What's Going On with the Erasure of the 'Immortal Husbands' in 'The Old Guard 2?'

The fan-favorite gay couple from the action film about immortal mercenaries "The Old Guard" are still alive in the hit movie's new sequel. Fans were keen to see Joe (Marwan Kenzari) and Nicky (Luca Marinelli) return with more of their millennium-spanning love, not to mention their eternal flame for each other.

But the so-called "Immortal Husbands" don't have the same intense queer vibe this time around. In fact, a report from The Daily Beast lamented, they barely register at all in the sequel.

Joe and Nicky have been killing, and kissing, for the better part of a thousand years, the article noted. Lovers and fighters since The Crusades, the flame between them is ancient and it showed no signs of guttering in 2020's original adaptation of the comic books on which the film franchise is based.

"For a genre that has frequently disregarded queer stories and characters, the palpable love between these two men was blatantly displayed, which still feels nothing short of groundbreaking in 2025," the Beast noted. "They hold each other in their sleep, make declarations of love to each other in the wake of homophobic jokes from their captures, and seal their love with a burning kiss."

But Joe and Nicky don't scorch the screen, or each other, with their deathless devotion nearly as much in the new follow-up, "The Old Guard 2," the writeup asserted. While still buzzing with queer energy – with a lesbian romance simmering away between Andy (Charlize Theron) and Quynh (Veronica Ngo) – the new installment seems to have toned down the gay love narrative between the guys that was a successful part of the first movie, the Beast said.

Indeed, the article noted, despite their popularity (inspiring thousands of works of gay fan fiction), Joe and Nicky are relegated to such bit player status that "the couple are nearly erased from the sequel entirely, disappearing for 10-minute intervals at a time, so much so that when they pop back up you're jolted into remembering why you're watching this film."

Even when they do show up, Joe and Nicky "feel more like brothers-in-arms in this film than they do a couple," the Beast went on to add. "They give each other side-hugs like dude-bros do, and speak to each other in a stilted way that doesn't emulate two men who have loved each other for nearly 1,000 years."

Indeed, "there is a shocking lack of physical affection between the two men," the Beast pointed out, noting that even when the new movie serves up an impassioned moment, "instead of a kiss we watch as they nudge their foreheads together."

Meanwhile, "the relationship between Andy and Quynh takes center stage," the article said. "Though it does feel undeniably queer, it is also sanitized in a way that the first film and original graphic novels never were."

"The fight scenes between them are infused with sexual tension, but in 2025, is that enough?"

Gay Twitter, too, expressed disappointment with the new film's neglect of the queer couple.

The first film ended with a cliffhanger, and so has the new movie. Though not immortal, fans of the franchise will be waiting to see if there will be a third film – and, if so, whether the long-lived lovers will recover the spotlight that shone on them so briefly.