Does Akira kill Caine in John Wick: Chapter 4?

Warning: the following article contains spoilers for John Wick: Chapter 4.

Early on in the events of the recently-released John Wick: Chapter 4, the manager of the Osaka Continental, Shimazu (Hiroyuki Sanada), meets his demise at the hands of Caine (Donnie Yen) as he assists his longtime friend John (Keanu Reeves) make his escape from the pursuing High Table forces. 

Shimazu’s daughter Akira (Rina Sawayama), helplessly watches her father get murdered by the hitman, and later catches up to John on the subway. She demands that he kills Caine to avenge her father, pledging that she will do the deed herself if he doesn’t. Despite their differences, John still has a soft spot for Caine, and doesn’t make any promises – only telling Akira that he understands. 

This plot thread is left dangling throughout the remainder of the movie. John and Caine ultimately have their unwilling showdown on the doorstep of Sacré Coeur, and while they leave each other battered, bruised, and bleeding, they part ways as friends. John seemingly “dies,” while Caine lives another day, leaving Akira’s revenge arc unresolved. That is, unless you stuck around for the series-first post credits scene, which catches up with Caine on his way to reunite with his daughter. 

What happened between Akira and Caine? 

In the brief sequence, we see a now-free Caine approaching his daughter with a bouquet of flowers and an ear-to-ear smile, the character seemingly at peace as his child busks in the streets. However, through the crowd we see Akira, looking ready for vengeance.

Akira weaves her way through the crowd and towards Caine, who still appears to be in blissful ignorance of his situation and enjoying his daughter’s music, unable to recognize the threat that is approaching him due to his impaired vision. As Akira closes the gap between herself and her father’s murderer, knife in hand, the screen cuts to black. 

From here, we can only really speculate as to what happens next, but the situation did not appear to be unfolding in Caine’s favor, who seemed to well and truly have his guard down. There’s every likelihood that Akira manages to get the drop on Caine and wound, perhaps even kill him, but given the movie that we’ve just watched, we know that Caine is extremely capable when in a pinch.

The way we like to interpret it is that the pair definitely end up in some sort of altercation, but the victor is unknown. Perhaps it is some sort of setup for yet another John Wick spinoff (on top of Ballerina and The Continental), because it would truly be a shame to see these two extremely interesting characters be one-film characters who ultimately die. Though really, “such is life” for the denizens of the John Wick universe.

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