The Venom trilogy, which began in 2018 when it launched Sony’s Spider-Man universe, has come to a close. The series of films focused on Spider-Man villains and characters have largely been derided by fans (you can see our ranking of the Sony Spider-Man Universe here), but the Venom movies have been mostly well-regarded. Bringing the symbiotic villain to the big screen without Spider-Man, his archnemesis, was a strange choice, and one that hasn’t been entirely successful.
Still, the flawed trilogy has remained a bit of fun and the only highlight of the atrocious Sony Spider-Verse. The two previous entries utilized post-credit scenes to hint at upcoming events, including the introduction of Woody Harrelson’s Carnage and Venom’s brief, yet memorable, foray into the MCU. With this allegedly being the final installment in the trilogy, is there a post-credit scene? Yes. In fact, it has two.
Venom: The Last Dance Mid-Credit Scene Explained
The story of The Last Dance sees the titular symbiote (allegedly) die while heroically sacrificing himself to save Eddie and the rest of humanity. Knull, making his cinematic debut, is shown to be the God of the symbiotes. He’s been trapped by those very symbiotes and the only way to escape his prison is through a key known as a “Codex” which exists inside of Venom and can be tracked when they take on their full form.
If that sounds like nonsense… it is.The only way to destroy the Codex and ensure that Knull remains locked in his prison is for either Eddie or the symbiote (or both) to die.
In the mid-credits scene we see Knull, played by Andy Serkis, stewing and brooding from the confines of his hellish prison. He declares that since Venom is now dead, the people of Earth stand no chance as he vows to make his way to our planet and bring a wave of death and destruction with him.
It’s a short scene that sets up Knull as a Thanos level threat for the Sony Spider-Verse. The real question is… will there even be a Sony Spider-Verse for Knull to exist in? I guess only time will tell.
Post-Credits Scene Explained
At the very, very end of some very, very long credits we get a post-credits scene. The bartender, played by Cristo Fernández, who appeared in the post-credits scene of Spider-Man: No Way Home reprises the role in The Last Dance. He witnesses Eddie as he’s flung between universes and is terrified by the black tentacles that grow from his back to make a cocktail.
The bartender does his best to describe these horrors to the military personal who come asking, and as a result, he’s snatched up and transported to Area 51. Area 51 is the the setting for the film’s climactic final battle, and is ultimately reduced to ash and rubble.
In the post-credits scene we see the bartender emerge from an Area 51 bunker, seemingly the sole survivor. He warily walks out into the open while calling for help that never comes. As he walks alone into the distance, a cockroach can be seen in the foreground. The roach scurries up a vile that had previously contained a symbiote and peaks its head in. In an earlier scene Dr. Payne, played by Juno Temple, had remarked that cockroaches could survive anything, setting up the lone surviving cockroach at the end.
Symbiotes were previously shown to shed small amounts of their “goo,” suggesting some of the symbiote may still be present inside the seemingly empty tube. This is clearly intended to tease the possibility of of symbiotic cockroach in the future. Is that something fans want? Maybe.
