I read the second The Old Guard comic and honestly, it isn’t as horrible or bad as some people around here make it out to be. It actually feels like a solid base to adapt it for the screen in a second movie, if you focus on the concept. Though there is obviously a lot of work that needs to be done. The comic does feel flat and like it lacks substance and character progress, but it is not like it all needs to end up in a trash bin.
First of all: It’s nothing like the fanon wants it to be. We are all desperate for a happy ending and a happy ever after and that comic does not give us that. So I get the ressentment, if it is just based on that.
a) They used a lot of the character development already in the first movie, so they need to invent new and more. There are still some things in it left, but not much. There is some Nile/Andy development that I hope to see in the second one. The rest I think was already used, so the writers of a second movie hopefully will put a lot of effort to explore the characters and make them into more than just plot devices. As they did that already in the first movie though, I’m rather confident.
b) The underlying plot and theme though is interesting and if they explore what it means for the characters it will add a lot of grey and complexity. It will also add some well-needed nuance to the whole question of history and what kind of developments the characters went through.
It just needs to be handled with a lot of care, but still many people will be really angry. It would be a great thing to explore that the world a few centuries/millenia ago was different. That rules were different. That morals were different. That what people saw as right or wrong was different. That it doesn’t mean any of that is right and what it means for a person. Do you change or does the world change? What does that mean anyway?
