Venom 3 ending explained: Does Eddie Brock die?

Venom 3 is the final turn for Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock and his symbiotic buddy Venom, and the ending serves as a hit to the heart for fans. (Warning: major spoilers ahead, obviously.)

After three movies, the toxic relationship between Eddie and Venom has come to a close. Together, they’ve faced Riot, Carnage, and now Knull, all of whom made their attempts to bring the symbiotes and their chaos to Earth.

As the Sony Marvel movie rounds out the trilogy, there’s plenty of questions that still remain. Will Venom ever make his way into future Spider-Man adventures? Will Knull return as a supervillain in future Marvel flicks? 

We’ll just have to wait and see whether the Venom universe continues, but for now, here’s the Venom: The Last Dance ending explained.

Venom 3 ends with a battle at Area 51

The Venom 3 ending kicks off when Eddie and Venom are captured by the scientists at Area 51, with General Strickland determined to kill Eddie in order to prevent Knull from getting the Codex key.

First things first: let’s recap. The big threat of the movie is Knull, who’s chilling in his space prison and waiting for his Xenophage to capture Venom in his true form and get the Codex key. The key is how Knull can get out of his imprisonment, so he’s been after Eddie and Venom from the start.

The only way to destroy the key is if either Eddie or Venom dies, breaking their bond and eliminating it altogether. When Strickland discovers this, he goes down to the research lab and takes Eddie, shooting him in front of scientists Dr. Payne and “Christmas”.

Fortunately, Venom has secretly bonded with Christmas, allowing him to jump out and connect with Eddie, saving his life. Unfortunately, this also means the Xenophage sees him. It crashes into the room, and everyone runs up into the main lab where the other symbiotes are being kept.

Venom instructs them to release the symbiotes. While the security guard is killed, the symbiotes release and bond themselves to the guard, along with several other scientists (including Christmas), creating new Venom-like beings. 

Together, they draw out the Xenophage to the surface, where the battle commences between the Xenophage, the symbiotes, and the military. 

Eddie saves the day in Venom 3

While the battle ensues, Martin and his family have snuck onto the base and are seeing it all from a watchtower above. Eddie spots them and runs up, admitting that he has an alien lifeform attached to him. As the chaos reigns below, the watchtower base is destroyed, throwing the family over the edge. 

Eddie shifts into Venom and saves them all, bringing them to the ground and into Dr. Payne’s truck so she can drive them to safety. Meanwhile, the symbiotes are still battling the Xenophage, which becomes increasingly difficult as more portals open up and more Xenophages come into the fray.

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Eddie jumps onto a motorcycle, with Venom shifting into his full form to lure the Xenophages away. In the fight, Strickland is injured, along with several of the other symbiotes, leaving only Eddie/Venom and Christmas. Eddie is also injured, and looks as though he might be killed until Martin turns up with a rocket launcher and shoots it at one of the Xenophages, saving him.

Who dies: Eddie or Venom?

Using the chance to escape, Eddie and Venom hide out in a van. Venom looks out onto the bloodbath and realizes there’s only one way to end it. One of them must die, and it has to be Venom.

Venom and Eddie say an emotional goodbye, with Eddie believing they’re both about to perish. Venom transforms to lure the Xenophages and absorb them as he walks towards the acid tanks the military have been using to destroy equipment. As he steps under the tanks, he throws out Eddie onto the ground and places a metal door over his body to protect him.

Strickland then climbs up onto the control panel and authorizes the machine, sending acid spraying onto Venom and the Xenophages. Meanwhile, Dr. Payne and Christmas are running away, avoiding the sprays and pieces of symbiotes that are landing around them.

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Strickland takes a grenade and throws it into the tank as well, creating a huge, messy explosion of black goo and acid, killing himself in the process.

Dr. Payne and Christmas barely escape, with Dr. Payne crushing a vial of symbiotic substance in her hand to save Christmas and get them out, turning into a symbiote herself. (Her appearance is eerily similar to that of Agony.) Eddie passes out.

Eddie goes to New York

The last scene of The Last Dance is Eddie, now free of Venom and any symbiotic antics, waking up in a hospital. There, a government official tells him that he’s been cleared of Mulligan’s murder, and is free to go live his life. (Under the condition that he never mentions any word of his experience to another living soul, of course.)

Finally, we see Eddie, now a free man, walking through the streets of New York City. As he does, a montage of him and Venom’s time together plays over Maroon 5’s ‘Memories’. He finally reaches the water and looks out at the Statue of Liberty, just as he promised Venom they would do when they made it to the city.

Venom: The Last Dance is playing in theaters now.

For more, check out our guide on watching all the Venom movies in order. You can also learn more about all the upcoming Marvel movies, and find out what’s going on with Spider-Man 4.