WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Army of the Dead, now in theaters and streaming on Netflix May 21.
Zack Snyder's Army of the Dead follows a motley crew of human mercenaries as they infiltrate a zombie-ruled Las Vegas and make their way to a casino whose safe still holds millions of dollars. While most of the group has taken on the mission for the financial windfall it would bring, there are those among them who have a different agenda. And it's these latter individuals who set the stage for the movie's violent, action-packed ending. This is everything that happens in Army of the Dead's intense climax.
A majority of the mercenaries manage to make it to the casino where the money waits, yet several things happen once they get there that make their job much harder. First, Martin, who joined the team at the insistence of Bly Tanaka, the mastermind behind the heist, beheads the Queen of the intelligent alpha zombies. When the zombie King learns what happened, he declares war on the humans, and he and the rest of the Alpha zombies make their way to the casino with the goal of killing the whole team.
Second, the team learns the government has moved up the nuclear strike on Las Vegas that will level the city and wipe out the zombie threat -- and anything else that happens to be there. This leaves the team with only an hour to crack the vault, get the money and get out of Vegas. Third, the vastly more limited time frame causes Kate, the daughter of Scott Ward, the team's leader, to leave for the hotel where the Alpha zombies reside to rescue her friend Geeta.
So although Dieter, the team's safe-cracker, manages to open the hotel's complex safe, the group's celebrations are short-lived. When Scott realizes his daughter is gone, he and his long-time friend Cruz decide to go find her, but when the elevator out of the vault opens, it reveals a group of angry zombies. They snap Cruz's neck and set upon the others. Scott's buddy Vanderohe, who prefers to dispatch zombies with a circular saw, takes on the King and is losing badly. So Dieter, who's bonded with Vanderohe over the course of the mission, pushes Vanderohe into the safe and shuts the door as the zombies pull him away.
Meanwhile, Martin and the coyote Lily take an alternative route out of the basement, but instead of letting her out with him, Martin closes the door to the exit, trapping the others in the basement. He gleefully informs Lily that all Tanaka was ever interested in was retrieving the head of an alpha zombie, which Martin bagged earlier, as he can make a mint creating more zombies. However, Martin soon gets his comeuppance. As he flees across the hotel's driveway, he checks the bag where he stored the Queen's head only to discover Lily replaced the head with a cash counting machine. He's then attacked by the zombie tiger who plays with Martin before killing him.
Lily uses Vanderohe's saw to create an exit out of the basement and she, Scott and zombie-killing expert Guzman reach the floor of the casino, where they confront more zombies. Their fight seems to be going well, but they're outmatched and Guzman is soon overwhelmed. Recognizing his fate is sealed, he detonates a grenade killing himself and many of the zombies.
This gives Scott and Lily time to make it to the roof where pilot Peters is still attempting to get the banged-up helicopter working. The King follows them there, and when Lily notices him, she urges Scott to go while she takes on the zombie. She baits him with the head of the Queen. And when the enraged zombie impales her on the side of the hotel's roof, she drops the Queen's head to the ground, destroying it.
Luckily, this gives Peters enough time to get the helicopter working and she takes off with Scott. Even though there are only minutes to spare before the nuclear bomb drops, Scott asks her to go to the hotel where Kate is retrieving Geeta. Kate is trying to lead Geeta out of the hotel while taking on a horde of zombies when Scott shows up and rescues both of them. He leads them to the roof and they get in the helicopter, but the the King arrives there too. They fly off, but the King jumps into the copter, knocking it off balance. The helicopter swerves as Scott fights the King, and the King bites Scott moments before Scott manages to dispatch him.
The helicopter is only slightly outside of Las Vegas when the nuclear bomb hits the city. The blast causes the helicopter to crash, killing Peters and Geeta and knocking Kate out. When Kate comes to, she finds Scott. He gives her the few thousand dollars he managed to save from the heist and then dies. As he starts to revive as a zombie, Kate tearfully shoots him in the head.
While this seems to wrap up the action, there's still one loose end: Vanderhofe. Apparently, the safe Vanderhofe was locked in survived the nuclear blast as he emerges from it a short time later hauling the money from it. He rents a private plane, but during the flight he begins to feel sick. He excuses himself and goes to the bathroom, where he discovers a zombie bite on his arm. As the plane starts its descent into Mexico City, Vandehofe realizes he's about to become a zombie -- likely just in time to start infecting others and ensuring there's an opportunity for a Mexico City-set Army of the Dead sequel.
Directed and co-written by Zack Snyder, Army of the Dead stars Dave Bautista, Garret Dillahunt, Ella Purnell, Omari Hardwick, Raul Castillo, Tig Notaro, Theo Rossi and Ana de la Reguera. The film is currently in theaters and arrives on Netflix on Friday, May 21.