyone even start to do that?