Kick-Ass – The Dave Lizewski Years (originally published simply as Kick-Ass, and as Hit-Girl for Book Two) is a creator-owned comic book series written by Mark Millar and illustrated by John Romita Jr. The first installment of the Kick-Ass franchise, it was initially published by Marvel Comics under the company's Icon imprint and republished under Image Comics. Set in the Millarworld, the series primarily tells the story of Dave Lizewski, a teenager who sets out to become a real life superhero. His actions are publicized on the Internet and inspire other people. He gets caught up with ruthless vigilantes Big Daddy and Mindy "Hit-Girl" McCready, who are on a mission to take down the Genovese crime family. Two stand-alone sequel series, Hit-Girl and Kick-Ass – The New Girl, respectively following Mindy and new villain protagonist Patience Lee, began publication in February 2018, before jointly concluding with the crossover miniseries Kick-Ass vs. Hit-Girl in March 2021. A further crossover, Big Game, was published from July to November 2023, following a now mid-20s Mindy as she teams up with Kingsman agent Eggsy Unwin against Wesley Gibson, while Dave is granted superpowers by the Magic Order.
The first volume of the series was adapted into a film directed by Matthew Vaughn and starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson in the title role and Chloë Grace Moretz as Hit-Girl, released in 2010. A sequel, directed by Jeff Wadlow and adapting the second and third volumes of the series, was released in 2013. A third and fourth film, Stuntnuts: The Movie and Stuntnuts Does School Fight, directed by Damien Walters, will be released respectively, with a fifth in pre-production.
Plot Book One The first volume of The Dave Lizewski Years, originally titled Kick-Ass, is set over the course of two years. Dave Lizewski, an otherwise ordinary New York City high school student, comic book fan, and the child of James Lizewski, a loving single father, and his deceased via brain hemorrhage mother, ponders the absence of costumed vigilantes in the real world while "some Armenian guy" in a superhero outfit leaps from the rooftop of a skyscraper, fails to take flight, and plunges to his death on a car on the street below in front of a crowd of onlookers. Months earlier, Dave buys a wetsuit from the website eBay, which he wears under his normal clothing, begins exercising, and practices things like walking on roofs, satisfying his ambitions to become a real-life superhero for a time. He eventually seeks to actually fight crime, with his first attempt leading him to receive a severe beating and stabbing by thugs, followed by his wandering into the street and being hit by a car. He retains his secret identity by stripping off and hiding his costume before paramedics arrive.
Telling his father he was mugged, he undergoes intense physical rehabilitation, including four operations. He is released months later, and as soon as he is off crutches dons the suit once more and goes on patrol. When he saves a man from a beating, an onlooker records the incident and uploads it to YouTube, turning Dave into an overnight sensation dubbed with the name "Kick-Ass". Local mob boss John Genovese is annoyed by Kick-Ass' appearance, as his business has been disrupted by other vigilantes.
In school, the mugging excuse used to cover up his injuries for a second time spawns rumors Dave is a homosexual prostitute. Believing them, his longtime crush, Katie Deauxma, adopts him as a "gay best friend". Dave goes along with this in an effort to spend time with her. The continued patrolling takes its toll on Dave, and his father, worried about him, gives him a can of police-issue pepper spray for protection.
As Kick-Ass, Dave sets up a Myspace account, so people can contact him for help. The first such request he investigates is a man called Eddie Lomas who has been harassing his ex-girlfriend, which leads Kick-Ass to an apartment of violent lowlifes who try to kill him. He is rescued by a costumed, blade-wielding young girl named Hit-Girl, real name Mindy McCready, who brutally kills all the attackers and then leaves to join a grown man, named Big Daddy McCready, also wearing a superhero costume. The two disregard Dave, who later learns that Kick-Ass has inadvertently inspired a subculture of people dressed in makeshift, original superhero costumes. Later, one such hero, the Red Mist, appears. He partners with Kick-Ass on street patrol and the two happen upon a burning building. When a woman begs them to save her "baby", Kick-Ass drags a very reluctant Red Mist into the building, only to discover that the "baby" is actually a kitten. Although the two are nearly killed while saving the kitten, they gain great public popularity after the rescue.
Hit-Girl later insists to her father that they form a "super-team" with Kick-Ass and Red Mist, and Big Daddy reluctantly complies. Big Daddy is revealed to the reader to be "a good cop in a bad city", whose wife was killed because he would not accept bribes from criminals. He escaped with his baby daughter and plotted revenge, turning himself and his child into lethal crimefighters. At the behest of Big Daddy and Hit-Girl, Kick-Ass accompanies Red Mist to meet the duo at an abandoned warehouse to strategize the takedown of John Genovese. There they find Big Daddy and Hit-Girl captured, and Red Mist reveals himself as Genovese's son, who had orchestrated this ambush. Hit-Girl is apparently killed after being shot multiple times and falling through a window. Tortured, Big Daddy reveals he is not an ex-cop at all but an accountant frustrated with his marriage, who took his daughter and left his empty life to create a new one, financing himself through selling comic books. He chose Genovese as a target because he and Hit-Girl "needed a villain". The gang kills Big Daddy and tortures Kick-Ass. Hit-Girl, who is alive due to body armor, saves Kick-Ass. Hit-Girl and Kick-Ass attack Genovese's headquarters. Hit-Girl kills most of the henchmen, while Kick-Ass beats Red Mist unconscious. Genovese and his remaining thugs manage to capture Hit-Girl, but Kick-Ass comes to the rescue armed with a gun and shoots Genovese's penis. Hit-Girl finishes off Genovese with a meat cleaver and guns down the remaining henchmen.
