Every Symbiote Appearing in Venom: The Last Dance, Explained

Say what you will about the Tom Hardy Venom trilogy, they tried at least. With the series seeming like it’s over, for now at least, it certainly went out on quite a visually expensive finale. Over the last couple of films our Symbiote count was substantially low, with four in the first film (despite all but two dying) and two in the second with a third teased we were low on Symbiotes. In Last Dance, we get quite a lot of them.

With a budget of 120 million, not including marketing, they certainly had a lot of cash to throw around for their big CG goop monsters. We’ve tracked and collated each appearance of a new symbiote in the movie and took a stab at who some of them could potentially be referencing from the comics. So here’s every symbiote in Venom: The Last Dance, explained.

Warning: Spoilers For The Plot Of Venom: The Last Dance Are Below.

How Many Symbiotes Are In Venom: The Last Dance?

In total there are roughly ten symbiotes that pop up throughout Venom: The Last Dance. Eight appear in containers, one is in Detective Mulligan and of course we have the big man himself, Venom. A few bond with main or side characters in the climactic finale, whilst a bunch appear after they’ve bonded with background characters.

It’s a huge gooey throwdown that’s hard to keep track of, but considering they’re taking on several unkillable Xenophages these symbiotes are going to need all the help they can get. Also, whilst each new symbiote is not named outright, from their designs and fan theory we can piece together who they’re either supposed to be, or are referencing.

We won’t be counting Venom bonding with animals. Those are just new hosts, not a new symbiote since it’s still Venom controlling them.

Every Symbiote, Explained

Alongside Venom we have quite the eclectic collection of goopy alien parasites that pop up in the Last Dance. Whilst a few hold center stage, or at least the sidelines for either a few minutes or cool moments, there are plenty of blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearances as well.

For the eagle-eyed amongst you that caught them all, well done. For those who missed out, didn’t recognize them, or were overwhelmed with too much CG, here’s who made a fun cameo in the film.

Venom

First up on the table we have Venom. He’s present throughout the film since he is one of the main characters. Throughout the story we see Venom and Eddie bonding and enjoying their “last moments” together before a big brawl at the end with a noble sacrifice.

For those not familiar, Venom is a symbiote alien that arrived on a ship from the Life Project back in the original movie. In the comics, Venom is also an alien, but he’s much different. Instead he bonds with a different Eddie Brock than the one we know and also Spiderman. Although he would later become the nemesis of the latter.

Venom has mostly been returned to anti-hero status in the comics.

Lasher

Lasher is a green and sleek symbiote that bonds with Sadie Christmas at the climax of the movie during the showdown with the Xenophages. The rest of the time the symbiote is kept within a sterile, forcefield-covered stasis chamber until Christmas unlocks it.

She’s proactive in the fight and gets quite a lot of hits in with the glaive arms she manifests along with other stabbing weapons. Unfortunately, she doesn’t make it to the final credits as Lasher is eaten by a Xenophage and destroyed. But her host survives as she’s ejected by the Xenophages sonic blast ability that fires just before the symbiote is disabled and eviscerated.

Lasher in the comics is very similar to her portrayal in The Last Dance. Both are green and feature lots of lashing tentacles that can cause a lot of damage.

Fun fact, in the comics Lasher’s most recent host was called Sadie and they joined Venom in fighting Knull. This is how we can be sure that this Symbiote in the movie is indeed Lasher.

Not Toxin

Now we come to perhaps the most unfortunate character in the series, Detective Patrick Mulligan. A dogged detective of the SFPD that’s been on Eddie Brock and Venom’s case since the first film. He’s forever confused as to what’s going on, and in Let There Be Carnage we see Mulligan impaled on a spike and dying. That is until a symbiote spawned from Carnage revives him.

It’s assumed that this is Toxin. The same Symbiote that Mulligan bonds with in the comics. But unfortunately, that’s all we get of him as he disappeared somewhere between Let There Be Carnage and The Last Dance.

Seems Mulligan was left for dead, but he was grabbed by the Imperium Project before he passed. Poor Mulligan was saved from death, but was also bonded with a brand new symbiote. This time around we get to see them, and they’re quite lovely.

We never get its name, but the creature is bright teal and very long, and instead of legs it has a large tentacle. It also spends the majority of the movie locked in a room spouting exposition.

The only time we see it in action is when it tackles a Xenophage to stall it for Venom before said creature then unceremoniously eats and shreds the Symbiote. Along with Detective Mulligan, who probably didn’t get a say in things. Poor chap.

Mulligan had only recently woken up from a coma after spending the previous movies confused about “monsters”, and terrified by Carnage. Then he’s piloted by a Symbiote again only to be shredded and killed instantly. He’s the unluckiest character in the franchise.

Phage

Phage is another Symbiote that gets the short straw somewhat. In the movie we see him suspended in storage with the other Symbiotes until the Xenophages attack. When he does get out we see this orange-colored goop alien bond with a fatally stabbed Jimmy.

