Abhiroop Das
Helmed by Lee Tae-sung, Netflix’s ‘Mantis‘ is a spin-off of ‘Kill Boksoon,’ and continues the story of the assassin world through the eyes of Mantis, a budding talent who returns to the industry after a brief hiatus in order to pursue his ambitions. His journey brings him face-to-face with Dokgo, his former master, who now holds the reins of MK Enterprises. While Mantis seeks to break free of his shadows, the path ahead is marked with obstacles, each more deadly than the last. The protagonist is joined in this journey by his group of friends, which includes Jae-Yi, his trainee friend who has secrets of her own. The ending of this action thriller movie brings action and emotion together by tracing the killers’ minds and how their secrets can serve as seeds to a greater phenomenon taking root. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Mantis Plot Synopsis
The story of ‘Kill Boksoon’ ends with Gil Boksoon killing Cha-Min Kyu, and in turn, shaking up the very core of MK Enterprises. At present, the company still holds on to its strict laws about killing, and the rulebreakers are punished by an up-and-coming talent known as Mantis. The growing unemployment in the assassin world has given rise to a number of smaller, independent companies, and Mantis yearns for something similar. He is joined in this pursuit by his friends cum colleagues, including Shin Jae-Yi, the best in his class, who exited MK for mysterious reasons. In order to get his own company going, Mantis seeks guidance from his former master, Dokgo, who has since retired from the industry. While the veteran paves the way for his success, Mantis is also warned about involving Jae-Yi in the game, with Dokgo hinting at a buried past with her.
For the initial funding of his company, Mantis seeks out a wealthy businessman named Benjamin Jo, who wishes to use the team of assassins as motion capture artists for his upcoming video game. However, Benjamin also has shadier plans in mind, including a potential takeover of MK. Although Mantis does not like Benjamin’s disrespect towards his friends, Jae-Yi sees an opportunity to make her own space in the assassin world. As the Mantis Company slowly climbs the ranks, we learn that Jae-Yi was deemed second to the protagonist while training at MK. Desperate to prove herself, she requested a real duel with Mantis, but that request got her released from the company itself. Since then, she has been suffocating under Mantis’s shadow and is desperate to break free and defeat him in combat. When Mantis learns of this, he volunteers to relinquish control of the company, but Jae-Yi quits and instead joins Benjamin in his plans.
At the MK meeting, Dokgo tries to take over the company once again, but Jae-Yi openly challenges his conventions, and Benjamin decides to fan the flames by sending a bloodied knife to the master assassin, a symbol of challenging one to a duel. Believing it to be a message from Jae-Yi, Dokgo sends the blade back to her, finalizing the matchup. When Mantis learns of this development, he is desperate to put a stop to it, but personal and professional troubles take over. In the end, he realizes that the sole way to end the conflict is to stand right in between the two parties, and to that end, he reaches MK’s headquarters, prepared to defeat both Jae-Yi and Dokg0 before they can harm each other. With this, the stage is set for a final showdown, not just between three assassins, but three distinct ideologies that have the potential to reshape the future.
Mantis Ending: Does Mantis Kill Benjamin? Does Jae-Yi Take Over MK?
The final moments of ‘Mantis’ bring together the ambitions of Jae-Yi and Mantis in a singular move designed to restructure the assassin world. The dust has settled on the grand fight between masters, and in the days since, Benjamin’s company, Meta Software, has grown by leaps and bounds. The CEO gives a riveting speech about the importance of timing as a component of success, and Jae-Yi does not notice the deeper connotations of that motif. With control of MK nearly in her grasp, only a few steps remain, and Benjamin seems more pleased than ever at his investment. However, behind his back, the assassin has plans of her own, and her key ally in this is none other than Mantis. As Benjamin drives off in his car, we see that the driver is none other than the protagonist, and while the scene cuts off shortly after, the implication is that Mantis kills the CEO on Jae-Yi’s orders.
Mantis’s decision to take on this job is built on several layers, the most important one being his earlier promise to Benjamin. In light of how the ruthless CEO treats the group, Mantis vows to kill him the next time they meet, and the ending brings that claim to fruition. Mantis is conscious of this full-circle moment and brings that up in a comic fashion. There is also another aspect to Benjamin’s death, as he is a powerful, A-grade hit. Killing him means good credibility for Mantis, whose company has been associated with C or D-grade assassinations for quite some time now. With a high-profile murder under his belt, Mantis has a chance to prove his prowess to the world once again, which also bodes well for his dynamic with MK. Moreover, this collaboration also confirms that the protagonist and Jae-Yi have made peace and are now working towards a common, mutually beneficial goal.
