Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for ‘From the World of John Wick: Ballerina’The first film spin-off of the John Wick series, Ballerina, comes to theaters this weekend. Ana de Armas leads this story as Eve, a trainee under the Ruska Roma, like John Wick (Keanu Reeves) before her. Eve is one of a group of hitmen known as the Kikimora. Similar to John Wick’s title of “Baba Yaga,” the Kikimora are inspired by an entity from Slavic folklore, with their symbolic meaning reshaped by violence. Like the Slavic house spirits, the Kikimora are formidable and can be as hellish as they are helpful, but their primary focus is on protection. De Armas leads plenty of action sequences in the film’s runtime, but the third act is perhaps its most action-packed. But how does Ana de Armas’ first foray into the John Wick universe end?
Ana de Armas’ Eve Takes on a Cult in ‘Ballerina’

Eve follows a mysterious cult with “X” branded on their wrists to the snowy mountain town of Hallstatt, as this cult and its leader, the Chancellor (Gabriel Byrne), who killed her father, reside there. It’s clear that the entire town follows the Chancellor’s lead, which Eve quickly finds out when she enters a restaurant and is attacked by an unnamed assassin, played by John Wick series regular and action legend Daniel Bernhardt, who had previously been monitoring Eve in the Prague Continental. A restaurant brawl breaks out between Bernhardt, de Armas, and a comedically violent chef. But soon, the Chancellor gets his hands on Eve.

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Let’s go girls.

The Chancellor tells Eve that she is one of the cult’s “missing children,” and his mostly silent right-hand, Lena (Catalina Sandino Moreno), realizes that Eve is her sister. Lena protects Eve from the Chancellor’s henchmen by shooting them, and the two flee. The Chancellor is all too happy to dispose of his own “children,” as demonstrated by his albeit unsuccessful hit on Daniel Pine (Norman Reedus) to take back Pine’s daughter, Ella (Ava McCarthy). He tells his henchmen to take out both Eve and Lena, and they toss grenades and other explosives into the structure the sisters are sheltering in, leading to a wounded Eve and Lena’s death. The Chancellor calls the Director (Anjelica Huston), stating that he will hold the Ruska Roma responsible for Eve’s actions. He doubles down when the Director explains that Eve is already acting independently of her. So, the Director calls John Wick to go after Eve and stop her at any cost.
John Wick Is a Formidable Friend and Foe in ‘Ballerina’

John arrives in his full black suit, ring finger gone, centering the timeline in a space after he visited with the Elder as depicted in John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, but before the events of John Wick: Chapter 4. After Eve and John Wick fight, John Wick gives Eve until midnight to handle her revenge on the Chancellor and, being who he is, even helps her from a distance. Eve’s greatest challenge is her tangle with Dex (Robert Maaser) and their dueling flamethrowers. Eve burns most of the lackeys to their deaths, until Dex is the last of them. Her ingenuity – and the Baba Yaga in the shadows – are his undoing. She counters his flamethrower with an unbelievably powerful water hose, and Wick shoots his gas tank, blowing him up. Eve eventually stops the vehicle that is taking the Chancellor and the still-captive Ella to safety. But the Chancellor doesn’t just give up. He attempts to persuade her to stay: “The village will remain. The children will be raised. And the system will remain.” His remarks are chilling and draw a potential parallel between the cult’s activities and the way the Ruska Roma operates. But Eve has had enough and steps on the Chancellor’s Bad Guy monologuing with a fatal blow to the head. She reunites with Ella and takes her back to her father, Daniel, who is badly injured but recovering. She watches her former Kikimora trainee friend, Tatiana (Juliet Doherty), who was dismissed from the Ruska Roma in the film’s first act, perform in a real ballet, free from the High Table’s control or influence. As she does, Eve’s phone — and the phones of many others, including Winston (Ian McShane) – go off. A contract is out on Eve for five million dollars, priming de Armas for a sequel. Ballerina is now playing in theaters.