The Old Guard is a 2020 American superhero film directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood and written by Greg Rucka, based on his comic book of the same name.

It stars Charlize Theron, KiKi Layne, Matthias Schoenaerts, Marwan Kenzari, Luca Marinelli, Harry Melling, Veronica Ngo and Chiwetel Ejiofor, and follows a team of immortal mercenaries on a revenge mission.

[5][6] Andromache "Andy" of Scythia, Booker, Joe, and Nicky are millenia-old warriors with unexplained regenerative healing abilities who use their vast experience to work as mercenaries, taking missions to help people.

They accept a job from former CIA operative James Copley to rescue a group of kidnapped girls in South Sudan, breaking their rule of never working for the same employer twice.

Meanwhile, in Afghanistan, U.S. Marine Nile Freeman is killed by having her throat slit while taking down a military target during a house search, but recovers and heals without a scratch.

Copley shows the video of the ambush to pharmaceutical executive Steven Merrick, who sends operatives to capture the team.

When she shares her dream with the others they tell her about Quynh, the first immortal aside from herself that Andy's found, who was sentenced for witchcraft and cast into the sea in an iron maiden approximately 500 years previously.

Upon discovering the attack, Andy kills all of the remaining assailants while Booker recuperates, but she's mildly wounded and realizes she isn't healing.

Andy, Nicky, Joe, and Nile meet with Copley, who explains how his research revealed their past missions had a greater effect than they ever knew, including how the descendants of people they had rescued went on to help the world in many different ways.

In an epilogue set six months later in Paris, a depressed and drunken Booker stumbles into his apartment to find Quynh waiting for him.

In March 2017, Skydance Media obtained the rights to adapt the comic The Old Guard, written by Greg Rucka and illustrated by Leandro Fernandez, into a film.

[7] Rucka's contract stipulated that a major scene highlighting the romance between the characters Joe and Nicky from the book had to be kept in the film adaptation.

[8] In July 2018, they hired Gina Prince-Bythewood to direct with Rucka adapting his book to screenplay and Skydance's David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Don Granger producing.

[...] But Quynh’s new 'death,' solidified by Prince-Bythewood’s suggestion of the iron maiden imagery, served an important narrative and tonal role as well".

[23][24] On July 17, Netflix reported the film was on pace to be viewed by 72 million households over its first four weeks, among the top 10 most-successful original launches in the platform's history.

"[29] At Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 70 out of 100, based on 45 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

"[31] Owen Gleiberman of Variety called the film a "watchable franchise wannabe" and wrote: "Chunks of the picture are logy and formulaic (it dawdles on for two hours), but the director, Gina Prince-Bythewood (making a major lane change after Love & Basketball and The Secret Life of Bees), stages the fight scenes with ripe executionary finesse, and she teases out a certain soulful quality in her cast.

[...] Though The Old Guard tackles superhero-movie clichés in interesting ways, it has more difficulty with the emerging conventions of the Netflix movie".

[...] The sexuality of the characters is matter-of-fact and inconsequential to their ability to kick total-and-complete ass, yet also given the dignity of expressing and showing their love".

[34] Benjamin Lee, for The Guardian, wrote that "in 2020, it really shouldn't be such a big deal, but watching a form of unfettered queer love exist within the confines of a fantastical comic book adaptation, aimed at a wide audience, felt major to me.

[...] It's just as passionate, just as charged, and just as sensual as Han and Leia, Peter and MJ, Peeta and Katniss, or any other heterosexual couple who's had a big kiss moment in an action movie over the years".

[14] Theron has expressed her interest in a second film, saying: "Let's have a little resting period, but just given the fact that all of us really want to do it, I'm sure when it's the right time, we'll start the conversation.