Venom: The Last Dance didn't receive the warmest of responses from many critics heading into the weekend but, for the most part, fans do appear to have had a good time with the Sony Pictures threequel.
During the final act, the Lethal Protector finds himself teaming up with several Symbiotes in a bid to fend off the invading Xenophage. It's an edge-of-your-seat, action-packed sequence but are those aliens based on characters from the comic books? Yes and no.
In this feature, we're revealing the most likely identity of each Symbiote and ranking them from worst to best. That's based on what they bring to the table in Venom: The Last Dance and their sheer level of badassery.
You can read through this breakdown and ranking by clicking on the "Next"/"View List" buttons below.
5. "Toxin"
During the closing moments of Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Detective Patrick Mulligan survived his run-in with Shriek and seemingly acquired his own Symbiote.
Comic book fans knew those glowing blue eyes were likely meant to indicate Carnage's offspring, Toxin, had bonded with the cop. However, Venom: The Last Dance established that the alien abandoned him, only for the Imperium Project to save Pat's life by bonding him with one of their captive Symbiotes.
This character, who we believe is meant to be a new take on Toxin, delivers a lot of exposition before being chewed up and spat out by a Xenophage. His snake-like appearance is cool, but we were left wanting more.
4. Phage
When an Imperium Project security guard named Jim is stabbed by a Xenophage, one of the Symbiotes bonds with him. Together, they fight side-by-side with Venom and the other aliens to fend off Knull's army.
While he's not identified as such, this yellow-ish Symbiote does appear to be Phage even without the same powers as his comic book counterpart.
Of all the largely unnamed Symbiotes who appear in this sequence (including a white one we think has been mistakenly identified as Anti-Venom), it's Phage who perhaps makes the biggest impression...even if that two-headed alien - possibly a nod to Hybrid - is pretty badass.
3. Agony
Juno Temple's Dr. Teddy Payne is given a fairly sizeable role in Venom: The Last Dance, including an origin story that reveals she and her brother were struck by lightning as children. She survived, while he did not.
After bonding with a Symbiote, Payne unleashes electricity-based powers and super-speed. All signs point to Sony having bigger plans for Agony moving forward given the amount of screentime she receives here, though she certainly doesn't feel worthy of a spin-off just yet.
Agony is the only Symbiote that survives the battle with the Xenophage. Still, we can't help but think Payne would have been better off being revealed as the better-known Scream instead.
2. Lasher
Sadie is another Imperium Project scientist who we soon learn has a real love of all things Christmas. A new take on the same version of the character we met in 2019's Absolute Carnage, she initially suits up as She-Venom to help Eddie Brock escape.
Later bonding with a green Symbiote that unleashes powerful tentacles from its body, Sadie makes quite the impression...before her alien suit also becomes a victim of the Xenophage.
Clark Backo only has a small, yet undeniably memorable, role in Venom: The Last Dance and we're disappointed Sony didn't take this opportunity to set the stage for Lasher and Agony to embark on future adventures together.
1. Venom
Venom: The Last Dance is Eddie Brock's movie and he deserves to be at #1 in this ranking. Tom Hardy's interpretation of this character may not be wholly comic-accurate, but c'mon, he gives it his all in this threequel.
Eddie and Venom finally feel bonded now the whole love/hate relationship is put to one side, and that makes following them on this surprisingly emotional story all the more enjoyable.
It's a shame we don't see more of what Venom can do - a by-product of the Lethal Protector not being able to suit up for a big chunk of the movie - but that final sequence where the alien absorbs the Xenophage is one of this franchise's coolest visuals.