Based on the comic by Mark Milla and John Romita, the story follows Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson), who is a high school comic book nerd. One day, he questions why no one has ever tried to be a super hero. Despite the glaringly obvious answer, he attempts to become the neighborhood hero by putting on a green wet suit and equipping himself with two batons, but NO super powers whatsoever.
His first attempt is futile. He is beaten, stabbed, and then hit by a car. He wakes up in a hospital to find he has more "metal in him than wolverine" and has lost most of his pain receptors. Using his new found power... well disability he can use to his advantage, he fights off a group of men, who are beating up a defenseless guy. The people in a shop nearby witness the fight. An onlooker records Kick Ass with his phone. He almost gets his ass kicked again, but manages to get the attackers to leave and proceeds to assert a moral speech about standing up for other people when they are in need. From there it is posted on YouTube. His popularity increases and people begin to contact him for help through his MySpace.
As he becomes a craze, he's also becoming a target of a drug dealer named Frank D'Amico (Mark Strong), who believes Kick Ass is foiling his plans. He also befriends other super heroes Big Daddy (Nicholas Cage) and Hit Girl (Chloe Moretz), who warn him about keeping his identity a secret because being a superhero is a dangerous life to live.
Don't let the trailers fool you. The movie is not just for laughs. As the audience gets drawn in by the comedic relief, the dark elements also creep in, revealing deception, twisted relationships, and murders. As Krystine Lorico, a sophomore at RCC, said, "I thought it'd be funny throughout the movie, but it got serious and made me kind of sad, but I still enjoyed it."