While Mantis takes care of the assassination, Jae-Yi directs her entire focus to taking over MK. With both Cha Min-Kyu and Dokgo out of the picture, there is a power vacuum at the top, and as one of the best assassins at work, Jae-Yi’s path to the throne has very few obstacles. In a previous MK meeting, we see that the general consensus of the assassin world has been to abandon the traffic lights, a set of rules governing who to kill and who to spare. However, all amendments to this rule were cut short due to Dokgo’s imposition. With the master assassin now dead, Jae-Yi has an open shot at altering the very fabric of MK, which is bound to create a system more violent and chaotic than before. While Mantis’s position in all of this remains uncertain, his affinity for protecting innocent lives is bound to pit him against Jae-Yi sooner rather than later.
Is Dokgo Dead? Who Kills Him?
The claim to the top of the assassin world is characteristically decided by combat, with Mantis, Dokgo, and Jae-Yi all taking part in it. However, their individual motivations diverge significantly, with the latter two partaking in a duel to the death, and the protagonist desperately trying to stop them. Although Mantis starts the fight early, hoping to finish it before Jae-Yi makes her appearance, he ends up underestimating his former master. In the ensuing exchange of blows, Dokgo draws first blood, attacking Mantis’s leg and limiting his mobility. It is at this moment that Jae-Yi enters the fight with the full intention of taking them both out. Although the fierce battle-royale sees an equally strong front on all three sides, it is Mantis who takes the final lead, slicing through his master’s offense. But the person to take Dokgo’s life is not Mantis, but Jae-Yi, who finishes the fight by plunging a knife into his heart.
Dokgo’s ultimate defeat brings many of the motifs introduced in the story, with the most notable one being his hidden inferiority complex regarding the former leader of MK, Cha Min-Kyu. The two were partners at one point, but the latter’s greater skill meant that Dokgo always lived in his shadow. This parallels Jae-Yi’s dynamic with Mantis and is the very nucleus of the tripartite struggle at hand. As such, defeat at the hands of his student reopens the old psychological wounds for Dokgo, as visualized by the shot mirroring his release from MK years ago, with Dokgo on the ground and Min-Kyu/Mantis looking down at him. However, what completes the picture is the protagonist’s take on all of this, as he refuses to kill his master. This ties into the deep respect he has for the art of assassination and how the targets are chosen. While Dokgo does not fit the criteria to be killed at Mantis’s hand, he does not wish to die a dishonorable death either, resulting in an impasse that is disrupted by Jae-Yi.
Although Jae-Yi’s duel with Dokgo is interrupted by Mantis, there nonetheless exists a poetic quality to each blow she trades with her nemesis. In particular, the setting itself has symbolic value, as it was here, many years ago, that she was released from MK. That rejection led to a fight between her and Dokgo, with the latter easily defeating her. However, this time things play out differently, with Jae-Yi not only holding off her own but also calculating the exact way to defeat the master assassin. Her decisive strike is meant not to kill him, but injure him deeply enough to level the playing grounds between him and Mantis. This decision to assist her former partner instead of attacking him shows Jae-Yi’s growth as a person and is the key to her spiritual victory against Dokgo, along with everyone else who has doubted her skills over the years.
Who Wins the Fight Between Mantis and Jae-Yi?
While there is a clear victor in the fight between Mantis and Dokgo, the same cannot be said in the duel that takes place between the protagonist and Jae-Yi. Their conflict cannot be reduced to a rivalry between friends turned foes, as there are deeper psychological elements at play. As such, the battle between the two talented assassins is as much a physical exchange of blows as it is a mental one. Notably, we are not given a clear answer as to how their terrace fight plays out, with the only visual confirmation being Mantis’s apparent defeat. But, with his tendency to hold back in the face of loved ones, there is a case to be made for him intentionally letting her win as a way of maintaining their bond. However, Jae-Yi’s crippling fear of their power gap causes her to react more aggressively to this turn of events, and it is only by the final fight that the two find balance outside of their competitiveness.
The fact that Jae-Yi is able to juggle two assassins at once and strategically create an opening that serves Mantis more than it serves her makes a case for her superiority at battle. However, the final exchange between the two former partners intentionally shifts away from the question of combat prowess and instead explores the deeper ends of their rivalry. Jae-Yi’s wish to expand her control over MK has an emotional root to it, as it is the only way she can silence her doubters once and for all. As someone whose potential has always been encouraged instead of squandered, Mantis finds himself at an ideological distance from her stance, and that is reflected by his more passive outlook on things. In the end, both characters begin to acknowledge each other’s backgrounds and unique challenges, which leads to a dynamic that is not defined by their skills as killers. Instead, the duo forms a team with the aim of fixing the assassin world once and for all, and the first step is dealing with nefarious actors such as Benjamin.
Read More: Where Was Netflix’s Mantis Filmed?
