This post contains spoilers for Venom: The Last Dance.
Is this really Venom’s last dance?
Is the alien symbiote — and his best buddy Tom Hardy — really saying goodbye?
Alex Abad-Santos is a senior correspondent who explains what society obsesses over, from Marvel and movies to fitness and skin care. He came to Vox in 2014. Prior to that, he worked at the Atlantic.
The question at the core of Venom: The Last Dance is a simple one: Is this really the end of Venom?
Is this really Tom Hardy’s last hurrah as journalist-turned-anti-hero Eddie Brock? Is the greatest comic book movie love story — a man standing in front of a symbiote asking to be loved — finally done?
Going by the events of the movie, it’s a yes to all three. But The Last Dance has two post-credits scenes that leave open the smallest possibility that this might not be the end of the alien’s superhero era.
In the film, Brock and Venom — the alien symbiote with whom the reporter shares a body — are hounded by a villain named Knull (CGI actor extraordinaire Andy Serkis). Knull is apparently some kind of awful, terrible evil — a being draped in shadows with startlingly white hair — that’s trapped in a world of eternal darkness. The only thing that can free him is a codex (which looks like a little glowing, swirling gem), which, because this is ostensibly a movie about Venom, is actually part of Venom’s body. Knull sends unkillable alien creatures called xenophages after Venom and Eddie, with the intent of killing one or both and bringing back the codex so Knull can unleash destruction and despair upon the universe.
Meanwhile, Venom and Brock are on the run after the events of Venom: Let There Be Carnage. They’re hiding out in Mexico, but after Venom eats some men, they decide to try to build a new life for themselves in New York City. Venom tells Eddie that he wants to see the Statue of Liberty, in large part because Eddie explains how she welcomes anyone who needs America’s shelter and protection. (Yes, Venom: The Last Dance actually functions as an allegory for immigration reform featuring a literal undocumented alien.)
Because of Knull and his xenophages, as well as interference from the American military, the pair never make it to New York. Instead, they’re stuck at Area 51, where things look bleak for Venom. In the symbiote’s last stand, he absorbs Knull’s murder beasts and douses himself in corrosive acid — the only thing strong enough to dissolve the xenophages. Venom’s final act is sacrificing himself for Brock and Earth, and as he and his attackers die, so does the codex.
In the movie’s final scene — after an extended Eddie and Venom montage — Eddie visits New York City and gazes at the Statue of Liberty. It’s a sight that he knows Venom would have loved. And this folks, is the end … or is it?
Venom: The Last Dance’s credits scenes leave the door cracked for future symbiotes
The first of The Last Dance’s credits scenes is a short one. Knull appears on screen again, proclaiming that Venom has died and that he is coming to take over the universe! Will he? Well, Knull’s return will largely depend on how much money this film makes. If it does rake in some cash — Venom movies do particularly well overseas — Knull could be back. But if Knull returns, wouldn’t this point to the return of Venom as well? You can’t have a villain without a hero! That’s not how superhero movies work!
Lately, the once-solid, surefire success of a superhero movie looks more vulnerable, and studios are scrambling. Marvel’s post-Endgame design has fallen apart, and the studio is banking on bringing back Robert Downey Jr. to help jump-start the engine. Warner Bros. is headed for a Jame Gunn-led reboot of its DC Comics properties. Sony’s tiny coterie of Marvel-adjacent films has been a semi-bright spot in the landscape, so if this film’s a hit, they’re liable to find a way to bring the franchise back.
But how?
The Last Dance’s second credits scene happens after all the credits scroll, and it features a look at the rubble that remains at Area 51 where Venom perished. It’s all destroyed! Everything is a mess! All this has allowed Brock’s bartender from Mexico, who we see detained by the US military early in the film, to break out of his cell, and he wanders across the desert.
The important part here is that we see a cockroach approach remnants of a symbiote. (I fully understand that sentence is silly, but Venom is silly.) The gist: If this cockroach — nature’s ultimate symbol of survival — touches the symbiote, then said symbiote could possibly live. Therefore, if any part of Venom was spared by the acid, it could possibly survive via cockroach too.
What this all means is that even though the movie said farewell and even though it probably is a goodbye to Hardy, there’s still a possibility that Venom or Venom-affiliated heroes (e.g., other symbiotes) could live on. That ambiguity is good for anyone who loves these movies, or anyone who possesses the odd, delusional fantasy of seeing some kind of Sony shared universe where Madame Web, Morbius, and Venom all hang out like pals, or anyone who wants to finally get the Venom x Tom Holland Spider-Man crossover that’s been relentlessly teased.
Like the aforementioned Knull credits scene, what will ultimately determine Venom’s future movies will be the box office. If lots of people go see this movie and it makes millions and millions of dollars, this won’t be Venom’s last dance. Fans of closure be damned.
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