22 Potential Directors for Kick-Ass 2

Danny Boyle

Why: Regardless of genre, Boyle is proving competent at hitting the sweet spot between critical success and bringing in the punters. A man who always goes in with a clear vision and has already showcased his ability for edgy action with the tense sci-fi Sunshine .

Key Scene: A more arrogant, headstrong Kick-Ass is caught in a seemingly inescapable trap set-up by Red Mist. Facing his potential death, Kick-Ass begins talking about how his cockiness has gotten him into this mess, and we begin a series of flashbacks.

Likelihood: A much sought-after director, Boyle has recently completed work on art-heist thriller, Trance and it's understood he's already lined up for a couple of other projects.

Matthew Vaughn

Why: Vaughn really put himself on the radar with Kick-Ass by pulling very few punches so there's no reason he couldn't take the reins again and push the sequel even further into the unexpected.

Key Scene: A more insightful look into the vulnerabilities of Kick-Ass now he has gone global with a third act denouement that finally unmasks Dave Lizewski to the world, perhaps missing a limb at that point as well.

Michael Fassbender plays the villain.

Likelihood: With Vaughn scripting the sequel it would seem promising, though there has been mutterings, namely from comic creator Mark Millar, that Vaughn may be returning strictly in a producing capacity.

Duncan Jones

Why: Moon was fantastic, and Source Code proved he could handle a complicated, bigger-budgeted thriller but still make the most of its box office potential.

Key Scene: Over a poignant and Moon -esque low-key score, Red Mist lays siege to a public place after reaching breaking point at the death of his father.

Likelihood: Rumoured to be scripting his next outing, David Bowie's son is a true up-and-coming talent and is certainly a good shout for the role.

Nicolas Winding Refn

Why: Drive was arguably the audience hit of 2011 with its brooding ugliness lying just below the film's surface. The violence was tremendously hard-hitting, but it was seeped in style; a style that could elevate Kick-Ass 2 to the next level.

Key Scene : Kick-Ass becomes a faceless, speechless, wanderer a.k.a, 'The Man With No Name'. Tracking his enemies to a car garage, he lets his actions do the talking with a pair of nun-chucks before switching to some of the more practical tools in the garage.

Likelihood : Refn's popularity is now sky-high after breaking into the mainstream with Drive, although he is a busy guy, and one who usually likes to direct what he writes ( Drive being the only real exception).

Fernando Meirelles

Why: Meirelles has been quietly going on about his business in the last few years, directing taut John le Carré' adaptation The Constant Gardener and having a slight slip in Blindness . There's no doubt though after stunning the world with City Of God that Meirelles can deliver jaw-dropping violence that's backed up by finger-on-the-pulse substance.

Key Scene : His films often feature couples breaking up or becoming separated by various means so we'd like to see Kick-Ass have to face the world without Katie by his side.

Expect a poignant moment where Kick-Ass looks back on what he has lost through his dangerous profession.

Likelihood: Probably not, Meirelles has previously been quoted as saying that he's put off by high-budget films as he feels he loses control of the picture.

Bryan Singer

Why: Singer has had plenty of experience handling films with superheroes, albeit with actual powers. His most recent directorial efforts haven't incited as much excitement as his X -movies, so perhaps its time for a return to the genre he shined in.

Key Scene: A top FBI agent interviews people who were present during a botched bank heist thwarted by Kick-Ass. One of them is Dave Lizewski who's asked 'Who is Kick-Ass?' by an FBI agent.

Likelihood: He's pretty tied up with Jack The Giant Killer at the moment, and he could be called in for producing duties on the much-mooted X-Men: First Class sequel.

Brad Bird

Why: Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol surprised everyone by breathing new life into the franchise with ballsy, high-octane action, not to mention its ridiculous huge box office success. Let's also not forget, Bird has dabbled with superheroes and comedy before in animated hit, The Incredibles.

Key Scene: After throwing everything including the kitchen sink at Mission: Impossible , we think Bird could come up with some absolutely stunning set pieces, perhaps involving Red Mist's tower burning to the ground.

However, let's not have Kick-Ass running and stumbling down the side of it: keep him strapped to that jet pack.

Likelihood: Bird is currently attached to direct a disaster movie of epic proportions in 1906 , dealing with the earthquake and fires that savaged San Francisco in…1906. However, with reports of budget cuts and delays over the last few years, this project seems to have gone quiet, although his recent success may just score him the green light.

