Netflix 'Army of the Dead' Ending Explained: What happened to Vanderohe during the climax?

The movie directed by Zack Snyder is a thrilling treat as a group of human mercenaries do everything they can to fight off zombies and stay alive
UPDATED MAY 21, 2021
Dave Bautista as Scott Wars in 'Army of the Dead' (Netflix)
Dave Bautista as Scott Wars in 'Army of the Dead' (Netflix)

Zack Snyder makes a grand return to the horror sub-genre with the Netflix movie ‘Army of the Dead’. The movie has opened to great reviews and has everything that viewers wanted to see from a ridiculously fun project filled with slambang action and zombies.

The movie revolves around a group of human mercenaries as they try to rob an abandoned casino in Las Vegas. The ‘sin city’ is infested with zombies and the army is trying to wipe them off, but they fail miserably. So, they decide to destroy the city with a tactical nuclear strike. Meanwhile, our heist crew makes their way to a casino whose safe holds $200M worth of dollars.

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Although most of the people in the group have joined the mission for monetary issues, there are those who have a completely different agenda. Everything that happens in the movie leads to a violent, action-packed ending. Let’s take a look at what happens in ‘Army of the Dead’s climax. 

Dave Bautista as Scott Ward in Zack Snyder's 'Army of the Dead' (Netflix)

What happens at the end of 'Army of the Dead'?

A majority of crew members manage to make it to the casino. However, things get really ugly as soon as they reach the place. The group of mercenaries is continuously being attacked by an army of Zombies and trouble seems to increase every minute. One of the team members, Martin (Garret Dillahunt) beheads the Queen of the alpha zombies.

Things get ugly when zombie King learns about the death of his bride and he declares a war on the human tribe. The entire army of zombies head to the casino and they have only one thing on their minds: killing the whole team. On the other hand, the team has only an hour left to open the vault.

Ella Purnell as Kate Ward in 'Army of the Dead' (Netflix)

However, things get bad to worse when Scott Ward (Dave Bautista) realizes that his daughter Kate (Ella Purnell) is missing. We see Ella moving toward the hotel to rescue her friend Geeta (Huma Qureshi). When Scott finds out that her daughter is missing, he and his friend Maria Cruz (Ana de la Reguera) decide to find her, but when the elevator opens, it reveals a group of angry zombies.

They snap Cruz's neck and an insane fight takes place between humans and the army of zombies. One of the crew members, Vanderohe (Omari Hardwick), takes on the zombie King and he is losing the fight badly. But Dieter (Matthias Schweighoer) comes in the way and saves Vanderohe by pushing him inside the vault.

A still from Zack Snyder's movie 'Army of the Dead' (Netflix)

Martin and Lily (Nora Arnezeder) make an alternative route out of the basement, but Martin has other plans. Martin closes the basement and traps everyone inside. He tells Lily that Tanaka never wanted money and all he was interested in was recovering the head of an alpha zombie. But Lily knew about his evil plan and replaces the head with a cash counting machine. He’s then killed by a zombie Tiger.

After a gruesome fight with more zombies, Scott and Lily reach the rooftop and find pilot Peters. But zombie King follows them and Lily decides to bait him with the Queen’s head. To make him angry, Lily drops the head to the ground, giving Lily and Scott ample amount of time to take off. The duo flies to the hotel where Kate is rescuing Geeta. Scott reaches there on time and rescues both of them.

Ana de la Reguera as Maria Cruz in 'Army of the Dead' (Netflix)

They manage to fly off, but zombie King follows them and jumps into the helicopter. Scott and zombie King fight each other, and the King manages to bite him before he is killed by Scott. The government successfully uses the nuclear bomb to wipe off the city. In the process, the helicopter crashed and kills Geeta. Meanwhile, the crash completely knocks off Kate.

As Kate sees her father turns into a zombie, she tearfully shoots him in the head

Dave Bautista and Ella Purnell in 'Army of the Dead' (Netflix)

In the end, it is revealed that somehow the vault is safely intact even after the nuclear strike. Vanderohe makes his way out of the vault and rents a private plane to Mexico. However, he gets sick during the flight and finds out that he was bitten by a zombie during the fight.

As soon the flight lands in Mexico, he feels that he is about to become a zombie. The ending perfectly sets up an idea for a sequel and Snyder would definitely want to come back with one.

‘Army of the Dead’ arrives on Netflix on Friday, May 21.

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