SPOILER ALERT: This article contains major spoilers about the ending of Venom: The Last Dance, in theaters now.

Ever since the title of Venom: The Last Dance was revealed, fans have been wondering whether the threequel is really the curtain raiser for Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock and his Spider-Man symbiote. Hardy and director Kelly Marcel have repeatedly said that this is the final chapter of the trilogy, and it seems they may be right.

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At the end of “The Last Dance,” Venom sacrifices himself to save Eddie from a pack of xenophages, relentless monsters that eat symbiotes like they’re snacks. They corner Eddie and Venom in Area 51, where the government has been conducting symbiote experiments. After freeing the captured symbiotes, Eddie, Venom and the venomized scientists and soldiers have their final showdown – where there happens to be a giant vat of acid. Venom breaks away from Eddie to save him, trapping the xenophages in his sticky body. He staggers under the acid container, says a warm goodbye to Eddie, and pours water on himself and the xenophages, killing them all. Alone without his symbiote buddy, Eddie travels to New York City and gazes at the Statue of Liberty in the final moments of the film. This fulfills Venom’s dream of going to the Big Apple.

Even though Venom is dead, that doesn’t mean there are no traces of symbiotes left on Earth. Dr. Juno Temple’s Payne transforms into a purple symbiote at super speed (thanks to being struck by lightning as a child) and retains her powers until the end of the film. The post-credits scene also shows Cristo Fernández’s bartender emerging from the destruction of Area 51 after the symbiote battle. He stumbles away, but the camera pans to a vial that contained Payne’s symbiote as a cockroach touches it and gets a jolt of electricity. Just as cockroaches can survive a nuclear explosion, the scene suggests that Fernández’s character may have had some hidden skills of his own that helped him survive.

The other mid-credits scene is a message directly from Knull, voiced by Venom: Let There Be Carnage director Andy Serkis. The looming, Thanos-like villain says, “Your champion has fallen, the King in Black is awake. Your world will burn and you will watch!” But who exactly is Knull, the all-powerful creator of the symbiotes?

Well, he’s a relatively new comic book character, having only been introduced in 2018, but he has some connections to characters in the MCU. Knull is introduced in the comics as the god-like King of Darkness, who has been around since the creation of the universe and is as old as the Celestials (those giant space creatures from “Eternals”). He is banished after decapitating a Celestial (that head ends up being Knowhere from Guardians of the Galaxy) and later creates the first symbiotes from the powerful Celestial energy. (Another nice fact about Knull: His blade, All-Black the Necro Sword, is stolen by Gorr the God Slayer from Thor: Love and Thunder. Many years later, Knull’s army rebels against him and traps him on a symbiote planet called Klyntar a which means “cage” in symbiote language. In modern times, Knull is eventually freed and invades Earth with his symbiote horde, leading to a team-up between the Avengers and Venom to save the day.

Knull is considered one of the most powerful villains in Marvel Comics, but his first appearance in Venom 3 could be his last. Sony has no concrete plans to continue his or Venom’s story, but director Kelly Marcel is certainly open to a future full of symbiotes.

“This is just the introduction to Knull. He’s a huge, huge character, so you can never be satisfied with him. This is just a small taste of Knull. We get to know him. Who knows what the future holds for him,” she said at New York Comic Con. “Eddie and Venom’s storyline ends here. But as you know, there are many symbiote stories in canon. There are lots of places to go and maybe there are a few Easter eggs here that could start that journey.”

Marvel and Sony are working on the script for Tom Holland’s fourth Spider-Man film. This could be the next chance for fans to see more of Eddie, Venom or Knull – but nothing has been confirmed yet. However, Eddie ends up in New York at the end of Venom 3, making it much easier to encounter Queens native Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man – if there were ever a crossover.

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