Spike Jonze

Why: No one can deny that Jonze has made a habit of retaining his artistic integrity despite moving towards the mainstream with Where The Wild Things Are .

Key Scene: Hit-Girl's bloodlust has become increasingly unstable as she regresses to a child like state, envisaging others as fictional creatures leading Kick-Ass into a difficult confrontation.

John Malkovich plays a minor, but key, role.

Likelihood: He'll most likely be seen as too much of a risk by the studios, so we'd call him an outside shot.

Jonathan Levine

Why: 50/50 was a sneaky hit with many calling for an Oscar nomination after picking up a couple of Golden Globe nominations. He may have less experience than others on this list, but his balancing of comedy and drama in 50/50 may be just the thing Kick-Ass 2 needs.

Key Scene: Not forgetting the comedy element to Kick-Ass , Levine delivers us a finely-honed comic scene with Kick-Ass and Red Mist exchanging threats and insults over Twitter.

Likelihood: Levine is reportedly in the post-production stages of his next outing Warm Bodies . Perhaps he can find a gap in his schedule?

Christopher Nolan

Why: Nolan is presumably on most studios watch list with a real eye for gripping audiences with heart-pounding action and emotionally taut stories, all in service of intelligent, thought-provoking stories.

Key Scene: A climatic fight sequence between Kick-Ass and Red Mist is shot on IMAX cameras (naturally) but ironically broadcast live in YouTube in the film. The fight ends in a truce before Kick-Ass manages to convince Red Mist to dissolve his father's company…

It's just one of many stand-out scenes that makes Kick-Ass 2 the greatest comic-book sequel ever made.

Likelihood: Don't go holding your breath. Nolan has his eyes firmly set on other projects, namely a Howard Hughes biopic.

John Woo

Why: Since the preposterous Paycheck , John Woo has left Hollywood to focus on several Chinese pictures, which have done well to restore his reputation. Could Woo be due a return to Hollywood?

Key Scene: If you enjoyed the slow-motion sequence in Kick-Ass with HitGirl slicing everyone up, then imagine that but at least 10 times slower and with doves, lots of doves.

Likelihood: A return to the US is on the cards, but a return to something of Kick-Ass' calibre is probably asking a little too much.

Joe Carnahan

Why: The Grey saw Carnahan provide us with some unrelenting macho thrills (and chills), with a gritty, visceral edge not too far from Kick-Ass' styling.

Key Scene: A viscously paced scene where our heroes' endurance comes into question as they're dumped in a harsh and unforgiving desert by Red Mist with nothing but their superhero prowess to get them to safety.

Likelihood: A potential candidate thanks to the strong showing of The Grey though his name is slowly becoming attached to a few projects.

David Fincher

Why: Fincher, like Boyle, has that golden touch at the moment, walking that fine line between crowd pleaser and critic charmer. If there's a man who could balance the grit of Kick-Ass with its comic pacing, it could be this guy.

Key Scene: Set to a blaring musical score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl's sympathy for their enemies reaches an all time low in a disgustedly uncomfortable torture scene. The feel bad movie of the summer.

Likelihood: Back-to-back directorial Oscar nominations for The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button and The Social Network followed by nominations for The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo may just put Fincher in another league. Will he really be interested in directing a sequel to someone else's film (especially after Alien 3 )?

Edgar Wright

Why: Since Shaun Of The Dead , Wright's snappy directorial style has garnered him plenty of interest Stateside and Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World was the perfect platform to showcase what he could do with a comic-book property.

Key Scene: A testosterone fuelled Kick-Ass explains over a fast-paced montage how his plan to rescue a hijacked ocean liner will play out and afterwards they can have a cup of tea and wait for everything to blow over.

Likelihood: It's was announced last week that Edgar Wright is set to direct Johnny Depp in horror, The Night Stalker, and with one eye on Marvel's Ant-Man , he seems just a little too busy right now.

Joss Whedon

Why: Serenity was a fantastically arranged stealth hit, and if you're a director who can somehow handle the complexities of having to put together the entire Marvel universe for Avengers Assemble then you're going to be at the top of most studios wish lists.

Key Scene: A now cocky, Han Solo-styled Kick-Ass pilots his jet-pack through dangerous territory as he attempts to smuggle out highly incriminating evidence of some of the police department's top brass.

