Venom 3’s Rex Strickland has a far more tragic backstory than you could imagine

As just one of many in Venom 3 who make it their mission to chase down Eddie Brock and Venom, Rex Strickland’s arc just scratches the surface of the character’s comic book history. (Warning: spoilers ahead!)

In Venom: The Last Dance, Eddie and his symbiote are on the run from Knull and his Xenophage, a top-secret science team at Area 51, and high-ranking soldier Rex Strickland.

Played by Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rex Strickland serves as a questioning and morally stern soldier, who becomes suspicious and overly cautious when Dr. Payne’s symbiote experiments get out of control.

Strickland is a secondary character in the new movie, but his comic history is anything but. In fact, his experience with war and alien creatures makes him a truly gut-wrenching figure.

Rex Strickland fought in the Vietnam War

At the age of 19, Rex Strickland served in the US Army during the Vietnam war, and was picked up by Nick Fury when injured to become part of a symbiote super-soldier experiment.

In 1966, Strickland was nearly killed when he made the noble choice to sacrifice himself for his team. After being struck with bullets and burned with napalm, he was taken to a nearby field hospital.

During his recovery, Nick Fury offered Strickland the chance to become a super-soldier. To do this, he’d have to bond with an ancient symbiotic substance that S.H.I.E.L.D had unearthed. Strickland accepted, and he and his symbiote were given the code name ‘Tyrannosaurus’.

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When Strickland returned to the field with his new bond (and a new team of super-soldiers), they were sent to destroy a Việt Cộng military depot. However, they were unable to control their symbiotes, and Strickland and his team awoke after their other halves committed terrible atrocities.

During the rest of their missions, Strickland would often black out and awaken to the horrific sight of mutilated and half-eaten bodies around him, all while his symbiote screamed at him.

Eventually, a Nick Fury decoy and Logan (aka Wolverine) were sent to subdue Strickland and his team, but his Tyrannosaurus symbiote detached from him. Strickland managed to warn them both, but a battle ensued that resulted in the symbiote rebonding with Strickland, suddenly feeling remorse for its atrocities. In the fray, Strickland was killed by an explosion when the Nick Fury decoy self destructed.

Strickland set up his own Avengers team (kind of)

After Strickland died in Vietnam, his consciousness was stored in the Symbiote Hive-Mind as a codex.

The Tyrannosaurus symbiote took over his personality and physicality, allowing it to steal his identity. In that time, he would bond with Venom and manage to kill the symbiote dragon Grendel, but not before almost destroying itself in a blast.

Strickland and Tyrannosaurus were eventually reunited in the symbiote afterlife, and together created a team of symbiotes and their hosts in an attempt to stop Knull from awakening. This included the mind of Eddie Brock, who Strickland saved and recruited.

They found the God Hive, but the codex of Flash Thompson took possession of Tyrannosaurus as his avatar, trapping Eddie in the living abyss and seemingly destroying Strickland’s codex.

He could return

Although Venom 3 was supposedly the last adventure for Venom and Eddie Brock, there’s reason to believe Rex Strickland could return in future symbiote movies.

The path has been laid for the likes of Knull to come back, so why not Strickland, too? In Venom 3’s ending, Strickland sacrifices himself in a grenade blast to help defeat the Xenophage (along with Venom), but that doesn’t mean it’s the end for him.

Given his resurrection in the comics, it stands to reason that Strickland might still have a larger part to play. Could we be seeing a Vietnam War-set symbiote prequel in the near future? Who knows! But we do know that director Kelly Marcel has teased more Venom movies to come.

“The plot for Eddie and Venom closes here,” Marcel said [via Variety]. “But as you know, there are lots of symbiote stories in the canon. There are lots of places to go, and maybe there are a few Easter eggs in here that might start that journey off.”

Venom: The Last Dance is in theaters now.

For more, learn more about the Venom 3 post-credits sequence. You can also uncover all the Venom 3 Easter eggs to be found, and see what upcoming Marvel movies are next.