Before he co-created the adult animated series Harley Quinn and Kite Man: Hell Yeah!, Dean Lorey revealed that he tried bringing the obscure DC Comics character Hitman to the small screen.
Who is DC Comics’ Hitman?
Created by Garth Ennis and John McCrea, Tommy Monaghan/Hitman is an ex-Marine Gulf War veteran turned contract killer who operates out of the Cauldron, a lower-class Irish district of Gotham City. The character first appeared in The Demon Annual #2 before headlining his own series that ran for 61 issues. In addition to being highly skilled with firearms and in hand-to-hand combat, Hitman has x-ray vision and can read minds.
In an interview with The Direct to promote Kite Man: Hell Yeah!, Lorey explained that he previously tried to bring Hitman to the small screen as a series on Syfy. Although the project didn’t move forward, Lorey’s love for Hitman led him to include some of the character’s supporting cast in Kite Man: Hell Yeah!
“Also, because we established the bar Noonan’s, that sort of naturally led to some Hitman characters. And I had been a fan of Hitman for a long time and, in fact, developed with Garth Ennis’ version of it for Syfy that never went forward,” he shared. “And so that’s where a lot of the Hitman characters sort of came from. Moe and Joe double and Shawn Noonan and Six-Pack, and all of that.”
Kite Man: Hell Yeah!, a spin-off of Harley Quinn, follows the saucy adventures of Chuck Brown/Kite Man (Matt Oberg) and his girlfriend Lisa Snart/Golden Glider (Stephanie Hsu) who “moonlight as criminals to support their foolish purchase of Noonan’s, Gotham’s seediest dive bar, where everybody knows your name, but not necessarily your secret identity,” reads the show’s official logline.
The first season, consisting of 10 episodes, was released on Max between July 18 and September 12, 2024. Lorey co-created the spin-off with Patrick Schumacker and Justin Halpern. The trio also executive produce the series alongside Kaley Cuoco and Sam Register.
Kite Man: Hell Yeah! and the first four seasons of Harley Quinn are currently streaming on Max, while a fifth season is set to premiere in November 2024.
