MADAME WEB Star Tahar Rahim On Whether He'd Play An MCU Variant Of Ezekiel Alongside Spider-Man (Exclusive)

MADAME WEB Star Tahar Rahim On Whether He'd Play An MCU Variant Of Ezekiel Alongside Spider-Man (Exclusive)

In the comics, Ezekiel is an ally to Spider-Man before becoming an enemy. Would Madame Web star Tahar Rahim make the leap to the MCU for a team-up with Tom Holland's Peter Parker? Here's what he told us...

By JoshWilding - Feb 09, 2024 03:02 PM EST
Filed Under: Madame Web

Madame Web puts the spotlight not only on its title character, but three future superheroes in Julia Cornwall, Mattie Franklin, and Anya Corazon. Attempting to stop them from ever fulfilling their destiny is Ezekiel Sims, the movie's big bad and a true force to be reckoned with. 

Tahar Rahim plays the villain who, in the comics, actually started as a heroic figure. He first entered Peter Parker's life when JMS and John Romita Jr. relaunched Amazing Spider-Man, revealing that he knew Spider-Man's secret identity while showing off an identical set of superpowers. 

Ultimately, Ezekiel - who became a mentor to the web-slinger - showed his true colours and, briefly, betrayed Peter. Realising the error of his ways, Sims sacrificed himself to save his friend and hasn't been seen since.

Earlier this month, we caught up with Tahar and wondered if, in another corner of the Multiverse, he'd like to return to the role for a meeting with Spidey. 

"[Laughs] That would be cool but I think it's a question to ask the studio," he responded. "Who knows what the future holds?" When we asked if he'd like to fight one of the live-action wall-crawlers, he simply responded, "Why not?"

During the course of our conversation (which you can watch in the player above), we also asked Tahar whether he and Madame Web director SJ Clarkson discussed Ezekiel's backstory and why he so desperately wants the spider that Cassie Webb's mom is in the Amazon researching. 

"I mean, we talked about it," the actor confirmed. "The fact that he struggled when he was a kid and his family might have died and he didn't want to be in this situation again. As this is the first time we see the character on screen, it had to fit with a specific story and hero, Madame Web, we created our own."

We'll be sharing our review of Madame Web next week along with full transcriptions of this interview and our chat with Clarkson. Are you excited to see Ezekiel in action?

Meanwhile, in another universe...In a switch from the typical genre, Madame Web tells the standalone origin story of one of Marvel publishing's most enigmatic heroines.

The suspense-driven thriller stars Dakota Johnson as Cassandra Webb, a paramedic in Manhattan who may have clairvoyant abilities. Forced to confront revelations about her past, she forges a relationship with three young women destined for powerful futures...if they can all survive a deadly present.

Madame Web arrives in cinemas on February 14.

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valmic
valmic - 2/9/2024, 3:44 PM
Sony kills all interest in this movie.
harryba11zack
harryba11zack - 2/9/2024, 3:48 PM
the MCU is about to hit another billion dollars at the open day box office.
asherman93
asherman93 - 2/9/2024, 4:31 PM
@harryba11zack - Because of Deadpool 3, you mean?
harryba11zack
harryba11zack - 2/9/2024, 8:06 PM
@asherman93 - NO!!
HashTagSwagg
HashTagSwagg - 2/9/2024, 4:07 PM
Yah basically spoilt the now debunked theory that there was a twist where Ezekiel was actually trying to protect them from another threat.
soberchimera
soberchimera - 2/9/2024, 4:17 PM
@HashTagSwagg - Yeah, I guess Shathra could be the real villain.
CaptainCheese
CaptainCheese - 2/9/2024, 4:28 PM
There won't be an more stories with these characters. We'll get a "Morbius 2" before seeing these girls again.
Forthas
Forthas - 2/9/2024, 4:28 PM
why is there no Rotten Tomatoes score for Madame Web?
CaptainCheese
CaptainCheese - 2/9/2024, 4:32 PM
@Forthas - There's a hold on reviews until it opens. Tells you a lot how confident SONY is about the film.
Clintthahamster
Clintthahamster - 2/9/2024, 5:14 PM
@Forthas - They haven't lifted the review embargo yet. I'd be surprised if it was even screened for critics.
asherman93
asherman93 - 2/9/2024, 4:32 PM
I'm sure this guy does a decent job, but I feel like if we were gonna dive head-first into all the stuff involving Ezekiel Simms and Spider-Totems, there would be no reason not to get Malcolm McDowell.
karlel
karlel - 2/9/2024, 4:36 PM
Maybe there are people who are interested in this movie, it doesn't seem like that's the case. Every movie nerd I see already hates it, every MCU fan that I see dismisses it, and run of the mill movie people don't understand it, as far as I can see. It's a movie that looks like Spiderman, but doesn't have anything to do with Spiderman. It's a movie that leans on the idea that these are all similar characters, but does nothing to connect them outside of the obvious spider reference. And the icing on the cake will be the full on backlash when it tanks because OBVIOUSLY people don't like it because the main character is a female, and more than likely a secondary character will be gay. I hope I am wrong about this, I want all superhero movies to succeed so we can keep getting more. I just don't want more that are as shitty as what Sony has pumped out so far.
CaptainCheese
CaptainCheese - 2/9/2024, 4:38 PM
@karlel - They could of made a Spider-Woman and made some bucks. But nooooo. Lets do it half ass like everything that's come before.
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 2/9/2024, 6:13 PM
@karlel - Spider-Man/MCU/Movie fan here, I actually look forward to this. A Terminator-ish story applied to comic book character? It definitely sounds interesting to say the least
Deklipz
Deklipz - 2/9/2024, 11:15 PM
@bkmeijer1 - It sounds good on paper and I hope it turns out alright but I really doubt it will even be coherent much less a fun movie. Also not a fan of some of the cast so that drops my enthusiasm below zero on this.
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 2/10/2024, 3:14 AM
@Deklipz - oh yeah, I'm definitely not discarding the fact that it can turn out to be really bad either. I think that will play to my enjoyment though.

