Do Joe and Nicky Kiss in ‘The Old Guard 2’?

Let’s get this out of the way: Joe and Nicky don’t kiss in The Old Guard 2. Not on the lips, not the cheek, not even a peck on the hand. The closest these two men get, physically, in this sequel, is to touch their foreheads together in a chaste nuzzle. And, frankly, I’m pissed about it.

Call me a fanfiction-pilled, ship-crazy fangirl if you must. But the passionate kiss between Marwan Kenzari’s character, Joe, and Luca Marinelli’s character, Nicky, was more than just a stand-out moment from the first movie. It was a beacon of hope for queer representation in a superhero action movie with an A-list star.

Over the last decade, Marvel films have thrown their LGBTQ viewers a few meager bones, including vague references to gay characters (whose romance happens off-screen, of course) and gay sex jokes that masquerade as “progress” (Deadpool & Wolverine, I’m looking at you). The Star Trek movies made Sulu gay, but cut the kiss with his husband from Star Trek: Beyond. The Fantastic Beasts movies decided not to make a young Albus Dumbledore “explicitly” gay. These movies, sometimes, acknowledge that we exist. But they don’t actually want to see gay people kissing. That’s gross!

But The Old Guard was different. When Nicky and Joe locked lips in The Old Guard—after Joe delivers a rousing speech about his devotion to his immortal lover—it was just as passionate, just as charged, and just as sensual as Han and Leia, Peter and MJ, Peter and Katniss, or any other heterosexual couple who’s had a big kiss moment in an action movie over the years. It’s no wonder that kiss became a beloved, viral moment from the film, and a driving force of the film’s devoted fan base.

“I was very proud and grateful that I could say something that resonated with a lot of people,” Kenzari said of that speech and kiss, in a recent interview with Decider. “For a lot of subcultures—people in the world that want, and need to be supported, and [need to] feel the strength that they deserve—it was heartwarming.”

This is not to say that The Old Guard 2 doesn’t have a sweet, romantic moment for the two immortal lovers, because it does. This time, Nicky gets to deliver the heartfelt speech, after Joe confesses he’s worried that the impending battle could be their end.

“Andromache, she walks 3,000 years alone before she found Quỳnh. But me and you, we were together from the start,” Nicky says. “I can’t look at us and believe it is arbitrary. Things end. What I feel when I see you, when I see your heart—that’s truly immortal.”

No one can deny the romance of that speech. But wouldn’t you think such a fervent declaration of love would be followed by a kiss? Instead, Joe and Nicky awkwardly shuffle forward to gently rest their foreheads together. The lack of kiss, in the obvious place where a kiss should go, felt pointed.

When asked if there were any takes where that moment did end in a kiss for Joe and Nicky, Kenzari told Decider, “I don’t know. We shot a lot that day. Definitely, some takes were more leaning on the romantic side. Some takes were leaning more on the dramatic side. Obviously, we’re not in charge—the grownups are in charge of what ends up in the movie.”

That’s not a confirmation that a kiss was cut, but does seemingly imply that—maybe—the decision not include a gay kiss was made by higher ups at Netflix. At a time when queer people are threatened by changing laws and public opinion, that feels like more than just a let-down—it feels like betrayal. We need The Old Guard‘s unapologetically gay storyline now more than ever. We needed affirmation that physical, sensual affection between men is just as movie-worthy as any sweeping, heterosexual kiss for the camera.

Instead, Netflix chickened out. That groundbreaking, in-your-face kiss was downgraded to an innocent, sex-less head nuzzle. Perhaps it would have stung less if The Old Guard 2 had been brave enough to make the relationship between Andy (Charlize Theron) and Quỳnh (Vân Veronica Ngô) explicitly romantic, as it is in the comics series written by Greg Rucka. (Incidentally, it’s thanks to Rucka that we got that first Joe-and-Nicky kiss. The writer stipulated in his contract that the first movie include that scene.) But Andy and Quỳnh’s love story is left to subtext, and one brief shot of the two women kinda, almost, cuddling.

It’s a bleak time for queer representation in mainstream media. Recently, it was reported that Disney cut a queer storyline from its latest film Elio, leading the film’s original director, Adrian Molina—a gay man—to exit the film. Fans have come to expect more from Netflix, especially when it comes to The Old Guard franchise. The Old Guard 2, with its large queer fan base, could have taken a meaningful stand. But it didn’t. Perhaps that why Netflix waited until June was over to release the film. There’s no Pride to be found.