2. Katie Deauxma
One of the most controversial changes from Kick-Ass the comic, to Kick-Ass the movie, revolves around Kick-Ass getting some actual ass, Katie Deauxma.
Simply put: in the comics, Kick Ass doesn’t get the girl, but in the film he does. Now I imagine that some of you are already dismissing me, believing that Hollywood just wanted a saccharine ending and couldn’t have Dave just not get the girl, but the differences between film Katie and comic Katie actually help build a more cohesive narrative.
Take for example Kick-Ass’ first meeting with Hit Girl. Kick-Ass has been asked to send a message to gangbanger and drug runner Razul, asking that he leave a particular girl alone, a girl who Dave wouldn’t mind showing his baton to. Anyway, in the comic, this girl is some random lady who asked for Kick-Ass’ help. She had never been introduced in the comic before, Dave just talks about her in exposition, and at the end it is revealed that the lady is now dating Dave’s dad.
They make the massacre at Razul’s place the same in the film, but they connect the girl contracting Kick-Ass back to Katie, as opposed to some expositional ex-girlfriend that we never ever meet until the very end. This change also neatly ties in Katie’s work at the needle exchange. Which reflecting the battered women’s shelter profession of her mother in the comics, this factoid helps expand upon both Katie and the drug lord’s character. Katie being attached to Razul not only gives Dave a reason to keep his secret identity hidden from Katie, but also gives Katie a deeper connection to Kick-Ass, which explains perhaps why she is attracted to him.
Furthermore, Katie is actually somewhat sweet here while in the comics she is essentially just some mean hot girl. For instance, in the comic Katie asks Dave a question about homosexuality that is typically reserved for individuals who have just learned the term five minutes ago: if you’re attracted to penis, do you get hot looking at your own junk? There’s still a level of naïveté present in the film, but Dave plays into Katie’s admission that she’s always wanted a gay best friend.
You still get some painful statements from Katie in the film, but statements that don’t paint her in a negative light. “It so sucks that you’re gay,” she says after a long emotional embrace. Probably the most dreaded line for the teen comedy pretend you’re gay to get close to the girl trope, but it does also help explain Katie’s positive reaction to Dave coming out of the straight equivalent of a closet later (footlocker maybe? I dunno).
The scenes involving her and Dave’s friends are entirely new for the film, and this is actually a good thing as it makes you understand why Dave’s friends are actually his friends. They’re not just some annoying sidekicks, but are depicted by the excellent Clark Duke and Evan Peters who actually make you appreciate Dave being out of the suit, a necessity of any good superhero movie.
In the comics, Dave only yells outside of Katie’s window, so she doesn’t know that Dave is Kick-Ass by the end of the tale. In fact, Dave reveals his manipulative plot to get closer to her, pouring his heart out to her in a high school hallway. By the end of it all, Katie takes a particularly cruel route, sexting Dave a pic of her assisting her enormous ebon beaux with a rather unfortunately placed snake bite. This sudden heel turn makes you realize that Dave has just been pining after a hot mean girl this entire time, albeit yeah, pretending to be gay to get into a girl’s pants is pretty damn sleazy.
It’s messed up yeah, but what’s messed up though is that Katie still remains a potential collateral damage target for Dave in Kick-Ass 2, which given this ending in the comics, really just makes her essentially some random girl.
In the movie, Dave does what every boy who ever read a Superman comic or watched a season one episode of Smallville would do if they were Clark Kent: Tell the girl you want to impress that you’re a superhero.
In fact, the movie definitely plays off of the lackluster love-story wrap-up in the comics, as every Kick-Ass fan expects Katie to break Dave’s heart when he shows up in her room randomly one night. Everyone who has read the comic knows what is coming when Dave reveals that he is Kick-Ass and perhaps most importantly, straight. In addition, Dave tells Katie that she is beautiful and kind, which was an element noticeably absent from the book.
There is still an element of betrayal justifiably felt, as Katie waits until Dave’s practically out the window before she asks him to stay at just the last minute. Dave’s plan ultimately, works, but it’s his admittance of being Kick-Ass that gives him the edge. By having Dave get the girl, it isn’t merely a Hollywood sort of ending tacked on, rather it is giving Dave something worth fighting for, as he understands now why people don’t become superheroes — because they have something to lose.
Also, the way Dave just gingerly touches her boobs to Ellie Goulding’s Starry Eyes is a perfect representation of every guy’s first moment when a girl wants him to touch her front butt… or so I’m told.
It’s a fist pump of a scene, and don’t take that in a perverted way: when Katie shakes her head confirming that it’s not going to be just a sleepover, or proceeds to “fuck Kick-Ass’ brains out” next to the dumpster behind Atomic Comics, you know that you instantly prefer the movie’s version of “the love interest”.
