Venom: The Last Dance promises in its tagline "Til Death Do They Part." But is Sony really ready to end the adventures of their most popular Spider-Man villain? That seems unlikely when Madame Web and Morbius failed to catch on. And if you're wondering how Eddie Brock and Venom can go on after that world-rocking ending, look no further than the post-credits scene.
In the third Venom entry, a new problem is foisted upon Eddie and Venom (both played by Tom Hardy). They discover they carry a codex that could be the key to free Knull, a ruthless villain older than time itself. Determined to escape his throne/prison, Knull (Andy Serkis) unleashes deadly xenophages upon the earth to hunt the codex down, whatever the it takes. In a heroic move, Venom destroys the codex at great personal cost. But then what?
Well, the mid-credits scene promises this may have worked to shut Knull down for now. But it's not the last we'll see of this grumbling extraterrestrial warlord. What other questions are addressed in the post-credits scene?
What happened to the bartender from Ted Lasso?
Cristo Fernández first popped up as a bewildered bartender in the mid-credits of Spider-Man: No Way Home. There, he tried to explain to an incredulous Eddie the horrors of Thanos' genocidal snap. But before Eddie can make sense of all that, he got snapped back to his dimension. That scene is recreated in Venom: The Last Dance, with Eddie and Venom popping into a similar bar where the bartender is also played by Cristo Fernández. This poor guy not only witnesses the drunken symbiote make a mess of his bar while trying to make a cocktail, he also gets abducted by the U.S. military, simply because he's a witness to the strange wonder that is Venom.
This bartender — who gets stun-gunned by order of solider Rex Strickland (Chiwetel Ejiofor) — is taken to Area 51, along with a sample of Venom's ooey-gooey flesh. While the film's finale shows Area 51 get razed, it's not clear what becomes of the handsome unnamed bartender. But the post-credits scene reveals his fate.
Cautiously coming out of a cavern, the bartender has survived the obliteration of Area 51. While around him lie the ruins of buildings and the corpses of various extraterrestrial and terrestrial beings, he runs for the hills. But he's not alone in this sun-beaten desert.
What's in the vial at the end of Venom: The Last Dance?
The post-credits scene ends on a small, broken glass vial lying in the dirt. Inside is a bit of purple glue that lets off a lighting-like spark of electricity. This is the shedding of the purple symbiote who joined with Dr. Teddy Payne (Juno Temple) to save her assistant Christmas (Clark Backo). This is a flickering reminder that there's still a powerful symbiote alive and kicking on Eddie's Earth. As shown by Teddy flexing her formerly paralyzed left hand, her symbiote is inside her and strengthening her. But what else might this shot mean?
Could it suggest the bartender's time with symbiotes is not over? After all, we saw in the white rapids scene how a symbiote can use various hosts to leapfrog across a rough terrain.
The key to Venom's return is in The Last Dance's post-credits scene.
Sure, Venom sacrifices himself to destroy the codex that had Knull chasing Eddie. In doing so, he saves his friend and the Earth. But is that really the end for Venom? Eddie's tip for the bartender in the opening sequence suggests not. When he leaves a coin on the bar, a closer look reveals he's also left behind a bit of Venom's slippery black goo.
Strickland takes both man and symbiote back to Area 51. And if that bartender, with his very penetrable human flesh, could make it out of there alive, it seems certain Venom's shedding could too.
The glint of that vial in the end may have been purple, suggesting it might be Agony, not Venom. But it is nonetheless a remind that Venom's shedding might also have survived the explosion and escaped its glass bonds. And we did see a cockroach scurrying about. Could that shiny black bug be how Venom begins his long trek back to Eddie?
For now, all we can do is speculate. But here's hoping Venom 4 will bring the big guy back, wild as ever.
Venom: The Last Dance opens exclusively in theaters Oct. 25.
