WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Old Guard, now available on Netflix.
Netflix's The Old Guard focuses on a group of immortal soldiers, led by Charlize Theron's Andromache of Scythia, as they're hunted by a pharmaceutical group who wants to harvest their bodies to unlock their secret to longevity.
While the film generally follows the source material, there are a lot of changes made in the adaptation of the Greg Rucka and Leandro Fernandez series. Let's break down the biggest changes in Netflix's The Old Guard.
ANDY'S ROMANTIC PAST
In the comic, Andy is nearly 7,000 years old and has had romances with immortals such as Lykon and a freedom fighter from the British revolution named Achilles. She settled down in Australia with the latter, but he drove Andy away to save her the heartache of watching him die.
The film alters this, as Lykon's death doesn't seem to hint they were lovers. There's no other romance for Andy shown in her flashbacks, so it seems she's rode solo all along and has no interest in relationships.
THE REGENERATIVE PROCESS
When Copley sells Andy's troops out, he has soldiers shooting them up in Sudan on a fake mission to test their immortality. In the books, they regenerate automatically, like Wolverine or Deadpool.
But in Old Guard movie, it takes a while for the immortals to heal and spit bullets out their bodies. Also, in Booker's case, when Copley and Merrick's thugs find them on the lam, his head's blown open. However in the film, it's his stomach that's torn apart.
NORIKO'S PRESENCE
In the comic, Noriko was Andy's lover for two millennia after they met in the Byzantine era. Unfortunately, a storm wrecked their ship and while Andy, Nicky and Joe tried to save each other, Noriko was tossed overboard and lost for centuries. She returned to seek revenge on them in the sequel, Force Multiplied.
But in the Old Guard film, she goes by the name, Quynh, and it's never clarified if she and Andy were ever lovers. She's drowned in the English witch trials here, locked in a watery tomb for centuries, causing Andy to give up on finding her before she returns in the post-credits.
BOOKER'S ARC
In the Old Guard comic, Booker deserts Napoleon's army when they try to attack Russia in the 1800s. He was hanged and faked his death so he could live on as an immortal without the army knowing.
The film doesn't play up his deserter role, though, and it gives him four dead sons, not three like in the books. He also betrays Andy and Nile, selling them out to Copley and Merrick and shooting them up, whereas the film shifts it to him betraying Andy alone, as Nile had already run away, unable to cope with immortality.
THE BIG RAID
Andy and Nile escaped Copley's trap with Booker in the comic, jumping off a building to then work with Copley so they could raid Merrick's lab and get their allies back. Booker and Andy shot each other up after disagreeing on him wanting them to be used as guinea pigs. They eventually dressed up as Middle-Eastern millionaires and raided the lab, saving their friends.
The Old Guard film alters this drastically, because Andy and Booker end up as lab rats, with Nile being the lone rescuer who works with a repentant Copley. She's already part of the team when she rescues them here, whereas in the comics, Nick and Joe only meet her then for the first time.
COPLEY'S REDEMPTION
In the books, Copley sold the immortals out so Merrick could experiment on them, and he only turned on Merrick to save his own skin. He relayed Merrick's info to Andy's crew so they could free their friends, and in Force Multiplied, Nick and Joe confronted him about his redemption.
The Old Guard film alters this,as Copley wanted to help Merrick so he could cure disease, and in the end, he actually joins the immortals as their handler. This is driven by him losing wife to ALS in the movie, giving him a clear motive. However, this isn't the case in the comic.
MERRICK'S CREW
In the comics, Merrick is essentially a tattooed tough guy being assisted by the mercenary Killey and scientist Ivanov. Merrick is shot to death by the immortals in his bathroom, and Killey is tossed from the building while Ivanov gets his neck snapped.
The Old Guard movie changes this up, as Merrick is thrown from the building while Keane' isthe chief soldier who gets his neck broken by Nile in the finale. Merrick is also more of a geek and less of a psycho in the movie, with the Old Guard cutting out how much he loves stabbing up his lab rats.
NICK AND JOE'S ROMANCE
The comic has a lot of flashbacks to Nick and Joe killing each other in the Crusades. They then realize they're not enemies but soulmates. They also kill Copley's goons when they're kidnapped and taken to Merrick. It seems to be the book's way of showing the goons attacked them for being gay and sharing a passionate kiss in captivity.
The film changes this, however, as it has the guards pulling them off each other when they kiss. Unfortunately, we don't get to see much of their history or how they met up with Andy and started a family with Noriko/Quynh, whereas in the comic, the four of them had a rapport and were close.
Starring Charlize Theron, KiKi Layne, Matthias Schoenaerts, Marwan Kenzari, Luca Marinelli, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Harry Melling, The Old Guard is now streaming on Netflix.