Heads of State Ending and Mid Credits Scene Explained: Is Marty Alive?

Prime Video’s ‘Heads of State’ is an action-comedy film directed by Ilya Naishuller. It centers around the UK Prime Minister Sam Clarke and the USA President Will Derringer, two world leaders who have never really gotten along well. However, that stands to change when the duo find themselves as the targets of an international assassination plot. Fortunately, after their high-security aircraft gets shot right out of the sky, they somehow manage to survive the crash. Yet, this means they must now band together in a reluctant partnership to stay alive. However, as a bigger political plot unfolds in their absence, Sam and Will’s top priority shifts from simple survival to stopping their adversaries in the nick of time and preventing a bleak future from befalling upon the fate of the whole world. SPOILERS AHEAD!

Heads of State Plot Synopsis

In the build-up to an upcoming NATO meeting, the American President, Will Derringer, stops by London for a joint press conference with the UK’s Sam Clarke, his partner in a leading clean energy program. The only problem is that the two men hardly have a friendly relationship. The latter remains incapable of taking his fellow leader seriously, thanks to his career as Hollywood’s box office darling before his venture into the Oval Office. Inversely, Sam invites the President’s ire due to his almost-endorsement of Will’s competition during the last elections. Naturally, their differences remain evident during the press conference event, especially when the Prime Minister goes rogue and entertains an off-limits question about the failure of the MI6 and CIA’s joint mission in Spain. Consequently, in the aftermath, both their Chief of Staffs suggest some PR damage control.

As a result, Sam finds himself joining Will in his Air Force One aircraft on their trip to the NATO meeting. Nonetheless, this flight soon turns into a nightmare when it becomes clear that an assassin has managed to sneak aboard. To make matters worse, his armed friends tail the vessel in the sky with their missiles aimed at the Presidential plane. Soon enough, after sustaining heavy damage, Air Force One threatens to go down in a disastrous crash. However, the security detail still managed to shove the two world leaders off-board with parachutes in the eleventh hour. Thus, Sam and Will find themselves in Western Belarus, looking for a way back home while the rest of the world assumes them dead and gone. Eventually, after getting themselves in a myriad of situations, including fistfights and stowing away on a cattle truck, the pair manages to arrive at Warsaw’s safe house.

Meanwhile, Viktor Gradov, the Russian arms dealer behind their attempted assassination, hacks into the Echelon Program when its access is handed over to Elizabeth Kirk, the Vice President turned Acting Head of State. The Echelon Program is a highly confidential surveillance program that gives the user eyes and ears virtually all over the globe. Consequently, Gradov’s henchmen sniff Sam and Will out to their safe house in no time. Although the CIA station officer, Harty, puts up a good fight, he eventually falls to his enemies. Fortunately, as the Prime Minister and President escape the location, their paths cross with the falsely presumed dead MI6 Agent, Noel Bisset. A one-woman army all in herself, she successfully gets the duo on a train to get them safe passage to the NATO headquarters.

Furthermore, Noel also fills them in on the background about Gradov, who apparently holds a grudge against NATO for their involvement in the death of his son. As such, they also realize that the arms dealer must have a mole in the UK or the USA’s security detail, who aided him in carrying out the daring assassination attempt on their leaders. Soon enough, more clarity on his scheme arrives when Arthur Hammond, the lead hacker he kidnapped, seeks the trio out. In an effort to clear his conscience, he shares sensitive information about Gradov’s communications channels with his insider and gives them a way to crack it. As a result, one short trip to Croatia brings the trio closer to uncovering the insider at NATO.

Heads of State Ending: Who is the Insider Working With Gradov?

The only reason Gradov is able to get so consistently close to killing Sam and Will is because of his insider within their staff. It’s how he manages to get them on the same plane and snag the exact right opportunity to hack into Echelon. Consequently, before the duo can reach out to anyone for help, they have to know who can and cannot be trusted. For the same reason, the leaders and Noel make a pitstop at Hammond’s hidden office in Warsaw to uncover the mole’s identity. Inevitably, Gradov’s men catch up to the trio soon enough, adding life and death risks to their sidequest. Nonetheless, Sam holds up the fort against the cavalry long enough for his partners to extract the needed information. However, a tragic separation leaves him alone inside the building as it blows up after taking an extreme missile hit.

Consequently, Sam and Noel are left to mourn their friend in the aftermath. Still, at least their detour revealed the connection between Gradov and Bradshaw, the President’s Chief of Staff. Even though her betrayal cuts deep, Sam uses the information to his advantage, reaching out to VP Kirk for rescue aid. Yet, a more jarring truth confronts him and Noel once Kirk’s agents arrive, only to pull a gun on them as soon as possible. Thus, they realize Kirk has been Gardov’s insider contact all along. Once Sam and Will are attacked, the other world leaders’ confidence in the Alliance naturally dwindles. Consequently, without them around to reinforce their support for NATO, the treaty threatens to be disbanded following a vote of no confidence in the upcoming meeting.

