Kick-Ass: Kick-Ass
Real Name: Dave Lizewski
Abilities: Lizewski is just a kid. On top of that, he is a somewhat underassertive, shy kid. As Lizewski himself exclaims at one point (with a gun to his head): ‘I’ve never even been in trouble!’.
That being said, guts more than skill (or common sense) seems to be his best asset. Kick-Ass carries two side-handle baton’s. Presumably, he has no training with them- but then again, batons are pretty easy weapons to wield. Just bash away.
Lizewski's past beatings at the hands of criminals have resulted in nerve damage. Consequently, his threshold for pain is exceedingly high. The end result is Kick-Ass can willingly take a hit in order to get a strike in. This shows in his fighting style, which utterly lacks finesse of any kind. Dave also has a few metal plates in his body. While he likes to think this makes him comparable to Wolverine, they have no practical applicability in combat whatsoever.
Background: A painfully awkward and shy teenager, Lizewski designed his own superhero costume in an effort to give his life meaning. He was promptly beaten and left for dead by several dangerous criminals. Recovery from his injuries brought about nerve damage that he interpreted as an edge, prompting him to return to crime-fighting.
Like many shy superheroes with a secret identity, Lizewski's real motivation has to do with a woman. Harboring a crush on his classmate Katie Deauxma, Lizewski is really just trying to psych himself up to be more of a man. Unfortunately, being a superhero isn’t the only secret Dave hides from Katie. She also assumes he’s gay and Dave plays along, just to be close to her. Yeah. Painful.
Resemblance: Dave’s origin story and romantic interest is clearly of the Spider-Man and Mary Jane variety (if it had been written by Chuck Palahniuk of Fight Club fame).
The outfit and armament, however, is a throwback to Dwayne Taylor, AKA Night Thrasher of the New Warriors. An underrated character, Night Thrasher could easily be written off as a cheap Batman ripoff with the violence amped up. Actually, his story has evolved to be much more interesting than the typical "revenge against the criminals that killed my family’" sob story we’ve heard a dozen times. In fact, Taylor has reason to believe that every aspect of his life has been a manipulation to turn him into a crime fighting machine.
Personally, I think the New Warriors star in a frequently underrated comic book. There’s no denying, however, that they are currently the ‘black sheep’ of the Marvel Universe (given the events of Civil War). There’s also no denying that Night Thrasher’s original design represented the gaudy, amped up over-the-top violence of the nineties era. It probably isn’t coincidence that Lizewski’s costume is patterned after a pretty poorly received character. It really drives home just how in-depth this guy is.
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