Kick-Ass 3

Kick-Ass 3
Publication information
Publisher	Icon
Genre	Superhero
No. of issues	8
Main character(s)	Dave Lizewski Mindy McCready
Creative team
Written by	Mark Millar

Kick-Ass 3 is an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics' Icon Comics imprint. Created by writer Mark Millar and penciler John Romita Jr., it is a sequel to the Kick-Ass and Kick-Ass 2 and the spinoff miniseries Hit-Girl. It premiered in July of 2013 and ran until October of 2014 with a total of eight issues

Publication history

The first issue of Kick-Ass 3 was released July 2, 2013.^[1]

The eighth and final issue of Kick-Ass 3 was released on August 6, 2014, concluding the series as a whole.^[2]

Synopsis

After the events of Kick-Ass 2, Mindy McCready remains in jail while Dave Lizewski graduates high school and continues his battle against organized crime. However, Justice Forever refuses to help him free Mindy from prison and Lieutenant Stripes is killed by Chris Genovese's mother, Angela, while trying to avenge his brother, Colonel Stars. Corrupt police officer Vic Gigante, having been promoted to captain after arresting Mindy, contacts the Motherfucker's uncle, Don Rocco "Ice-Man" Genovese. They ultimately arrange for an unnamed mob enforcer to take credit for the neighborhood-wide massacre and gang rape of Kick-Ass's crush Katie Deauxma, clearing Chris' name and allowing Rocco to take over the mob's operations in the city.

After a fight with a gang, Dave meets a woman named Valerie and starts dating her. At a party being held to celebrate Chris' release, Kick-Ass arranges to get the members of Justice Forever to help him raid the party and send a warning to the mob. The plan fails when Kick-Ass' friends flee in the face of mob retaliation. Elsewhere, Mindy confides to her psychiatrist that she has circumvented the prison's security so as to allow her to wander around and kill problematic inmates at night. Furthermore, she talks about how her father created his false backstory in order to manipulate her into continuing her career as Hit-Girl. Mindy also meets her mother, who is proud of her actions as Hit-Girl.

Gigante and three disguised cops rob Rocco, intending to make a fortune and leave New York. In response, Rocco orders the killing of everyone found in a mask, resulting in the deaths of four Justice Forever members and the kidnapping of Dave's roommate Todd. In jail, Mindy is drugged by a group of corrupt guards working for Rocco, who plans to have Chris execute Mindy in front of all the other East Coast mob leaders. However, Chris, having a pang of guilt over how his actions have affected his mother, decides to spare Mindy and fight the guards. Chris is mortally wounded and dies, but not before helping Mindy escape. Kick-Ass rescues Mindy from a cop working for Rocco, brutally killing him.

Mindy goes to Rocco's meeting in a speedboat, intending to kill all the gang leaders assembled at a boathouse; Dave goes to save Todd in Big Daddy's monster truck. Dave is briefly overpowered by the thugs holding Todd, but ends up electrocuting them all. Meanwhile, an anonymous tipster alerts Gigante that he and Mindy will be at Rocco's meeting. Mindy arrives and slaughters the assembled bosses, but is confronted by Gigante and his corrupt cops. Mindy reveals to the cops that she was the anonymous tipster, before triggering explosives that take out all the corrupt cops except Gigante. She then maims Gigante by destroying his pelvis, then forces him to turn in state evidence.

Some time later, Dave has abandoned his superhero identity, instead joining the police and remaining with Valerie. Marcus is cleared of all charges thanks to Gigante's testimony and has rooted out the remaining corrupt elements from the force. Angela and Mindy's mother have become close friends. Mindy remains an active vigilante, killing criminals across the world, though she never contacts Dave again. She does give flowers to her mother once every year, similar to the flowers her father gave to her. The comic ends with a callback to the first scene of the first comic, where Skybird, an applicant for Justice Forever that was chased away by the Juicer, jumps off a building, using his costume to actually fly away.

In a "post credits scene", Mindy shows up at the house of a bullied kid holding Kick-Ass's uniform, announcing that she is now going to train him to be a superhero.

Reception

John Ernenputsch of ComicOSity.com reviewed Kick-Ass 3 giving a score of 9.5 out of 10.^[3]

Crossovers

The last issue reveals that Wanted, Nemesis, The Secret Service: Kingsman, Superior and MPH all take place in the same universe as Kick-Ass. Additionally, Jupiter's Legacy, and Supercrooks, are movies in the Kick-Ass universe, known as the Millarverse'.^[4]

References

External links

• Renaud, Jeffrey. "Mark Millar Draws a Bloody Curtain on "Kick-Ass"." Comic Book Resources. Monday May 13, 2013. Includes an interview with Mark Millar