'Kingsman' prequel 'The King's Man' trailer set to Black Sabbath's 'War Pigs' highlights spy agency's anti-government origins
2014's 'Kingsman: The Secret Service' introduced the world to the titular intelligence organization that dealt with the greatest threats to world peace using James Bond-esque suits and gadgets. The series' prequel, 'The King's Man', will be detailing the origins of the organization, which somewhat changes the way we look at the agency.
A trailer for the prequel that was released on September 29 features the horrors of World War I, a dark cabal of tyrants controlling the course of the war from behind the scenes, and the origins of the organization that would work to bring them down. While it looks like the prequel will be maintaining the fun spy-comedy feel of the other films in the series, it does ever so slightly change the origins of the eponymous spy agency.
This is how Harry Hart/Galahad (Colin Firth) describes the origins of the Kingsman organization in the first film: "Since 1849, Kingsman Tailors have clothed the world's most powerful individuals. In 1919, a great number of them had lost their heirs to World War I. That meant a lot of money going uninherited. And a lot of powerful men with the desire to preserve peace and protect life. Our founders realized that they could channel that wealth and influence for the greater good. And so began our other venture. An independent, international intelligence agency operating at the highest level of discretion. Above the politics and bureaucracy that undermine the integrity of government-run spy organizations. A suit is the modern gentleman's armor. And the Kingsman agents are the new knights."
The most important change that 'The King's Man' will be bringing to this story is that instead of being an organization founded by rich, altruistic old men who have lost their heirs, the prequel shows that the agency was actually founded by a single, determined man, the Duke of Oxford (Ralph Fiennes), who was fed up with the British government's inability to end the war.
While the idea that the Kingsman organization is an "independent intelligence agency" has always been made quite clear, the trailer for 'The King's Man' highlights this fact, which puts them in opposition to government forces who are either unable or unwilling to make the decisions needed to end the devastation caused by WWI.
This adds a surprising yet welcome anti-establishment touch to the origins of the agency, one that's highlighted by the soundtrack of the trailer: 'War Pigs' by Black Sabbath, a song that was written as a protest against the Vietnam War. The message the film is getting at is quite clear: in times of crisis when governments have more to profit from war than from peace, it falls to civilized citizens to take the action that is necessary to end the destruction of lives.
'The King's Man' will be arriving in theaters February 12, 2020.