Venom: The Last Dance

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Knull (Andy Serkis) the creator of symbiotes has been imprisoned in his own lair by the very creatures he spawned. Hell bent on revenge, he vows to slice worlds after killing his children, but first he has to break free. In order to escape, he needs the power of a codex which will serve as the key out of his prison. A codex is formed when a symbiote’s host dies and it fully bonds with him or her for revival. To date, only one symbiote/host tandem has achieved such a feat. Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) is still on the run as a fugitive after his bloodbath against Carnage. Seeking refuge in Mexico, he gets the idea of sneaking into New York, where he knows a judge that he could blackmail so he can have his life back. As Venom takes over from time to time, Knull’s henchmen find it easier to locate him.

In the post-credits scene of Spider-Man: No Way Home, Venom leaves a tiny part of him on a bar counter in the MCU’s Earth-616 before being yanked back to his own Sony universe. Venom: The Last Dance continues that scene where Eddie Brock ends up in the same bar but in his own universe, Venom leaving yet another part of him on that counter, which is later scooped up in a vial by the Area-51 guys. In this film’s post-credits scene, we see that vial smashed on a rock somewhere in the deserts of Nevada, implying that the sample is now looking for a new host in order to stay alive.

I don’t have a PhD in Venom Studies so I don’t know how this works. With Venom – the symbiote, not Eddie Brock – making the sacrifice play, Venom: The Last Dance should be the definitive end of this trilogy… until we get to that post-credits scene. As it is, Eddie Brock is still alive somewhere in New York but no longer infected, and we have two small samples of Venom the symbiote: one in the MCU; the other in the Sony universe. Even if the main Venom symbiote is dead, does that mean he can still regenerate as long as a tiny smudge of him is left alive somewhere? If anything, that simply leaves Disney and Sony enough room to resurrect the character.

The main problem with Venom: The Last Dance is its big bad. Knull is menacing alright, but he is tied up in some dark BDSM lair where he cannot really escape, even more so now that the codex is gone, although he can just wait until any other symbiote manages to create another one. Because of this, the only villains that Eddie and Venom consistently fight in this movie are the military and some ugly creature thingies who look like they auditioned for the role of the Upside Down monster in Stranger Things but didn’t get a callback. With no active big name villain like Carnage to play around with, this threequel ends up dull and uninspired.

We do get to see a group of symbiotes in action, though. Now that is fun to watch. Venom has always been a villain and we will always remember him as Spidey’s nemesis, but one good thing that Sony managed to accomplish with this trilogy despite fvcking it up big time is to cast a new light on the character, giving him a chance to play out as an anti-hero with a sense of humor, his downfalls as far as human decency is concerned readily swept under the rug because he isn’t human after all. I love Venom, to be honest. By Venom, I mean the symbiote, not Eddie Brock. He is such a crass and unapologetic blabbermouth and I love him for it.

Overall, Venom: The Last Dance provides enough feels to say goodbye to a popular character. Yeah, yeah, the critics have a say, but worldwide box office receipts prove otherwise. This is probably Sony’s only lucrative franchise to date, Into the Spiderverse trilogy aside. Only time will tell whether we will see Hardy as Venom again. If not, there is always room for a recast, considering they don’t seem done yet with Tom Holland’s Spider-Man. These two will have to face off one way or another, after all, right?