So, You Wanna Play? Check Out the Kick-Ass Cast, Then & Now

Dave Lizewski/Kick-Ass Was Johnson’s breakout role, with the British actor going on to become one of the most buzzed about actors of his generation.

In addition to returning for the Kick-Ass sequel, the 29-year-old starred in Savages, Anna Karenina, and Godzilla, as well as joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Quicksilver in Avengers: Age of Ultron. In 2016, Johnson won Best Supporting Actor at the Golden Globes for his turn in Nocturnal Animals. 

After meeting on the set of their 2009 film Nowhere Boy, with their age difference making headlines as he was 18 and she was 42, Johnson married director Sam Taylor-Wood in 2012, with the couple changing their surname to Taylor-Johnson. The couple have two children together, and Johnson is step-father to the 50 Shades of Grey director’s two daughters from a previous marriage.

Just 11 at the time, Moretz made quite the stir when Kick-Ass came out, thanks to Hit-Girl’s penchant for violence and profanity. But she ended up being the breakout character and star of the movie, reprising the role in the 2013 sequel. 

Moretz, now 23, has worked non-stop since donning Hit Girl’s costume, headlining the Carrie remake, If I Stay, The 5th Wave, Suspiria and Neighbors 2.

One of the most popular actresses in young Hollywood, Moretz made headlines when she dated Brooklyn Beckham on and off for several years.

A massive fan of comic books, Cage finally starred in his first superhero role as former-cop-turned-vigilante Big Daddy, modeling his character on Adam West‘s Batman from the ’60s.

 Since saying goodbye to Big Daddy’s suit, the Oscar winner continued his streak of action movies, as well as lending his voice to The Croods animated films and the Oscar-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

In 2016, Cage, 56, divorced his third wife of 12 years, Alice Kim, going on to marry Erika Koike in Las Vegas in March 2019. But just four days later, he filed for an annulment and was granted a divorce three months later. 

After originally auditioning for the lead role, the Superbad breakout (“I am McLovin’!”) ended up portraying his rival’s son who goes by the vigilante name Red Mist, and returned for the sequel with his character taking on the memorable moniker “The Motherf–ker.” 

The 30-year-old has also starred in hit comedies Neighbors, This Is the End and Pitch Perfect, and has lent his vocal talents to the How to Train Your Dragon animated franchise and Trolls World Tour.

Aside from acting, Mintz-Plasse is also the bass guitarist for his band, Bear on Fire.

One of Hollywood’s go-to actors for antagonistic characters, Strong took on the role of crime boss Frank D’Amico and Red Mist’s father in the adaptation.

The British actor has since starred in Green Lantern, the Kingsman film franchise, Shazam! and 1917, and the 56-year-old is set to star opposite Emma Stone in the highly anticipated Disney film Cruella, about iconic villain Cruella de Vil.

The same year she played Katie Deauxma, Fonseca’s CW action drama Nikita debuted, airing for three seasons. She then went on to star on ABC’s Agent Carter and returned for the Kick-Ass sequel. Clearly, Fonseca has a type.

In 2016, she married her Nikita co-star Noah Bean, with the couple welcoming their daughter Greta in February 2018.

Before he became one of Ryan Murphy‘s go-to stars, Peters played Kick-Ass‘ trusty BFF Todd Haynes. 

One year later, however, Peters starred in American Horror Story, becoming the breakout star of the FX anthology thanks to his fan-favorite turn as Tate. He’s returned for almost every installment of the AHS franchise, and also starred in Pose, Murphy’s other hit FX series.

In 2014, the 33-year-old took on a superhero role of his own and it was ironically the same one as his former on-screen BFF: Quicksilver. Peters played the lightning fast hero in X-Men: Days of Future Past the 2016 sequel, X-Men: Apocalypse, delivering each movie’s most-talked about scenes.

For seven years, Peters was in a relationship with Emma Roberts, with the two getting engaged before splitting in 2019. Peters has since moved on with Halsey.

The Greek star played Dave’s other BFF, Marty, in Kick-Ass, which came out the same year as his other hit movie, Hot Tub Time Machine. 

After Greek came to an end in 2011, Duke, 34, returned for the sequels to both of those films, as well as appearing in Bad Moms and lending his voice to The Croods animated movies, with the sequel set to come out later this year.

Duke also starred in The Office‘s final season as Clark Green, one of the new customer service reps, in and recently popped up on Veronica Mars‘ fourth season on Hulu. 

Since playing Sgt. Marcus Williams, Hardwick has gone on to star in two of TV’s biggest dramas.

In 2013, the 46-year-old starred in BET’s Being Mary Jane opposite Gabrielle Union, and Hardwick has been the lead of Starz’s hit series Power since 2014. 

Hardwick married Jennifer Jae Pfautch in 2012.

After hanging up his Kick-Ass detective badge, Berkeley ended up playing bad guy opposite Lyndsy Fonseca in The CW’s Nikita.

Following appearances on The Mentalist, Salem and Justified, the 64-year-old actor joined the cast of AMC’s zombie hit The Walking Dead. He’s recently popped up on Supergirl, MacGyver and Bull.