Venom 3 Easter eggs: all the Marvel references and deep cuts in The Last Dance explained

Oct. 25, 2024

All the Venom 3 Easter eggs explained

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Venom: The Last Danceis finally here, and, as you might expect, there are plenty of Easter eggs to sink your symbiote teeth into.

Picking up in the aftermath of Spider-Man: No Way Home and Venom: Let There Be Carnage, The Last Dance sees Eddie and Venom on the run from both earthly authorities and big bad Knull’s forces.

Below, we’ve broken down all the major Venom 3 Easter eggs and Marvel references, which naturally means there aremajor spoilers ahead. Turn back now if you’re not up to date on The Last Dance!If you’ve seen the movie, head on down for everything you might have missed.

Knull’s prologue

This isn’t an Easter egg, but worth mentioning all the same. After the initial prologue featuring Knull, we meet up with Eddie and Venom in the bar in the MCU that they found themselves in during theSpider-Man: No Way Home post-credits. This is a straight recap of that scene, ending with Eddie and Venom transported back home, where they immediately meet their reality’s version of Cristo Fernández’s bartender (whose appearance makes the movie a bit of a Ted Lasso reunion, thanks to Juno Temple’s appearance later).

Venom gets to say his signature catchphrase to four goons before chomping their heads off. Surprisingly, this is only the second time (well, second, third, and fourth time really) it’s said in the films – he doesn’t utter it once in Venom: Let There Be Carnage.

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One of the film’s biggest moments comes with the release of the symbiote prisoners. You might think that these are all comics characters and you’d be right… sort of. In fact, just as Mulligan is kind of Toxin but not really, these symbiotes resemble a group of named Marvel characters without actually being them. In the Lethal Protector comic series, the sinister Life Foundation generates five new symbiotes from Venom: Agony, Phage, Riot, Lasher, and Scream. The symbiotes we see in the film look a lot like these, but as they’re never named and we don’t find anything about their personalities, it feels like it’s just a nod to an iconic moment in Venom comics, rather than specifically them.

Eddie refers to Venom’s nickname as “the Lethal Protector” once again, as he does in the second film and Spider-Man: No Way Home. This time, however, it has more tragic connotations as Venom prepares to sacrifice himself to save the day.

Rhys Ifans, who plays alien obsessive Martin in The Last Dance, has previously appeared in aSony-verse Marvel film. He also played Dr. Curt Connors, AKA Lizard, in The Amazing Spider-Man, reappearing in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Martin and Lizard don’t seem to have any connection, though, so we can assume this isn’t another multiverse situation.

Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Rex Strickland in this film, but he’s no stranger to Marvel. He also plays Baron Mordo in the MCU, appearing in Doctor Strange and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Like Ifans returning as another character, though, there are no links between Mordo and Strickland.

The actor behind the terrifying Knull is none other than Andy Serkis. Not only is he a mo-cap and voice actor extraordinaire, he’s also the director of Venom: Let There Be Carnage. While Kelly Marcel takes over helming duties for The Last Dance, Serkis is still a part of the Venom family, clearly.

Eddie helps himself to a seriously sharp outfit in Vegas, suiting up in a tux and bow-tie. Considering rumors used to run rampant that Hardy would someday play James Bond, this seems like a nod to 007.

When Eddie and Venom take on the bad guys hurting dogs near the start of the movie, at one point in the battle, Eddie dangles upside down like a certain webhead we know and love. Considering Tom Hardy hasrecently said he still wants to fight Spider-Man, we’re sure this was a deliberate shout out to the wall-crawler.

Venom: The Last Dance is in theaters now. For more, check out ourVenom 3 reviewfor our spoiler-free verdict, or see what’s coming up with our guide to theupcoming superhero movies. If you’re in the mood for a movie marathon, see our guide on watching theSpider-Man movies in order.

I’m a Senior Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering all things film and TV for the site’s Total Film and SFX sections. I previously worked on the Disney magazines team at Immediate Media, and also wrote on the CBeebies, MEGA!, and Star Wars Galaxy titles after graduating with a BA in English.

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