Jimmy is a portly security worker at Area 55 who’s impaled by the Xenophage that breaks in. However, Phage bonds with him and the two go on to kick ass for a few minutes, forming big club hands and generally being a little stocky bruiser of a Symbiote. That is until the pair are killed by an anti-tank rocket fired by Rex Strickland, an Imperium Commander on the base.

In the comics, Phage is another Life Foundation Symbiote that escapes and goes after Eddie Brock. There are a lot of similarities to their design and the way they attack. Which is how we can make the connection that this Symbiote is a reference to Phage.

Agony

Agony is a fan favorite that’s popped up over the years and it’s nice to see her in The Last Dance. Especially since it’s a brief scene. We first see Agony in her purple Symbiote goop form, stuck in a capsule along with the others.

However, she’s popped out of her capsule by Doctor Teddy Payne. The reason, to save her colleague in the climactic explosion that destroys the facility at the old abandoned Area 51 base. We then see her happily hide within Doctor Payne. The two are last seen staring toward a ruined airfield as it finishes exploding and melting.

Agony’s powers manifest in super speed. Which is implied to be born from, or at least themed around, the lightning strike that struck Doctor Payne when she was a teen since tiny sparks are shown under her skin. The same lightning strike that killed her brother and set her off on her journey to live like her brother dreamed. Symbolism you see.

In the comics, Agony was one of the original Symbiotes created by the Life Foundation and was briefly a member of the superhero team known as the Thunderbolts. So her appearance tracks pretty accurately to the source material.

Two-Headed Hybrid

At one point during the finale, we see two symbiotes break out that are similar looking and dark colored. These two take one look at the Xenophages, then each other, and decide to bond into one. Forming a two-headed symbiote that focuses on webbing up and restraining the Symbiote Hunter whilst the others attack.

They’ve formed from a random male scientist and security staffer and it’s an interesting support role Symbiote that we don’t technically see die. But we can assume the pair do.

They’re last seen being pinned to the ground by a Xenophage that arrives with others as reinforcements for the original Symbiote Hunter. We never see it again, but considering Venom took out all the Xenophages himself, the two-headed symbiote probably got munched.

For comics fans, this could be a reference to an unnamed two-headed hybrid from the comics that appeared in the Life Foundation as an amalgamation of several Symbiotes.

The Blue Spiky Boy

This one is a bit of a grasp at straws because we don’t get a name for this Symbiote and their appearance in the movie is super brief. But at some point during the breakout of the Symbiotes to combat the Xenophages he bonds with what we can assume is a guard and forms a large, blue and very spiky Symbiote. Though we never see this happen, he just turns up.

Unfortunately, we also don’t get its name, but it does a fair amount of damage during the fight against the Xenophages. But, just like the others it looks like it gets shredded offscreen with its host.

The last time we see him is he’s looking offscreen in panic and concern as more Xenophages turn up. Then one tackles him and when all the Xenophages surround Eddie and Venom, our big blue boy is nowhere to be seen.

Comics-wise, this could potentially be a background symbiote from the Life Foundation in Area 55. We don’t get a name, so it’s a lot of guesswork.

White Symbiote

Another we don’t get a name for, but there is a white symbiote we see. Like the others, she spends the majority of the movie tucked up in her tank until the big throwdown in the finale. Then she’s let loose and bonds with an Area 55 researcher with glasses who was briefly spoken to by Sadie Christmas. The subsequent bonding produces a tall, sleek, and whiplike Symbiote.

We see her briefly fighting the Xenophages, using her whips to damage and restrain them as she hangs off surfaces, and they do ok. That is until the symbiote is grabbed by the Xenophage suddenly and then consumed and shredded brutally along with her host.

Fire Symbiote

Another unknown Symbiote that looks like he’s going to be useful, but really isn’t, is an unknown Fire Bending Symbiote. This creature appears during the Xenophage break-in and its goop form is red. When it bonds with its host it creates a short Symbiote that’s charred, super hot and launches fire.

He attacks the Xenophages a few times, but when the fight progresses outside the fire symbiote is immediately eaten and shredded. He does zero damage and is mushed like paper in seconds. If you were to look for a comic reference, this could possibly be Scream as they had a similar look and abilities. It’s a brief appearance, and a mostly useless one, but he’s there.

Will The Symbiotes Be Back?

Whilst there are arguments to be made that Venom will be coming back, unfortunately the majority of the other Symbiotes don’t fare so well. Aside from Agony who escapes inside Doctor Payne, the rest are absolutely mulched by Xenophages. Or ‘Team Killed’ in Phage’s case. So it’s safe to assume that they won’t be coming back, aside from Agony and maybe Toxin of course.

Venom on the other hand gets bailed out by the writers in a post-credits scene as we see him escaping a demolished upper Area 51 inside a cockroach. The goopy chunk of him supposedly being the piece that was captured in a test tube at the start of the movie.

We also see a bunch of concepts in the credits of what Venom would look like bonding with different animals. For example, a hawk, squirrel, French Bulldog, Snake, octopus and more. Which you could argue is Venom bouncing around in different hosts as he crosses America making his way back to Eddie.

Finally, considering we get baited hard with Knull turning up in another post-credits scene, we’re probably not done with Symbiotes just yet.