Warning: This post contains spoilers for Venom: The Last Dance.
Despite its “The Last Dance” subtitle, the third Venom film, like many superhero movies, includes post-credits scenes hinting at potential future storylines. However, these post-credits scenes introduce two plot threads that are unlikely to be explored further, a pattern common to Sony’s Spider-Man Universe and other superhero franchises.
Venom: The Last Dance follows Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock and his alien symbiote companion (Venom, also voiced by Hardy) as they flee a government agency and a relentless extraterrestrial killer across the Nevada desert. Commander Rex Strickland (Chiwetel Ejiofor) leads the special forces pursuing Venom, as the organization known as Imperium attempts to capture all the symbiotes that have landed on Earth. The alien creature pursuing them is a xenophage, a fearsome monster dispatched by a supervillain named Knull. Played by Andy Serkis (though mostly seen from the top of his head), Knull predates the universe and created all the symbiotes, only for them to rebel against him and imprison him. The bond between Venom and Eddie holds the key to his release, and Knull sends the xenophage to hunt them down.
By the film’s conclusion, Venom and Eddie realize they cannot defeat the xenophages, even after Strickland recognizes the symbiotes as the lesser evil and offers Imperium’s assistance against the monsters. As long as Venom and Eddie remain connected, Knull could be freed, so Venom ultimately chooses to sacrifice himself in an acid bath that eliminates the xenophages and ensures Knull’s permanent confinement. The movie ends with Eddie gazing at the Statue of Liberty as clips of his memorable moments with Venom over the past three films play out.
However, the post-credits scenes suggest that Knull or Venom might not be gone for good, even though it’s highly probable that they are.
What Happens in the Venom: The Last Dance Post-Credits Scenes
Venom: The Last Dance‘s first post-credit sequence occurs midway through the credits. We return to Knull, still imprisoned on his throne, with only his greasy, long white hair visible. He is enraged and notes that with Venom’s demise, The King in Black is awake, and no one remains to protect the universe. He then raises his head, revealing Knull’s face for the first time, resembling a computer-generated fantasy villain reminiscent of a cutscene character.
While typical of post-credits scenes—a defeated villain threatening to return—this scene lacks coherence within the preceding film’s context. The entire point of Venom’s death was to prevent Knull’s escape from imprisonment as long as he remained alive and bonded with Eddie. Knull, whose first appearance in Marvel comics was relatively recent (2018), is also known as “The King in Black,” so he’s not foreshadowing a new, greater threat, simply stating, rather impotently, that he’s not finished yet.
The second and final post-credit scene arrives at the very end, offering a humorous callback. Earlier in the film, Eddie and Venom startled a bartender at a Mexican resort while making themselves a drink behind the bar, utilizing Venom’s tentacles to flip (and break) bottle after bottle of alcohol. After Eddie left, he left a tip on the bar—and unintentionally left a bit of the symbiote behind. A few scenes later, Rex appeared at the bar, collected the symbiote sample, and took the bartender in for questioning. He is not mentioned or seen again until the post-credit scene, where the bewildered bartender stumbles out of the wreckage of Area 51 wondering what happened. As this unfolds, a cockroach crawls past the broken vial containing the symbiote sample, suggesting that, like a cockroach, Venom is harder to kill than one might think.
This scene, too, is fairly standard for a post-credit sequence—a lighthearted joke combined with a subtle hint that the hero persists. It has the added benefit of avoiding the need for sequels that the Knull scene creates. Venom might still be alive! Isn’t that nice? This is a far different sentiment than Knull, this villain who didn’t actually accomplish much in this film, says he’s going to actually do something now. Guess we’ll find out in the next movie?
The Venom films are by far the most successful in terms of both commercial and, to a lesser degree, critical acclaim among Sony’s Spider-Man Universe films. Box-office tracking for The Last Dance, especially overseas, indicates over $150 million in revenue, making a fourth movie a possibility—though whether Hardy would be willing to tango a fourth time remains uncertain. The film’s ending, post-credits excluded, feels quite definitive. If there is no sequel, Knull’s grand boast will join the ranks of Madame Web‘s tease of a Spidey-team that will never see another adventure (no amount of money could convince Sydney Sweeney to return for a supporting role in Madame Web 2) and Morbius‘s confusing multiverse-spanning Michael Keaton cameo.
The trend of dead-end post-credits scenes extends beyond Sony’s Spider-Man movies. Many recent entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe conclude with teases that, based on the films’ reception, seem unlikely to be revisited. Remember when Harry Styles appeared in Eternals? Or when Hercules appeared in Thor: Love and Thunder? Or when Kelsey Grammer donned the blue makeup to reprise Beast after The Marvels wrapped up?
As the future of superhero films appears less certain than it has been for two decades, it’s only natural that post-credits scenes—often designed to set up the future—would also be in a rut. Venom: The Last Dance has post-credits scenes because that’s the superhero movie convention. Whether these scenes will matter going forward is highly doubtful.