Just wondering, who in the cast are you not a fan of then?
Deklipz
Deklipz - 2/10/2024, 3:29 PM
@bkmeijer1 - all three spider women. I like Dakota Johnson but can’t hardly stand to watch Sydney Sweeney in interviews and watching her as an actor makes me want to drown a puppy.
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 2/10/2024, 6:02 PM
@Deklipz - I never saw interviews of her and only saw her in The White Lotus, and she was fine in that I guess. Still, poor puppies
Deklipz
Deklipz - 2/10/2024, 6:40 PM
@bkmeijer1 - White Lotus was what really turned me off on her. Shes be ’okay’ next to CW style leads, but I feel that she’s noticeably sub-par when going scene to scene with better actors. She takes me out of scenes she’s in and kills the story immersion for me.
Deklipz
Deklipz - 2/10/2024, 6:41 PM
@bkmeijer1 - She could save like… 4-5 puppies by taking acting classes.

That and staying out of comic book movies.
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 2/10/2024, 7:27 PM
@Deklipz - I agree that her showing up does take me out of scenes as well. But I guess that's moreso because she reached a certain internet status for me. No acting class can fix that
Deklipz
Deklipz - 2/10/2024, 8:14 PM
@bkmeijer1 - fair enough… it’s the bewbs isn’t it? It’s always the bewbs. ALWAYS.
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 2/11/2024, 3:55 AM
@Deklipz - not for me specifically. But everytime I see her, I think of how she just has become an object on the internet for some people.
Deklipz
Deklipz - 2/11/2024, 9:13 AM
@bkmeijer1 - I guess I just don’t pay attention to the interment enough to know that was even a thing. Didn’t realize there was a fixation on her like that. I would have never guessed it actually as she doesn’t really stand out for anything in particular to me other than the mediocre acting, like Stephen Amell
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 2/11/2024, 9:16 AM
@Deklipz - yeah, neither is a stand out. But looking at this comments on this site alone, there is quite a certain fixation with her
Deklipz
Deklipz - 2/11/2024, 9:44 AM
@bkmeijer1 - I don’t really see it but then again I have a LOT of people blocked here so that could be why.
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 2/11/2024, 12:18 PM
@Deklipz - smart move
WhatIfRickJames
WhatIfRickJames - 2/9/2024, 4:36 PM
Madame Web, Madame Web… does whatever a Madame… web

This movie is a movie that was made.
There are actors acting
Spiders, Amazon, Death, mother[frick]ing research

More latex than an industrial show in the mid nineties
Alucard28
Alucard28 - 2/9/2024, 4:47 PM
Even the Kraven movie looks better than this.
Clintthahamster
Clintthahamster - 2/9/2024, 5:15 PM
@Alucard28 - Kraven actually looks . . . kinda good?
Deklipz
Deklipz - 2/9/2024, 11:16 PM
@ClintThaHamster - I don’t know if it looks *good*, but it doesn’t look bad, if that makes sense…?
Clintthahamster
Clintthahamster - 2/10/2024, 7:40 AM
@Deklipz - makes perfect sense. I will DEFINITELY watch Kraven in a year on Starz, whereas I will only probably watch Madame Web in a year on Starz.
AnthonyVonGeek
AnthonyVonGeek - 2/9/2024, 5:56 PM
Both Disney and Sony like turning Marvels elderly characters young. It’s like they’re ageist or something.
ImBatman4realz
ImBatman4realz - 2/9/2024, 6:08 PM
This is now the second interview where beady-eyed Josh tells the creative that he enjoyed the film. All I seem to remember is his criticisms of the Sony Spider-Verse, however.

Big question is how many post-icles and click-lists is he going to make after its release about “taking [it] to the bank” in regards to why his opinion matters 😂.
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 2/9/2024, 6:15 PM
@ImBatman4realz - really thought your first sentence was gonna end with "... brings up the researcing spiders in the amazon," because that's definitely what I picked up from this
Nolanite
Nolanite - 2/9/2024, 6:14 PM
Social media embargo lifts Monday morning at 0800
Review embargo lifts Tuesday morning at 0800.
You're welcome
Nolanite out
Feralwookiee
Feralwookiee - 2/9/2024, 8:19 PM
@Nolanite - Those reviews should be good for some laughs. 🤪

Off topic: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/new-predator-movie-badlands-1235820958/
Clintthahamster
Clintthahamster - 2/10/2024, 7:42 AM
@Feralwookiee - nice! I loved Prey, can't wait to see what Trachtenberg does next.
NinnesMBC
NinnesMBC - 2/10/2024, 1:16 AM
His Ezekiel seemed fine before we saw that they gave him his own suit. A pity really.

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