Dave's life does not improve although he helps Mindy return to a normal, calm life with her mother (who, contrary to what Big Daddy had said, is very much alive) and stepfather. Dave reveals to Katie Deauxma that he is not gay, and confesses his love for her, but she is outraged at his lying and has her new boyfriend Carl punch Dave before sending him a picture of herself performing oral sex on Carl. When he comes home, he walks in on his father having sex with Eddie Lomas' ex-girlfriend Lucille. Despite all of this, he remains optimistic, as he is no longer a loser but a cultural phenomenon.
The main story ends with a would-be superhero (who tried to fly at the start of the story) taking an elevator to the top floor of a building. The epilogue shows Red Mist at a computer in a different costume. He sends a vengeful e-mail to Kick-Ass that has the 1989 Batman film Joker quote: "Wait until they get a load of me."
Book Two Book Two of The Dave Lizewski Years, originally titled Hit-Girl, was published after Book Three.
Set several months after Book One, Book Two follows Mindy McCready as she adjusts to home life. As mobsters beat and kill costumed vigilante Silver Beatle for information about the now-retired Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl, Mindy McCready's stepfather, Marcus Williams watches a news broadcast concerning the murder, prompting a response from a spokesman for the real-life superhero movement. Upstairs, Mindy considers the differences between her life being trained as a superhero by her father and her life now. At the bus stop, she is mocked by classmate Debbie Foreman for her clothing but muses to herself that she will get to be Hit-Girl again that night. At school, Mindy discusses her plans to suit up alongside Dave, citing that as John Genovese's brother Ralphie has seized control of the Genovese crime family, which he runs entirely from his jail cell, there is a need for them to return.
Mindy later visits her father's grave and laments that even with all of her superhero training, being able to kill without a care, she doesn't know how to handle Debbie's bullying. In his cell at Rikers Island, Ralphie Genovese instructs his crew to find Kick-Ass and to locate his nephew, Chris. When Kick-Ass arrives at the safe house, Hit-Girl gives him a tour of the facility, explaining that the equipment was purchased with the money she and her father "Big Daddy" had liberated from various pimps and pushers over the years. Hit-Girl then agrees to train Kick-Ass as she was trained in exchange for him teaching her "how to be normal". Dave agrees and is officially sworn in as Hit-Girl's sidekick/trainer.
At Red Mist's old boathouse, Chris visits his concerned mother in costume, informing her that he has come to pick up his comics and that he has become the first of the supervillains. He swears that he will avenge his father's death before taking over the family business as his father's heir, and explains that he plans to commit the first super-crime.
At night, Mindy and Dave "go fishing" for criminals in order to hone their street-fighting skills: using themselves as bait, they quickly attract four muggers, and Mindy times Dave while he incapacitates them. Later, they practice swinging between buildings and crashing through windows at an abandoned warehouse, while also working on opening lines for Dave to use while breaking into criminals' hideouts.
During the day, Dave instructs Mindy on what clothes to buy and what television shows and movies to watch, and Mindy realizes that blending in with other teenagers is just another "undercover operation", resolving to learn how to be a Mean Girl or a Queen Bee. At home, Mindy overhears her mother and Marcus discussing attempts by the mob to infiltrate the police department, but Marcus denies that anything at work has changed; privately, he admits that he knows about Mindy's superhero alter-ego, and orders her to retire for her mother's sake. Mindy promises, but Marcus and her mother promptly pass out, having been drugged with a dose of Rophynol that Mindy slipped into their cocoa. In an alley, Kick-Ass meets up with Hit-Girl, and the two set out in her car toward a restaurant where they interrupt a meeting of Russian and Italian mobsters. Kick-Ass crashes through the window and pummels several gangsters, breaking his hand before Hit-Girl opens fire from beneath a table with an M16 rifle, killing a dozen mobsters. The two then flee the restaurant, heading to the hospital.
At a convenience store, Red Mist and his two henchmen prepare to commit the first super-crime. Inside, Red Mist confirms that the surveillance cameras are operating and points an XM-25 machine gun at the store owner, shooting and killing him. However, as his henchmen abandon him, Red Mist promptly crashes into a pair of costumed heroes and is beaten up by the owner's sons before being arrested. Later, at JFK International Airport, corrupt police officer Vic Gigante informs Chris that he would have ended up at Riker's Island alongside his uncle if his arresting officers hadn't been on Ralphie Genovese's payroll. Vic gives Chris a ticket out of the country and a billfold filled with credit cards and a passport; recognizing his own weaknesses, Chris vows to travel the world and train until he becomes the perfect supervillain for Kick-Ass.