Spike and Brandon: End of an Era (2022 film)

Spike and Brandon: End of an Era is an upcoming American adventure action film and the eighth and final installment in the Animal Cinematic Universe (ACU). It is produced and distributed by Universal Studios. It stars an ensemble voice cast, featuring Niko Lovett, Josh Brolin, Finn Wolfhard, Kyle Snow, Millie Bobby Brown, Zach Collison, Tom Kenny, Darcy Combs, Dylan Bond, Lennon Richardson, Gabriel Combs, Jamyson Barlett, Nick Kroll, Zendaya, Bill Faggerbakke, and J.K. Simmons reprising their roles from previous films.

The film is scheduled to be released theatrically in the United States on May 2, 2022.

Plot
On Mars, the Animal Squad finishes their next mission and plans on taking a vacation. However, Super Snake, Speedster, and Gorilla Greg are suddenly turned to dust, leaving Dr. Monkey Munkerstein and Bald Eagle as the only survivors.

One Year Later, the other survivors of Destructer’s attack - Spike, Brandon, Mike, and Bandit - have trouble surviving in a world with barely any animals and people on it. They continue to forge and build a fortress to survive against Aliens that have taken their world hostage. They finally decide to take Destructer’s old spaceship, repair it, and return to Earth to find technology that can outweigh Destructer’s machine that killed everyone.

As they return to Spike’s destroyed home, Dr. Monkey Munkerstein and Bald Eagle arrive asking for help. They tell the others about how they saw a portal in Space that only lead to a different point in time. They figure that if they fly into the portal, that they can travel back in time and destroy Destructer’s machine that killed everyone. As they figure that it’s impossible, they research and discover that it was created with Cyber Crystals, an ancient relic that was used with each powerful moment from their timeline. They figure that if they travel back in time to collect the Crystals, that they can create a weapon similar to Destructer’s to bring everyone back.

The group searches for ways and discovers Mayor Brown, the mayor who launched a nuke at Destructer’s ship in the previous film, and decide to give him a chance to help them build the time machine. The animals find themselves in time traveling suits as Mayor Brown finishes the machine. The group then prepares to travel back to their old timelines: 2019 and 2020, along with 2021 to collect Destructer’s crystals. The group then activates the machine and they travel back in time.

Spike and Brandon travel back to 2019, during their first battle with Razerclaw. As they try to grab the Crystal, Spike’s old antics make Spike feel guilty for how he treated Brandon in the past, ruining the mission in the process. Brandon convinces him that he was a great friend at the time and the two take the Cyber Crystal and return to their normal timeline. Mike and Bandit travel to 2020, during Leo’s first attack against the humans. Bandit discovers Bill and Leo and gets emotional over their deaths. Mike convinces her that she has a chance to save them if they get the Crystal, and they escape with the Crystal. Dr. Monkey Munkerstein and Bald Eagle travel back to 2021, where they had their first battle with Sinister Shark. Monkey also gets emotional over his friends, but Bald Eagle cheers him up and they get the Crystal and escape back to the future.

As they return to the future, the entire group has succeeded and builds the machine to wipe out Destructer and his army. Suddenly, Destructer fires another nuke at Spike’s home, destroying it completely. The entire group survives, and the machine is almost destroyed. They grab it and run outside as Destructer attacks Brandon, choking him and threatening to kill him if they don’t destroy the machine. Spike fires the machine, but it doesn’t do anything. Destructer punches Brandon to the ground, presumably killing him in the process. As the group prepares to attack, they hear a message from Bill and Leo. Ben, Devil, Leo, Bill, Ted, Super Snake, Speedster, and Gorilla Greg return and the entire group is formed once again. Now, the group battles against Destructer as Brandon tries to find a way to reverse Destructer’s ray to wipe out all bad guys. Destructer attacks Brandon and knocks him out. Spike attacks Destructer as he brutally attacks everyone. With all hope lost, Destructer prepares to wipe all good out again until Spike reverses the ray and disintegrates Destructer.

As everything seems to go back to normal, Spike dies due to the machine’s power. Brandon and Devil return home to Owner with Spike’s body, the Anucave team returns to the Jungle as Leo is finally crowned king, Ted and Mike become the heroes of Africa, and the Animal Squad prepares for their next mission. After all this, they form Spike’s funeral and all arrive to it, including Mayor Brown, who had a change in heart after the events of this adventure. Devil and Ben comfort Brandon as he mourns for Spike and the group goes back to their normal lives, only all the evil in the world is gone now. Ted and Mike decide to go and live with the Anucave team and rebuild the jungle while Brandon, Devil, and Ben decide to keep Spike’s picture and old recordings as a memory of Spike. They watch the recordings and cry with tears of joy, as they are happy to have been his friend.

Voice Cast

 * Niko Lovett as Spike
 * Josh Brolin as Destructer
 * Finn Wolfhard as Brandon
 * Kyle Snow as Mike
 * Millie Bobby Brown as Bandit
 * Zach Collison as Dr. Monkey Munkerstein
 * Tom Kenny as Bald Eagle
 * Darcy Combs as Devil
 * Dylan Bond as Ben
 * Lennon Richardson as Leo
 * Gabriel Combs as Bill
 * Jamyson Barlett as Ted
 * Nick Kroll as Super Snake
 * Zendaya as Speedster
 * Bill Faggerbakke as Gorilla Greg
 * J.K. Simmons as Mayor Brown

Production
In 2018, during production of the Spike and Brandon film, director Jon Watts stated that the entire cinematic universe would set up a two-part crossover event between Spike and Brandon, Ted and Mike, and Anucave all at one time, with the Animal Squad joining during the second part. The first part, which would be the third Spike and Brandon film, would release on May 3, 2021, while the second part, the fourth Spike and Brandon film, would release on May 2, 2022. The cast of each series was set to reprise their roles for the film, and filming began in May 2019, and lasted through November 2019. The first part was also filmed back-to-back with this film. The film was untitled until a trailer was released in December 2021, revealing the film’s plot and title.

Release
The film is scheduled to be released theatrically in the United States on May 2, 2022.