BitTorrent oracle TorrentFreak is reporting that Kick-Ass, the film based on the Marvel/Icon comic book by Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr., was the second-most illegally downloaded film of 2010, "losing" out to Avatar. Perhaps surprisingly, the decently successful Kick-Ass "boasts" an impressive 11.4 million illegal downloads, eclipsing the pirate count of 2009's mega hit Star Trek, which "won" last year with just under 11 million downloads.


The "success" of Kick-Ass on BitTorrent file-sharing networks parallels the film and comic book's anarchic spirit, although its creators and film backers would probably consider this news a dubious honor. That the film was more popular online than Inception, Shutter Island, Clash of the Titans, Green Zone, Sherlock Holmes, The Hurt Locker and Salt could speak to the distorted perception of Kick-Ass as a flop, or it may just reflect the number of pedophiles on the internet.

Interestingly, the only other comic book film to be downloaded nearly as much in 2010 was Iron Man 2, which was still less popular than Kick-Ass to the tune of 2.6 million steals.

[Via ICv2]