Twenty years ago the world was introduced to mild-mannered-insomniac named... Well, we don't know his name. He's generally called The Narrator. But we were also introduced to Tyler Durden, an enigmatic and devil-may-care soap salesman.
Yes, it was a grand two decades ago that Fight Club hit cinema screens, and subsequently, its posters hit the walls of every male university student for years to come.
But did you know Fight Club has a sequel?
Yep. Source material for Fight Club 2 is out there in the world just waiting to be adapted.
Fight Club, the film by David Fincher, is based on the novel of the same name by Chuck Palahniuk. And Palahniuk turned his hands to another medium to continue the story of Tyler Durden, our unnamed narrator, and his (their?) girlfriend Marla: comic books.
Fight Club 2: The Tranquility Gambit is a ten-volume series which sees our unnamed narrator, now called Sebastian, in his dysfunctional relationship with Marla (played by Helena Bonham Carter in the 1999 movie).
But the comicbook differs from both the novel and the film in one big way. The movie and its source material are both told from The Narrator's point of view. The comicbook is told from Tyler's.
Ten years after the events of Fight Club, Tyler is resting unpeacefully in Sebastian's subconscious, but he eventually reemerges to cause chaos in Sebastian's life.
To get the full gist of the story, you'll have to read the comics. But if you want to know what happens, keep on reading. Be warned, there are spoilers.
In summary, Tyler is resurrected after Marla swaps out Sebastian's medications for placebos. This backfires when instead of having an "affair" with Marla, Tyler burns down their family home and apparently – but not actually – kills their son.
The fire sparks something in Sebastian, who learns his father was killed in a similar fire. He begins to suspect that Tyler has been around a lot longer than he originally thought.
Sebastian discovers that Tyler has been regularly let out of the box on the sly by Sebastian's shrink, and has been recruiting for Project Chaos, whose main ethos is that feminism has ruined the world and emasculated men (*insert eyeroll here*). Tyler plans to use Sebastian's son to destroy the world's governments, modelling him into a modern-day Alexander The Great. Sebastian protests but can't stop Tyler.
Tyler tries to rape Marla, who subsequently flees and investigates Tyler's Rize Or Die group, which is revealed to be behind ISIS – among other organisations.
Tyler continues to order his followers to do increasingly weird and harmful things, most of which end in bloodshed. Tyler suspects that Sebastian is learning too much, and sends him on a suicide mission (yes, we can see the obvious problem with this, too).
He eventually reveals to Sebastian that he is like a virus working through the generations of his family and now that he has infected Sebastian's son Junior, Junior won't need Sebastian anymore.
Meanwhile, Tyler’s minions have gathered all the world’s treasures and hidden them before triggering armageddon. Sebastian fights his son and the family is reunited. Briefly. They're all buried alive in a huge salt cavern.
Now, for the twist!
We earn a commission for products purchased through some links in this article.
In the final volume, it is revealed that Palahniuk himself is telling the story of Fight Club 2 to a group of fellow comicbook writers and friends for their opinion.
They don't like the ending he came up with, in which Tyler succeeds in destroying the world outside his bunker. Palahniuk explains that the original ending was that there was never a nuclear holocaust, and the weapons he had been hoarding were used to bury everyone in the bunker alive to put a stop to Tyler.
But then the fanboys struck. A horde of angry Fight Club movie fans come to Palahniuk's doorstep to say they're unhappy with this ending too.
Instead, they write their own ending which resurrects everyone from the bunker. The members of Tyler's apocalyptic group Rize or Die join the fans to save the rest of Tyler's followers.
In the final moments, Palahniuk and Tyler are walking on a beach and Tyler asks what would happen in Fight Club 3. Palahniuk reveals that Marla will become pregnant by Tyler but have an abortion.
Tyler shoots Palahniuk in the head and announces that he will be a father.
And even that's not where the story ends. Because Fight Club 3 is already out. The twelve-issue series began in January 2019, meaning there's already nine issues out and only three to go.
Boiled down version: Sebastian (now called Balthazar) and Marla are still together, but she's having Tyler's baby. CHAOS ENSUES.
You can purchase Fight Club 3 for the kindle on Amazon.co.uk
Digital Spy is launching a newsletter – sign up to get it sent straight to your inbox.
Want up-to-the-minute entertainment news and features? Just hit 'Like' on our Digital Spy Facebook page and 'Follow' on our @digitalspy Instagram and Twitter accounts.
