Why Did [Spoiler] Kill Duke in Glass Onion, Explained

A sequel to ‘Knives Out,’ Netflix’s murder mystery film ‘Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery’ revolves around Benoit Blanc, a detective who gets invited to a weekend getaway organized by billionaire Miles Bron in Greece. Although Miles didn’t invite Blanc, the tech mogul expresses his wish to host the detective as the guests set out to solve a murder mystery arranged by the former. As the party progresses, one of the guests and Miles’ closest acquaintances Duke Cody gets killed mysteriously. Blanc, using his intelligence and attention to detail, doesn’t take long to solve the mystery and finds out Duke’s murderer. If you are intrigued by the killer’s motive, here’s everything you need to know about the same! SPOILERS AHEAD.

What Happened Between Miles and Duke?

Miles and Duke met for the first time as Cassandra “Andi” Brand’s friends. When the former eventually started Alpha with Andi, Duke’s relationship with him got stronger. He even testified for Miles, against Andi, in court when the two business partners were disputing the ownership of the company. Duke went on to become an enormously popular Twitch streamer but he got banned from the platform for selling rhino horn pills to teenage kids as a substitute for Viagra. When Duke’s career as a streamer got threatened, Miles helped him by endorsing his YouTube channel through his services, assisting Duke to remain in the spotlight.

When Andi found the original tissue paper in which she wrote the foundational concept that became Alpha, Miles killed her and stole the same paper. On his way back, Duke passed Miles’ car, which made him a witness who can place the billionaire in the murder of Andi. Since Duke’s YouTube channel has been dying, he starts to look for other ways to sustain his career and realizes that Alpha News, the news channel owned by Miles, should be his next home. During the weekend gateway party, Duke goes to extremes and asks the help of his girlfriend Whiskey to get him a late-night spot in Alpha News.

In the pretense of having an affair with Miles, Whiskey hooks up with him during the weekend and brings up Duke’s wish to be a part of Alpha News. However, the billionaire makes it clear that someone who had gotten banned for selling rhino horn pills doesn’t have a place in the channel he is trying to build to define the future of news and information. But how do the conflicts between Miles and Duke lead to the former killing the latter? Let’s find out.

How and Why Did Miles Kill Duke?

Miles has always used his money, authority, and influence for the betterment of his friends, solely for selfish reasons. Helping Duke with his streaming career might have been a way for Miles to buy his testimony against Andi in court. When Duke saw Miles returning from Andi’s house on the day of her death, he didn’t think much about it since he wasn’t aware that Andi was killed. Andi’s startling appearance at the weekend getaway stuns Miles, who must have started to think that she didn’t die the day he mixed poison in her drink to garner the invaluable tissue paper.

During the weekend party, Duke receives a notification that states Andi is found dead. He connects the dots and perceives that his former friend is indeed dead and was killed by Miles the day he saw the billionaire while driving to Andi’s house. Since Duke and Andi go way back, he may have deduced that the Andi with them is her twin sister Helen. With Andi found dead, Duke knows that he can place Miles in the case as a witness, which will destroy the billionaire’s life and career. Since the enmity or feud between Miles and Andi is popular, Duke’s testimony as a close acquaintance of both of them is guaranteed to raise suspicions against the tech mogul.

With the ball in his court, Duke confronts Miles and demands a spot in Alpha News in return for his silence regarding Andi’s murder. As an experienced businessman, Miles must have deduced that Duke will never stop demanding when he possesses the authority to destroy the billionaire’s life. After building a tech empire, the last thing Miles want is to lose everything he won and stole. He is not ready to let Duke blackmail him without a definite end to the same. Thus, he resorts to killing the streamer to stop the latter from involving him in Andi’s death.

Miles uses the easiest but most efficient way to kill Duke. He takes advantage of Duke’s allergy to pineapple by mixing his drink with pineapple juice. Then he casually gives the glass to the streamer, who drinks it without a thought. The billionaire then tries to fool the other guests by creating a narrative that Duke accidentally picked his drink and drank the same. The murderer may have even gotten away with it if it isn’t for the eyes of Benoit Blanc, who sees everything and doesn’t miss anything.

While helping his friends, Miles always makes sure that he can destroy their lives if it becomes a necessity. Funding Claire’s opposition in the elections, harming Lionel’s career as a scientist, and revealing Birdie Jay’s Bangladeshi sweatshop connections are some ways Miles can turn against his friends if they stand against him. But when Duke possesses the power to annihilate his personal and professional lives using Andi’s death, Miles must have failed to find a way other than murder to fight against him, which leads the billionaire to kill the streamer.

Read More: Is Knives Out Based on a True Story or a Book?