Kickpuncher is the titular hero of a movie franchise within the Community universe that Troy and Abed are huge fans of. His first appearance was in the Season One episode "Romantic Expressionism". The hero as well as the movies have been referenced many times in other episodes. One of Troy and Abed's end tag is a fanvid of the movie starring Troy as Kickpuncher and Abed as his nemesis Punchkicker. Copies of the Community The Complete First Season DVD came with a free Kickpuncher comic book ostensibly written by Troy Barnes but actually written and drawn by artist Jim Mahfood.
The movie franchise is set in the "future" of 2006 A.D. where nuclear war has ravaged the planet. Kickpuncher is a police officer who has been cybernetically enhanced, so that his punches have the power of kicks. He has a metal half mask covering the left side of his face; it is equipped with a cybernetic eye that glows blue. He wears a metal gauntlet on his right forearm to further enhance his punches. He uses his new abilities to fight a syndicate of criminals who are pushing Mega Dope on the streets. At the end of the first film, he tries to reaffirm his humanity by asking a woman he saves to stop calling him Kickpuncher and call him by his real name, David.
Kickpuncher is an obvious pastiche of various '80s and '90s science fiction action films that take place in a post-apocalyptic near future. Its primary influence is "Robocop" as Kickpuncher shares a similar protagonist in the form of a cop that has been cybernetically enhanced. The name of the actor who portrays him is Don "The Demon" Donaldson, which is probably a nod to the B-movie action hero Don "The Dragon" Wilson. He starred in a number of similar themed sci-fi films, notably "Cyber Tracker" which deals with an execution force made up of cyborgs. The name Kickpuncher itself could be a reference to the webcomic Nedroid which, in its July 25, 2008 strip seen here, had the character Beartato state that he was going to review Kickpuncher II: The Fightening.
So far, up until mid-season three, there have been four explicitly stated "Kickpuncher" films in the fake franchise, as well as one presumable spin-off.
As was usual for franchises, especially horror franchises of the 80s and 90s, the assumed "final" film proves to be anything but the final film a la Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (the fourth film produced), which continued with Jason Lives a year later.
The end tag of "Romantic Expressionism" has Troy and Abed's fanvid of Kickpuncher. In it, Troy plays Kickpuncher, who faces off against his nemesis "Punchkicker" played by Abed. A short version was aired for the show's original broadcast. The complete version was shown online on NBCand Hulu.
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Added by Ultimateatomicbuster