Likelihood: Whedon isn't one who often takes a directorial role if he hasn't already had his mitts on the script, so unless Vaughn really takes a step back, the possibility is pretty doubtful.

Sofia Coppola

Why: Coppola has only lightly dabbled in comedy but with rumours of her next feature being a crime drama, she could be about ready to experiment with further genres. Plus, Kick-Ass has that slightly darker, skewered tone that may just be more appealing to her than another big-budgeted action movie.

Key Scene: A real long, lonely and lingering shot of Kick-Ass in deep thought, contemplating his future as he runs through various locales; coffee shops, his home, under a bridge. All to an slightly off-beat soundtrack.

Likelihood: Not very likely, with Coppola preferring to work at a steady pace on more personal projects.

J. J. Abrams

Why: A Star Trek reboot that converted the haters should be enough on its own, but throw in Super 8 and a decent entry in the Mission: Impossible franchise and you have a promising candidate. There was that Lost business as well…

Key Scene: A complex, and seemingly inextricable plot involving Kick-Ass taking on some time-traveling oil magnates that looks as if it can't possibly have a plausible solution…

Likelihood: Certainly a contender, though he is currently working on the Star Trek sequel which is likely to sap most of his time over the next two years.

Gareth Evans

Why: His cult popularity has just shot into space with the brutality and ingenuity of his Indonesian masterpiece, The Raid.

Key Scene: An absolutely savage fight sequence with Hit-Girl and some new superhero wannabes working their way, floor, by floor through Red Mist's goons with bloody losses on both sides.

Likelihood: Many directors in the past have made the big leap over to Hollywood after wowing audiences elsewhere (Refn, Meirelles) and so you'd have to put Evans as quite a potential candidate, especially since The Raid contained the kind of fight sequences that audiences of Kick-Ass enjoyed so much.

Baltasar Kormakur

Why: Icelandic director Kormakur was relatively unknown before he directed the soon to be released action-thriller Contraband . Although it didn't exactly set the US ablaze, the film has so far performed admirably and along with his European reputation, it could act as his gateway into bigger and better things.

Key Scene: A lot of his films feature bleak settings with characters pushed to make tough choices, so expect to see Red Mist take on a Joker persona and pose a lose-lose choice for Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl to answer.

Likelihood: Stranger things have happened and Kormakur has been quoted as stating that he would be more than comfortable in directing a big Hollywood picture, given the right script.

Kenneth Branagh

Why: Branagh surprised a lot of people by taking on the Thor job and pulling it off as well as he did. A wildly intelligent man with many hidden talents, Kick-Ass 2 could do far worse than fall into his hands.

Key Scene: A ground breaking Shakespeare inspired monologue by Red Mist denouncing Kick-Ass to his goons. Performed in one continuous take; from his helicopter touching down to his arrival in a board room for a meeting with some naturally shifty businessmen.

Likelihood: After Thor you'd be a brave man to try and predict what projects Branagh will set his eyes on next. Don't count him out.

Michel Gondry

Why: Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind director Michel Gondry entered the superhero scene with last year's relatively timid, The Green Hornet - but perhaps with the more edgy and exuberant Kick-Ass , he might be more free to unleash his quirk potential.

Key Scene: After a foray into high-tech gadgetry with the jet-pack, Kick-Ass has constructed and compiled a weird and wonderful arsenal in his new hideout that is located in some inventive location, like a complex system of tree houses.

Likelihood: Gondry doesn't often enjoy straying out of the abnormal too long and Kick-Ass may be just too close to The Green Hornet to entice him, especially since he's in pre-production on a film involving flowers growing in a girl's lungs (true).

Guillermo del Toro

Why: GdT provided us with some of the best character and costume work of recent years in Hellboy and Hellboy 2 . The fact that the sequel trumped the original is testament to how comfortable del Toro is pushing the genre. No one can deny his eye for the fantastical either, with Pan's Labyrinth still a powerful calling card.

Key Scene: A costume and visuals tour-de-force with hoards of superhero/villain wannabes slugging it out in a deserted subway station. Expect most of the beyond-belief outfits to have Doug Jones tucked up inside them.

Likelihood: A incredibly busy man whose scope and vision would probably worry the studio's budget just a little too much. And would you really want to see del Toro toning down the fantasy elements of his style.