Army of the Dead: How Vanderohe Survived

How does Vanderhoe manage to survive in Netflix’s Army of the Dead? We break down the specifics of the escape, and why it could affect the sequel.

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WARNING: Spoilers for Army of the Dead.

How does Vanderohe manage to survive in Army of the Dead? The soldier evades the wrath of the zombie king, Zeus (Richard Cetrone), during the final act, and later emerges from The Olympus casino wreckage after the U.S. government blasts Las Vegas with a nuclear weapon. Army of the Dead’s ending reveals that Omari Hardwick’s Vanderohe boards an airplane bound for Mexico City, but Netflix audiences may be curious about the specifics of his initial Sin City escape.

In Army of the Dead, Vanderohe spends most of his screen time with German thief Ludwig Dieter (Matthias Schweighöfer). Both characters crack jokes about each other, and also about cracking The Olympus vault, known as “Götterdämmerung,” which contains $200 million that the main protagonists attempt to steal. However, the job becomes especially difficult when one of the team members, Martin (Garret Dillahunt), beheads the wife of Zeus. Rather than letting the human robbers sneak away with the loot, the superintelligent “Alpha” leader seeks revenge. In the ensuing fight, Dieter is dragged away by Zeus (and possibly killed) but manages to save Vanderohe from meeting the same fate.

Vanderohe survives in Army of the Dead because he’s locked in a safe during the nuclear bombing of Las Vegas. In what appears to be a self-sacrificial move, Dieter pushes his comrade into the impenetrable vault in the last moment before he’s ripped away by the zombie king. From there, it’s unclear if Schweighöfer’s character is spared by Zeus and detained (like Theo Rossi’s Burt Cummings), manages to miraculously escape, or if he’s turned into a zombie himself. What’s certain, though, is that no one survives a short while later after the U.S. government drops a nuclear bomb on Las Vegas – except Vanderohe, thanks to having been shut inside the massive, heavy-duty vault with its steel-reinforced concrete walls at least a foot thick. Thanks to the fact modern vaults have mechanisms that allow them to be opened from the inside if someone accidentally gets shut inside, Vanderohe is able to eventually crawl out of the vault with money in tow, clearly having been protected inside of the Götterdämmerung.

Though Vanderohe survives the initial nuclear blast, Army of the Dead leaves his fate uncertain. The solder drives to Utah and pays for a private flight to Mexico, but he then becomes incredibly sick on the flight. It’s then revealed that in his fight with Zeus, he was bitten, and the decrease in his body temperature suggests that he’s transforming into a zombie. As the philosopher of the group, Vanderohe starts laughing at the dark irony before uttering an exasperated f-bomb before the credits roll. The irony, of course, is that Vanderohe survives infiltrating Vegas, getting past Alpha zombies, fighting their king, and the nuclear devastation of Las Vegas only to discover he’ll turn into a zombie anyway. But with this “end,” Army of the Dead creates an existential dilemma for the character, one that will seemingly be explored in Army of the Dead 2.

In Army of the Dead, Vanderohe’s survival thematically aligns with Ludwig Dieter’s dialogue. Before unlocking The Olympus’s vault, the German safe cracker says that he’s about to experience “destruction or renewal… death or rebirth.” Vanderohe being bitten in Army of the Dead could lead to either of those outcomes; as the movie made clear, what was thought a death sentence to be turned into a zombie was merely the start of a new kind of life. And with Vanderohe being blasted with intense radiation as he exited the vault, it’s possible he could transform into a new kind of zombie entirely, or become the new king. Vanderohe’s continued existence would give new meaning to his “survival” in any sequel to Army of the Dead.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/army-dead-how-vanderohe-survived-nuke-explosion-safe/