Moreover, Kirk even goes one step further and puts plans in place to take out Gardov as soon as the President and Prime Minister are out of the picture. Despite partnering up with him, she has no real intentions of working with the Russian terrorist. Nonetheless, all her plans eventually come crashing down. Apparently, Sam had managed to survive the attack in Warsaw. Thus, his timely arrival helps Noel and Sam fight off their adversaries and make it to the NATO HQ in time. Furthermore, Gardov also remains one step ahead of her and survives the assassination attempt against him. In the aftermath, he drops by at the headquarters with his own cavalry to lay waste to the numerous world leaders in the building. Ultimately, Kirk becomes his first victim as she dies with a bullet to her head.

Does NATO Disband? Why Do Gradov and Kirk Want to End the Alliance?

Even though Kirk and Gradov have the shared mission of disbanding NATO, their motivations remain starkly different. The latter wants to exact revenge on the Alliance for their contribution to the death of his son, who was killed in an attack that was ultimately covered up. His son was a scientist who built the first-ever nuclear reactor incapable of melting down. However, after he had his warmongering father pick up a crucial element for him, it drew negative attention from NATO, which discovered their plans through Echelon. Consequently, they jumped to conclusions about the son’s harmful intentions and ended up sanctioning a lethal operation against him and his team.

It was only in the aftermath that the Alliance realized Gradov’s son’s invention could be used for good, such as the clean energy program. As such, they covered up their misfire and used up the young scientist’s work for their own benefit. For the same reason, the Russian arms dealer is hellbent on destroying NATO. Alternatively, Kirk’s motives remain rooted in her politics. In her election campaign, she ran on a notoriously “America First” platform, asserting her distrust of NATO. Therefore, even though she tries to shed this image during her Vice Presidency, she secretly continues plotting against the Alliance by working with the Russian arms dealer. Nevertheless, the duo’s plan ultimately ends up being for naught. Once Sam and Will arrive at the meeting and reinstate their trust in the Alliance, they seal its future for the better.

Do Sam and Will Catch Gradov?

Gradov remains a slippery man to catch from the very start. In fact, the story begins with Noel leading the failed operation against him, which results in the death of her MI6 and CIA colleagues. Therefore, it remains evident that he’s a seasoned player at the game of evading the authorities. As such, it isn’t a surprise that Gradov ensures he has a valid exit plan when he crashes the NATO meeting. After he and his men open fire at the world leaders, the Russian arms dealer keeps a chopper on standby outside to have a clear pathway to his exit route. Furthermore, he manages to slip through Noel’s fingers once again when she tries to follow after him.

Thus, in the end, Sam and Will decide to forgo their own safety to go after their aggressor themselves. Ultimately, this leads to a final showdown on a balcony, where Gradov, armed with a harpoon gun, remains moments away from escape. However, the Prime Minister comes up with the ideal plan to bring him down. Surprisingly enough, he decides to take a page out of Sam’s playbook from his movie star days and devises a scheme to use himself as bait while the President hurls a cupid statue at the helicopter’s propeller. As a result, Gradov goes down with his chopper and blows up to smithereens.

Do Sam and Noel Get Back Together?

Sam and Noel have a complicated past together as exes. The former’s aspirations of becoming a Prime Minister ultimately drove an insurmountable wedge between the pair. While public service was clearly his calling, the MI6 Agent understandably couldn’t fit herself into a quaint public life as the PM’s partner. For the same reason, the duo ended up on diverging paths once Sam decided to run for office. Even so, as the years passed, their feelings for one another remained strong. As such, the news of the other’s presumed death hits hard for the pair, and they are equally ecstatic to find the other alive.

Yet, it isn’t until Sam’s second experience with near-death at Warsaw that Noel understands the full scope of her feelings for her ex. She knows that the connection she had with him was special and unique. Consequently, she realizes that despite their incompatible lifestyles, they deserve to give their love a real chance. As a result, once things calm down and the pair returns to their old lives, they decide to keep their connection alive. Even though things are still complicated between them and their conflicting jobs still put miles of distance between them, they’re happy to keep each other in their lives. Ultimately, Noel and Sam’s relationship remains a work in progress.

Heads of State End Credits Scene Explained: How Did Marty Survive?

Throughout the film, multiple people sacrifice their own lives to ensure Prime Minister Sam and President Will can have a fair shot at their own survival. Marty is one of these people whose death hits close to home. Despite his short presence in the story, the high-energy CIA agent leaves a mark on the narrative. Most of his job has only included sitting around during long pauses with little field work. Nonetheless, once danger knocks on his door, Marty remains prepared to face it head-on. In fact, he takes out almost a whole crew of mercenaries on his own. Still, he eventually gets caught by his assailants, who put a bullet in his head.

However, as it turns out, Marty manages to survive this intense incident. The attackers indeed shoot the agent in the head. Yet, coincidentally enough, the bullet hits the back of his skull, which has been reinforced with a metal plate due to another accident from his past. As a result, despite the odds, he manages to survive the bullet to his head. In the film’s end-credit scene, he can be seen alive and well, attempting to fail a group of civilian women with his heroic tale. Even though they’re less-than-impressed, Marty catches the eye of Noel, who seems to possibly be on a recruitment assignment of some kind. Therefore, if the franchise expands in the future, we can expect to see more of the CIA Agent.