The overwhelming majority of big budget blockbusters tend to end on blatant sequel-baiting notes, so at least Netflix set out a stall early for turning Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead into a franchise by announcing that a prequel and animated companion series were in the works over eight months ago, meaning it’s hardly a surprise that the opening salvo concluded with a hint of things to come.
Snyder is hardly known for giving his movies happy endings, and Army of the Dead is no different. Indeed, anyone with even the most passing of familiarities with the zombie genre knew how things would play out when a core cast of ten characters ventures into a quarantined Las Vegas to pull of a $200 million heist
Just when you think Dave Bautista’s Scott Ward, Ella Purnell as his daughter Kate and Tig Notaro’s pilot Marianne Peters have escaped the impending nuclear holocaust, the director throws a helicopter crash into the mix, killing off Peters and then having Marianne shoot her father point blank in the head in a real bummer of a climax.
However, much like HBO Max’s Justice League, Army of the Dead gets an epilogue. We discover that Omari Hardwick’s Vanderohe managed to escape from the vault with the cash, which he uses some of to board a plane to Mexico. Unfortunately, he discovers that he’s been bitten before the film cuts to black, so the sequel could see a brand new outbreak happening in Mexico City.
It isn’t clear who bit Vanderohe, but if it was Alpha zombie Zeus, then he’d inherit the former ruler of Las Vegas’ intelligence, which could technically set Hardwick up as Army of the Dead 2‘s villain, even if any potential follow-up will be needing almost an entirely new ensemble.