Venom: The Last Dance is called “The Last Dance” with good reason. Tom Hardy’s time as Eddie Brock/Venom seems to be coming to an end – but that arc ending doesn’t mean the entire Sony Spider-Man Universe is coming to an end. Sony has three Marvel movies coming out this year (Madame Web, Venom 3, Kraven the Hunter) and that’s a lot of potential crossover opportunities available.
Want to know what happens at the end of Venom: The Last Dance and what it could mean for the future of the franchise? Keep reading to find out!
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WARNING: SPOILERS FOLLOW!
Venom: The Last Dance Ending Explained
The final act of Venom 3 sees Eddie Brock/Venom (Tom Hardy) captured by “The Imperium,” a clandestine science and military group that has been hunting down and capturing symbiotes since they landed on Earth. Venom is taken to the underground base of “Area 55” to be studied along with other symbiote prisoners – and possibly killed, as the death of either Eddie or the symbiote will save the universe from Knull, God of the Symbiotes.
Unfortunately, Knull and his symbiote beasts track Venom to Area 55 and one beast infiltrates the Imperium’s base. The resulting “boss battle” unleashes the captive symbiotes who bond with Imperium team members to fight Knull’s forces. Venom has to try to both save his symbiote allies, the hippy family he befriended and himself; when the battle spills onto the surface, Knull sends an entire squad of symbiote beasts as reinforcements.
Venom knows that they are hopelessly outnumbered, and leads the monsters away from those he cares about. Eddie and the symbiote prepare to make a last stand together – but the symbiote changes the deal, tossing Eddie away and using its body to ensnare all of the symbiote beasts. Venom drags the monsters into an acid bath over the old Area 51 site, and allows itself to be disintegrated along with all the symbiote monsters. Fatally-wounded Imperium General Rex Strickland (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is operating the acid bath controls and takes the final measure of pulling a grenade pin and blowing up the entire site. Imperium scientist Dr. Teddy Payne (Juno Temple) survives by bonding with a unique symbiote sample, which transforms her into engery-charged “Agony,” who escapes the facility at super speed.
With the Venom symbiote gone, Knull’s escape from his galactic prison and the threat of a symbiote invasion are averted. Eddie, now just a normal human again, has his criminal record expunged by the government for saving the galaxy – so long as he keeps his mouth shut about his experiences as Venom. Eddie agrees and moves to NYC, to restart his career as a reporter.
The post-credits scenes tease that Knull will return as “The King in Black” in future Sony-Marvel projects – while a second scene teases that a piece of Venom may have survived by bonding with a cockroach.
Will The Venom Movies Continue?
The ending of Venom: The Last Dance is very confusing in its goals. It’s played as a poignant and emotional ending for Tom Hardy’s time as Venom, but the film also goes out of its way to set up a larger universe with Knull and the Imperium, suggesting that Sony isn’t done with this lane of the franchise completely.
As for what Venom 3‘s ending is setting up? Whether it’s Venom 4 or a different crossover event that will tie new or continuing franchises together remains to be seen.