Ezekiel Sims (Earth-616)

Ezekiel Sims
Name	Ezekiel Sims
Aliases	Nicknames: Zeke
Affiliation and Relationships
Affiliation	Various managed corporations Formerly Spider Society
Relatives	Parents: Unnamed father (deceased)
Marital Status	Single
Physical Characteristics
Gender	Male
Height	6′ (1.83 m)
Weight	180 lbs (81.65 kg)
Eyes	Irises: Blue
Hair	Grey-haired
Origin and Living Status
Origin	Human who gained powers via the mystical "spider totem".
Living Status	Deceased
Reality	Earth-616
Place of Death	Peru
Cause of Death	Self-sacrifice, killed by the Gatekeeper
Personal Information
Identity	No Dual
Citizenship	American
Occupation	Businessman
Education	College educated (MBA)
Base of Operations	Manhattan, New York City
Creators and Appearances
Creators	J. Michael Straczynski, John Romita, Jr.
First	Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #30 (April, 2001)
First	Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #30 (April, 2001)
Death	Amazing Spider-Man #508 (June, 2004)
Death	Amazing Spider-Man #508 (June, 2004)

 This is the point. This is the Five Million Dollar question. I'm about to yank your chain like nobody else ever has before, and nobody ever will again. So listen carefully. Did the radiation enable the spider to give you those powers? Or was the spider trying to give you those powers before the radiation killed it? Which came first? The radiation? Or the power? The chicken or the egg or the power? 

—Ezekiel Sims

Ezekiel Sims, a recipient of Spider-Totem powers through a mysterious ritual, sought fortune following his newfound abilities similar to Spider-Man's. Recognizing his totemic nature and the threat from higher-order beings, Ezekiel took measures to protect future Spider-Totems from entities like Morlun. He joined the Spider Society, aiding in the formation of WebCorps as a front. He mentored Cindy Moon, another bitten by a Radioactive Spider, training her until realizing Morlun was tracking her. To safeguard her, Ezekiel secluded Cindy in a special room.

Monitoring Peter Parker's development as Spider-Man, Ezekiel warned him of Morlun's pursuit. Despite urging Peter to hide, he faced Morlun himself to prevent casualties. In a confrontation with Morlun, Ezekiel saved Spider-Man's life but disappeared after a subsequent fight. Ezekiel later aided Spider-Man against Shathra, guiding him to a sacred temple in Ghana and warning him of imminent threats beyond Morlun. As the Gatekeeper targeted Ezekiel for his accidental acquisition of powers, their conflict escalated. Ezekiel, deemed unworthy by the Gatekeeper, plotted against Spider-Man, ultimately sacrificing himself to save Peter, realizing his life pursuit of wealth was misguided.

History

Ritual

Ezekiel apparently underwent some form of ritual which granted him the powers of a Spider-Totem. Upon being granted these powers, similar to Spider-Man's powers, he set about amassing a fortune. He soon learnt that, being totemic in nature, he would be beset by those of orders higher up the totemic hierarchy.

One of these beings, Morlun, would become something of a nemesis to him, and Ezekiel began to take steps to gather all the information he could on Morlun to protect the future generations of Spider-Totems, paying for bunkers to be constructed which would block out anyone who could find those with ties to the totem-order. Ezekiel also became a member of the Spider Society, helping found WebCorps to serve as a front.

Meeting Peter Parker

When Peter Parker and Cindy Moon were bitten by a spider that had been irradiated by a particle accelerator used in a demonstration of the safe handling of nuclear laboratory waste materials, sponsored by the General Techtronics Corporation, Ezekiel contacted Cindy and trained her in the use of her powers until he realized that Morlun was tracking her. He then locked her away in one of his special rooms at the bottom of his tower to protect her from the Devourer of Totems.

He also monitored Peter's progress as the superpowered vigilante Spider-Man. When it became apparent Morlun would target Peter, Ezekiel confronted him, claiming to have hired several detectives to discover certain parts of his real identity and pieced them together. After they spoke a few times, Ezekiel tried to convince Peter Parker to hide in the specially constructed room, as Morlun was soon to arrive in New York, trying to find the one with the most powerful spider-totem powers. His pleas were in vain, as Parker decided to confront Morlun himself to prevent anyone from dying as a by-product of him not being eaten.

With Spider-Man vs. Morlun

After being severely beaten by Morlun, Spider-Man returned and begged use of the room, which Ezekiel revealed would be useless now since Morlun had his scent. He apologized and cursed himself for having to leave the hero to his fate. The next morning, Spider-Man had been severely beaten once more, but was surprised to find Ezekiel save his life.

In the fight that followed, Ezekiel fell into the water of the pier and didn't resurface. After defeating Morlun at a power-station, Spider-Man returned to Ezekiel's offices only to discover they were empty. After a little investigation, Spidey noticed footprints on the outside of the windows and a rubber spider - telling the hero that he was still alive.

Now with a beard

When Shathra achieved her goal of pushing Spider-Man to act on instinct, bringing their conflict to the simple level of “natural order” in which the Spider-Wasp is the hunter and the Spider the meal, Spider-Man managed to avoid descending into mindless fury and managed to escape to brief safety. He was helped by Ezekiel, who took Spider-Man to a sacred temple in Ghana and helped Peter to set a trap for Shathra. Spider-Man consciously allowed his arachnid side to take the forefront enough to capture Shathra, and to feed her to whatever spider dwelt in the depths of the temple. Ezekiel also warned Peter that Morlun and Shathra are not the only ones hunting him, and another more powerful foe was coming for him.

