Venom: The Last Dance ending explained

Venom: The Last Dance, the last installment in the Tom Hardy-led Venom trilogy. As with any Marvel movie... there's a lot that happens at the end.

Fear not, though, because we've rounded up every major event that takes place in the third act of Venom: The Last Dance. So if you missed something or if you're just masochistic when it comes to spoilers, you've come to the right place.

We'll start with a recap and then move onto your burning questions: who dies? Where does this leave Eddie Brock? Scroll on down for our guide – which is, and this is your last warning, bursting with huge spoilers – to the ending of Venom 3.

Venom: The Last Dance ending recap

After doing the opposite of laying low in Las Vegas, the feds aka Strickland (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and co. are able to track down Eddie (Tom Hardy) and Venom in Mrs. Chen's (Peggy Lu) penthouse suite. Eddie and Venom are taken back to Area 55 where Eddie is kept in a cell by himself and Venom is extracted and placed in the lab with the other symbiotes. Meanwhile, the hippy family aka Martin (Rhys Ifans) and co., manage to sneak their way into Area 51. The alien monster also makes its way into Area 55. Now that Strickland knows that the only way to keep the xenophages at bay and Knull from being released from his goopy prison is to kill Eddie and Venom, he takes over full jurisdiction of the lab, revokes Dr. Payne (Juno Temple) and Sadie's (Clark Backo) access.

Luckily, Sadie frees Venom, and he's able to reattach to Eddie so the two can take down the xenophage All of the alien symbiotes are released, and they all find hosts among the doctors at the lab. They team up to take on the xenophage...but it's not enough. Mulligan, whose blue symbiote turned him into Toxin, is eaten by a xenophage.

The xenophage 'phones home' and Knull (Andy Serkis) sends over another alien-monster. They manage to take one of them down – thanks to good ol' Martin wielding a rocket launcher – but Strickland is stabbed and three more xenophages touch down on earth. Dr Payne also briefly merges with a pink, super-fast speedster symbiote and briefly becomes Agony to help save Venom.

At this point, all of the Venom knows that Knull and the aliens won't stop until they can destroy the codex (that Eddie and Venom share) so sacrifices himself for the good of mankind and manages to trap all five of the xenophages before detaching himself from Eddie and allowing Strickland to set him and the xenophages on fire via hand grenade. Sadly, Strickland dies in the blaze.

Eddie wakes up in a hospital bed and is told by government officials that Venom is no longer apart of him. We then cut to Eddie walking through New York City as remembers all of the members he and Venom shared together.

Who dies in Venom: The Last Dance?

In terms of significant character deaths, Mulligan, who was fused with a symbiote to become Toxin, is eaten by a xenophage. Strickland is killed after throwing a grenade at Venom, which kills the xenophages and saves the world – but also kills Venom. It's also worth noting that all of the symbiotes, despite briefly finding human hosts that allowed them to fight the xenophages, are all killed. It's a sad end for everyone.

What happens to Venom?

Venom goes in a fiery blaze, dying a hero and saving the planet. However, a post-credits scene implies that this might not be the last we've seen of the alien symbiote.  In the brief scene, Cristo Fernandez's bartender character is seen climbing out of the wreckage of Area 55. As he looks around, we see an empty, broken vial and a cockroach. 

The broken vial in question is the one the feds used to collect the sample of Venom that was left on the change that Eddie paid with. You might also remember that Dr. Paine said that cockroaches can't be killed, and survive hundreds of thousands of years. This implies that that tiny sample of Venom was not destroyed and is, in fact, still out there.

What happens to Eddie Brock?

After Eddie wakes up in the hospital, he's told to never utter a word of what happened to anyone – or he'll be put away for a very long time. Fulfilling Venom's wish to see the Statue of Liberty, he heads to New York. As he recalls his memories, both fond and otherwise, of his time with Venom, he looks at Lady Liberty and says, "I'll never forget you, buddy."

Eddie's fate is more or less unknown, though we're hoping that his brief stint on Earth-616 means that we'll see him properly join the MCU eventually.

What happens to Knull?

Knull's goal throughout the film is to destroy the codex, which will free him from his goopy, drippy prison on the alien planet where all the symbiotes originated from. As a refresher, Knull is the creator of the symbiotes – who subsequently betrayed and imprisoned their own creator in a Frankenstein's monster sort of way. Because the codex is not destroyed, Knull is not released from his prison. In the mid-credits scene, he looks directly at the camera and vows his revenge: "Your champion has fallen. Planets will be mine! The King in Black is awake! I will kill your world!  Everyone will burn and you will watch!"

Venom: The Last Dance is in theaters now. For more, check out our guide to all of the upcoming Marvel movies and shows you need to know about, as well as our guide to how to watch the Marvel movies in order.