🎬 Venom: The Last Dance (2024) – Full Plot Summary (English)
âť– Directed by: Kelly Marcel
âť– Starring:
- Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock / Venom
- Chiwetel Ejiofor as Rex Strickland
- Juno Temple as Dr. Patricia “Teddy” Paine
- Stephen Graham as Patrick Mulligan / Toxin (cameo)
- Rhys Ifans, Alanna Ubach, Peggy Lu and others in supporting roles
🔹 Opening – Fallout from Spider-Man: No Way Home
The film opens immediately following Eddie and Venom’s brief visit to the MCU (as seen in Spider-Man: No Way Home‘s post-credit scene). Eddie returns to his original universe, confused, disoriented, and now on the run. His brief interdimensional jump has made him a target for multiple global agencies, and he’s framed for several crimes committed while he was gone.
Venom expresses frustration with humanity’s obsession with control and order, declaring that they are “outdated meat bags.” Eddie, meanwhile, is weary and emotionally scarred — the once playful tone between the two has become tense, echoing the cracks forming in their bond.
🔹 New Threat Emerges – The Symbiote Hunters
A shadowy military faction led by General Rex Strickland has started hunting down symbiotes. We learn that symbiotes have been arriving on Earth in small numbers since Venom: Let There Be Carnage, and many are being captured and weaponized by the U.S. government at a facility known as Imperium Base, located in the Nevada desert.
Strickland himself is a former host to a symbiote and believes they must be eradicated or fully controlled. He oversees a top-secret bioengineering program to create symbiote soldiers. Several symbiotes have been forcibly extracted from unwilling hosts and are now being studied and enhanced.
🔹 Xenophage & Knull – The Cosmic Turn
The story deepens when a more terrifying threat arrives from space: Xenophage, a monstrous, ancient alien species that feeds exclusively on symbiotes. These entities are scouts of a greater being—Knull, the dark god of the symbiotes (teased briefly in the Venom 2 post-credit materials and comics).
Knull, imprisoned at the edge of the universe, seeks to return by regaining dominion over his “children.” The Codex, a living database of all symbiote hosts, is hidden on Earth. Xenophage’s mission: retrieve the Codex and use it to bring Knull to life again.
Venom begins having nightmares and physical tremors, sensing Knull’s awakening. He tells Eddie: “The god of darkness stirs… and we are not ready.”
🔹 Teddy Paine & The Symbiote Resistance
Eddie and Venom cross paths with Dr. Patricia “Teddy” Paine, a brilliant geneticist and whistleblower from Imperium who has defected from Strickland’s program. She reveals that the U.S. government has unwittingly accelerated Knull’s return by collecting symbiotes and experimenting with their genetic structure.
Teddy becomes a key ally and a foil to Eddie — her logical, scientific worldview clashes with his chaotic, emotional nature. She initially views Venom as a “disease,” but slowly comes to respect the deep bond between Eddie and the symbiote.
🔹 Return of Toxin & Moral Dilemma
A surprise reappearance of Patrick Mulligan (from Venom 2)—now hosting the unstable symbiote Toxin—adds complexity. Toxin represents a chaotic neutral force: unlike Carnage or Venom, it is young, impulsive, and unpredictable. Eddie wants to destroy Toxin, but Teddy argues he can be controlled.
This culminates in a moral dilemma: Are all symbiotes evil? Or is the bond between host and symbiote what defines them?
🔹 Final Battle – Nevada Showdown at Imperium
The climax unfolds in a multi-stage final act at Imperium Base, where Strickland attempts to merge Xenophage with a superhost, turning it into a doomsday weapon. Eddie, Venom, Teddy, and even Mulligan/Toxin team up to stop the operation.
A massive fight ensues. Xenophage proves too strong, consuming weaker symbiotes and tearing through the facility. Eddie and Venom realize the only way to stop it is to merge with it, absorbing its power and destroying the Codex from within.
In a heroic final moment, Venom detaches from Eddie, sacrificing himself by fusing into Xenophage’s core and detonating a bioplasmic pulse that destroys the creature and disables Knull’s tether to Earth.
🔹 Aftermath – Loss & Legacy
Eddie awakens in a hospital days later. Teddy tells him that the world believes Imperium was a rogue operation, and Eddie has been “cleared” of all charges. However, Venom is gone.
There’s a deep, quiet moment as Eddie walks through the city without the voice in his head for the first time in years. A ghost of a smile appears when he hears a faint echo of Venom’s voice, hinting that some part of him may still remain.
🔹 Post-Credit Scene – The New Host?
In the forest, a child stumbles upon a shard of black ooze, glowing faintly. It crawls up the child’s hand and merges silently with his skin. This suggests Venom—or part of Knull—may live on.
🎠THEMES
- Sacrifice & Identity: Eddie finally learns to live as himself, without Venom.
- Control vs. Connection: Symbiotes can be monstrous or meaningful depending on their hosts.
- Legacy: The world now knows of symbiotes. A new chapter may begin without Eddie.
đź“Ś Final Notes
- This is the final Tom Hardy-led film in the Venom trilogy, as confirmed by Sony.
- Venom 4 is not officially in development, but rumors point to a possible “Agent Venom” reboot or a multiverse crossover with Marvel characters.
- Tom Hardy wrote part of the screenplay with Kelly Marcel and said it’s a “sendoff” to Eddie/Venom’s story.
