Sony’s Madame Web initially presents its villain as a compelling and intimidating character, but unfortunately, the film fails to fully explore his tragic backstory and squanders his potential.
Summary
Dakota Johnson’s Cassandra “Cassie” Webb discovers her destiny in Sony’s Madame Web, and much of it is inextricably related to Ezekiel Sims. The villain possesses extraordinary magical abilities that allow him to see his own death in the future. It will come at the hands of three Spider-Women dressed in costumes, which will serve as the film’s driving narrative.
This gives Ezekiel’s vendetta a purpose, prompting him to employ stolen technology to track down the potential killers: Julia Cornwall, Anya Corazón, and Mattie Franklin. It causes Sims to go on a rampage as a sinister Spider-Man. While the film presents Sims as the perfect contrast to Peter Parker, Miles Morales, and other heroic wall-crawlers, his potential is sadly wasted, and his character is severely underdeveloped.
Who is Madame Web’s Ezekiel Sims?
The teasers for Madame Web left many details about Ezekiel Sims obscure, leaving fans wondering how similar he would be to the comic character. Marvel’s Ezekiel Sims made his debut in 2001, when it was revealed that he is mystically powered by a spider. He went on to find Peter Parker and elaborate on the Spider-People and totems, including the idea that spiders, such as the radioactive one that bit Peter, were actually transmitting power to avatars.
As time progressed, Ezekiel would influence Peter, connect him to many realities and characters around the Spider-Verse, and eventually sacrifice his life. However, as witnessed when Ezekiel returned and imprisoned Anya, he could not be trusted. Even if he believed he was doing the right thing by preventing Morlun from feeding on totems and stealing their power. Ezekiel in the film, on the other hand, is a combination of Ezekiel and Morlun from the comic books. Ezekiel does not fire webs or travel between universes in this scenario. However, he has superhuman speed, the ability to cling to walls, and a tremendously resilient body that can withstand blows. He also resembles Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man, but in a black outfit that emphasizes the somber tone of his mission.
Ezekiel was actually working as a bodyguard in the Peruvian rainforest. Unfortunately, he killed Cassie’s researcher mother, Constance, and her camp when they discovered a mystical spider that could cure illnesses. Ezekiel would eventually harness this spider’s strength for himself, intending to live as long as possible while defying the odds, science, and everything that defined him as normal. He ends himself in New York in 2003, collecting fortune, only to have dreams plague him in his penthouse. He has dreams of Spider-Women murdering him, which leads him to sleep with an NSA agent, kill her, and use her secrets to hack into New York’s webcams.
Ezekiel wants to find the Spider-Women before they use their powers, and he is incredibly terrifying. It’s clear in the subway scene, where he attacks a swarm of cops to get to them. He resembles Christian Bale’s Batman in the way he waits in the shadows, climbs on walls and roofs, and suddenly swoops in from the darkness to abduct individuals. He turns the night into a lethal asset, which is why, when Cassie discovers the girls, she believes she must return to the source of Ezekiel’s power: the exact location where he killed her mother. Clearly, Ezekiel is not only a physical opponent, but also a cerebral one. This initially gives Ezekiel a stronger psychological edge than the campy villains featured in the earlier Sony Spider-Man Universe films, Venom and Morbius.
Madame Web does not emphasize the tragedy of its evil Spider-Man.
The issue with Ezekiel is that Madame Web swiftly transforms him into something generic. Ezekiel later admits that he lost his family in a mysterious injustice. As a result, he wishes to team up with the spider and change the world. Unfortunately, that aspect of him was never seen again. If Ezekiel had pursued a greater calling, such as making the world a better place for minorities, he could have been more sympathetic. It would connect to other Spider-Man villains such as Mister Negative, who utilized dark crusades while attempting to do good, and inverted capitalists and industrial bosses such as Kingpin or Norman Osborn.
The Superman & Lois television series took this technique with Bruno Mannheim, who didn’t mind being a villain as long as he could aid his society. With Ezekiel understanding he has a higher purpose, audience members will have an emotional connection to why he sees himself as a necessary evil to prevent calamity in the future. The Marvel Cinematic Universe did the same with Thanos and his population control program. The MCU also did this with Killmonger, who desired to punish the world for its imperialist atrocities. The DCEU did the same with Conrad Carapax, a villainous Iron Man who despised a war-torn planet that had slain his family and other innocent bystanders.
Instead, Madame Web director S.J. Clarkson doesn’t place much emphasis on Ezekiel’s motivation, which would have felt natural given his history. Ezekiel’s remark of the “injustice” meted out to his kin becomes a throwaway line, a missed narrative that may have defined why he wanted to safeguard the empire he founded. Even if it meant that his charitable and philanthropic efforts required the spilling of innocent blood in order to thrive. Playing on this misery would have undermined the concept of “with great power comes great responsibility,” reminding spectators that power can corrupt and blind individuals from doing the right thing.
Madame Web removes humanity from Ezekiel Sims’ entire mission.
Madame Web’s Ezekiel Sims continues his directive, with an aide, Amaria, running his computers. She’s hacking cameras across the Big Apple in his control room, playing the role of Batman’s Oracle. At times, she is astounded by how determinedly he pursues and intends to kill the young women. However, she and Ezekiel never debate his nightmares or whether breaking moral and ethical borders for things that haven’t happened makes sense.
This would have given Ezekiel more subtlety, holding up a mirror to reflect the monster he has become. Flashbacks to his family, particularly his mother (as this is a narrative about mothers’ love), would have aided in the development of his dualism and internal conflict, which made Carapax a popular character in Blue Beetle. It comes to a head in a pivotal scene when he and Cassie lock eyes and she questions what he has done with this power. He doesn’t even have an appropriate response, leaving the character feeling hollow. There is nothing to make Cassie feel sorry for him or recognize he is a lost soul whom she might strive to redeem and persuade.
Hearing him declare that he is the solution for a poisoned, elite society was appropriate, given that a spider’s toxin empowered not only him, but also Cassie when her dying mother gave birth. It would convey the image of a twisted monster purifying society without realizing he has become the very thing he despises. Mattie’s parents being snooty wealthy people is enough to convince Ezekiel that he has enemies in the making and that he needs to be proactive about them, even if his judgment is skewed and he is hunting targets who aren’t fated to bring him down. At least not until he starts their trips with his foolish pursuit. This manner, Ezekiel would understand how his fury has serious consequences.
By the end of MadameWeb, Ezekiel’s little biography and his transformation had become quite discordant plot strands. If they had been untangled in a more concise plot, Ezekiel would have felt whole. It would have ultimately resulted in a nemesis with a distorted sense of humanity, whom Cassie would be sorry to kill in the cause of revenge or justice.
Madame Web is now playing in theaters.
Source: CBR.com