With Peter Parker

Later, Ezekiel warned Peter of the coming of the Gatekeeper, who controlled mystical forces. Ezekiel said that the Gatekeeper saw him as unworthy to possess his powers, since he received them by accident,and intended to kill him. Ezekiel told Peter to return to Ghana with him, but Peter refused until swarms of spiders attacked New York. Spider-Man tried to save as many as he can when Ezekiel said that the Gatekeeper has arrived to kill him and he urged him to go with him. The spiders gathered to form the body of the Gatekeeper, who told Peter that bugs are important to the world and the spiders are the hunters of the bug-world. Spider-Man attempted to fight the Gatekeeper but he was outmatched. The Gatekeeper tells him that he was chosen by mystical forces to receive his powers out of all the students in the demonstration, as he has become a natural hunter because of all the anger he carried in his life when he was bullied, never being able to fight back and reserving the anger to himself, making him never give in to the odds and a hunter because he was the prey. Peter realized that contradicts what Ezekiel had told him, and the Gatekeeper reveals that Ezekiel was unworthy of his powers because he "stole" them. Spider-Man awakened battered and bloodied, and Ezekiel explained that because the Gatekeeper will only allow one of them to live, he has to kill Peter. Peter realized that the supernatural menaces he had recently fought were after Ezekiel.

Sacrifice

They fought, but Ezekiel defeated him by drugging him with a syringe. Ezekiel chained him to a column in a temple and stabbed him with a knife to have his blood flow into the spider runes on the floor. Turned into a giant spider monster, the Gatekeeper appeared to kill Peter as Ezekiel walked away. In panic, Peter used his Spider-Sense to bond with Ezekiel's mind and showed him his heroics. Ezekiel realized that he had wasted his life seeking wealth, and Peter was the one worthy of his powers, sacrificing himself to save Peter.

Attributes

Power Grid

Powers

Ezekiel possessed various superhuman attributes, almost all of them identical to those possessed by Spider-Man.

Superhuman Strength: Ezekiel possessed superhuman strength that was just slightly inferior to that of Spider-Man. At his peak, he could lift about 9 tons.

Superhuman Speed: Ezekiel could run and move at speeds beyond the physical capabilities of the finest human athlete.

Superhuman Stamina: Ezekiel's musculature produced less fatigue toxins during physical activity than the musculature of a normal human. In spite of his age, he could physically exert himself at peak capacity for several hours before the build up of fatigue toxins in his blood began to impair him.

Superhuman Durability: Ezekiel's body was tougher and more resistant to some types of injury than the body of a normal human. For example, Ezekiel could withstand falls or leaps from heights of several stories without sustaining injury. He was also more resistant to great impact forces than a normal human. He could withstand impacts, such as being struck by a superhumanly strong person like Spider-Man, that would severely injure or kill a normal human with little to no injury to show for it.

Superhuman Agility: Ezekiel's agility, balance, and bodily coordination were all enhanced to levels that were beyond the natural physical limits of the finest human athlete.

Superhuman Reflexes: Ezekiel's reflexes were similarly enhanced and were superior to those of the finest human athlete.

Wallcrawling: Like Spider-Man, Ezekiel has the ability to stick to any surface and walk or crawl along them. He could will himself to cling much tighter than normal to surfaces to the point where it's extremely difficult, even for extremely powerful individuals, to pull him away.

Spider-Sense: Just like Spider-Man, Ezekiel possessed an early warning system that bordered on precognition. It allowed him to detect danger or threats to him within his surrounding area. This, coupled with his reflexes and agility, enabled him to avoid most attacks even to the point of dodging bullets, provided he was far enough away.

Spider-Sense Immunity: Because his powers are virtually identical to Spider-Man's, Ezekiel can't be detected by Spider-Man's spider-sense nor can Ezekiel's detect Spider-Man.

Abilities

Occult Knowledge: Ezekiel had a good understanding of the various mystical rites and ceremonies relating to Kwaku Anansi, the founder of the Spider Clan.

Skilled Businessman: Ezekiel was a skilled businessman, having amassed a great deal of wealth through leadership and initiative.

Skilled Combatant: Although he had no formal training, Ezekiel was a formidable hand to hand combatant, using a freestyle fighting technique similar to that of Spider-Man that allowed him to make full use of his speed and agility.

Trivia

• Ezekiel was 57 years old.

See Also

• 20 appearance(s) of Ezekiel Sims (Earth-616)
• 7 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Ezekiel Sims (Earth-616)
• 5 minor appearance(s) of Ezekiel Sims (Earth-616)
• 12 mention(s) of Ezekiel Sims (Earth-616)
• 6 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Ezekiel Sims (Earth-616)
• 29 image(s) of Ezekiel Sims (Earth-616)
• 7 quotation(s) by or about Ezekiel Sims (Earth-616)

Links and References

• Ezekiel Sims on Marvel.com
• http://www.spiderfan.org/characters/apps/ezekiel.html