| “ | No. Why? This is impossible. I did everything right. | „ |
| ~ Sullivan's last words |
James Sullivan is the main antagonist of the 2021 Netflix science-fiction movie Space Sweepers.
He was portrayed by Richard Armitage, who also portayed Heinz Kruger in Captain America, Guy of Gisborne in the 2006-2009 TV Series Robin Hood, Francis Dolarhyde in Hannibal and Charles Devereaux in Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft.
Biography[]
James Sullivan is the wealthiest and oldest man alive, being 152 years old. He is also the former master of Kim Tae-ho, a former Sentinel, before he dismissed him when the latter has a change of heart after finding an orphan girl named Su-ni, who he raised as his own. In 2092, Earth has become a polluted wasteland. So, Sullivan founded a space colony named UTS where he allows some people to live in there while the rest are still forced to live on Earth.
Sullivan is first seen cultivating genetically modified plants which apparently produce ten times more oxygens than non-modified. He receives reporters at the residential district of UTS where he lives and shows them earth from the surface of Mars. He even makes one reporter uneasy by feigning to want to shake hand while his one is dirty.
Bringing them inside, he explains that UTS is cultivating life on Mars through a special tree called the Super Plant. He then announces that a new habitable colony on Mars would be accessible in three days, when Mars will be at its closest to the Earth's orbit. Noticing that a reporter is disgusted by Sullivan eating with his dirty hand, he assures her that the earth is not dirty, but humans are because of their crimes against nature. He assures that these crimes will be strictly forbidden on the new colony. However, another reporter calls Sullivan out because only 5% of the human population will live in the colony while the others will be left on Earth. The reporter also talks about the countless floating debris in space and the numerous workers who risk their lives to clean it. Sullivan admits that his “Eden” is not perfect, but assures he will address the problem.
Sullivan is searching for an android named Dorothy and learns that a team of space sweepers, led by opponent Captain Jang Hyun-sook, have found her. He orders Dorothy to be brought to him, stating that the fate of humanity is in danger.
Later, Sullivan, who have made another video about the Super Plant, is reunited with UTS board. He orders to add that the Super Plant is genetically made to love on mars and that it can only grow on that planet. The chairman says that the video is not important, but Sullivan insists to make people understand that all hope about Earth is lost. The chairman regrets what he said and Sullivan angrily orders him to prove it, crushing a space-working goggle in his rage.
Sullivan convokes the reporter who called him out earlier. He explains him that UTS chooses only the best citizens except the Special Forces based on a DNA analysis, and gives him a cup of tea. The reporter accuses him to accelerate the Earth’s death by pumping its most valuable resources and dumping radioactive debris on it. Pointing out that the journalist has a family, Sullivan explains that a war broke out the year he was born, his father was killed, and his mother had to beg to look after him and her four other children. When Sullivan was six, his family was apparently burned to death, and he even saw his mother disintegrate before his very eyes. From that day on, he promised himself he'd do anything to make the world a better place. He then has the Sentinels bring a captive at his office, much to the journalist’s horror. He presents the captive as a member of the Black Foxes, a terrorist organization, who was caught when trying to escape with Dorothy and orders the reporter to shoot it, promising him to grant UTS citizenship to him and his family if he does so. Sullivan also tells him he thinks the reporter does not really want to protect the Earth, but rather to be part of the “Eden”. The reporter succumbs to Sullivan’ words and reluctantly shoots the captive. Sullivan immediately grabs him and states that greed and hatred are engraved in his DNA and that because of this, he will never be part of his “Eden”. Sullivan then stabs him, justifying that he is nothing more than a scum who wants to infect Sullivan’s world and he must clean the infection. After, he orders to his men to find the space sweepers having Dorothy and bring them to him.
On his side, Hyun-sook and Tae-ho have a talk with the Black Foxes and learn the truth. The Black Foxes are an environmental organization persecuted by the Sentinels. Dorothy was in fact a human named Kot-nim born with a congenital neurological disorder which destroyed his nerves. Scientists injected her with nanobots in a last-ditch attempt to save her. Not only did the treatment work extremely well, but the nanobots began to communicate with each other and with external nanobots. Thanks to this, she even revived a dead tree. Sullivan got wind of this feat. So he kidnapped her to use her in his project to terraform Mars. Sullivan then tried to wipe out the evidence of this "miracle" and had everyone involved in the project eliminated. He planned to encase Kot-nim in Krypton, a hydrogen bomb, as she cannot be killed by conventional means, but only by being exposed to a temperature of 200 million degrees Celsius. As Krypton is contained in a huge orbital station called the Factory, Sullivan planned to crash it into Earth, wiping out all life on the planet.
Meanwhile, Sullivan realizes Kot-nim is with the heroes and arranges to capture them. Aware of their location, he plants ER mines where they are, makes them detonate, and has Sentinels attack them, killing the Black Foxes and Kot-nim’s father. He comes personally to meet his foes and reveals he still plans to destroy the Earth and pin the blame on the Black Foxes, deeming the loss as genetical defects. Deducing Hyun-sook hides a weapon to murder him, he grabs her and extract a small chemical bomb from her month and breaks it. Sullivan then reports his attention to Tae-ho, raising the fact he lost Su-ni at this same place because of a space debris who once broke the platform. He offers him four millions to allow him to search for his adoptive daughter before she gets lost in space forever. Tae-ho accepts the money, much to Sullivan’s satisfaction who taunts him about the fact he is not and never will be a good person before leaving them. Sullivan takes Kot-nim and locks her in Krypton.
At UTS headquarters, he instructs his men to keep the space sweepers alive until the Earth is destroyed, so they can watch the process in despair. Sullivan then uses a hologram to communicate with the UTS inhabitants, claiming that a new era has come and that Mars is ready for colonization, showing them a terraformed Mars.
Unfortunately for him, Hyun-sook and his team attacks again and frees Kot-nim. Believing they have taken her to bring her 5,000 kilometers away from the bomb where she will be safe from the explosion, an angry Sullivan decides to take matters into his own hands and embarks a ship to take care of them personally. He finds and assaults them with his ship, shouting Kot-nim belongs to him and asking where she is. Hitting repeatedly Hyun-sook’s ship, he damages the gear booster. He also breaks the team member Robot Bubs in two. He comes face-to-face with Tae-ho and is about to shoot him. But Hyun-sook manages to repair the booster just in time and Tae-ho uses it to accelerate, destabilizing Sullivan in the process. Hyun-sook opens the inside of the ship, where Sullivan believes Kot-nim is hidden. Much to his dismay, he sees the Krypton instead of her. In fact, Kot-nim was left in the Factory and the Krypton was taken away by Hyun-sook and her team to take it as far from the Earth as possible. The bomb explodes in Sullivan’s face, while he spends his last moments pondering how he could have been defeated.
Following his death and the revelation of his plan, UTS decides to compensate the space sweepers and publicly expresses apology for Sullivan' crimes, deciding to redeem itself by contributing to recreate favorable conditions for life on Earth.
Personality[]
James Sullivan projects the image of a benevolent leader and businessman who has the best interest of humanity at heart with his project of terraforming Mars. In fact, Sullivan is a jaded, ruthless, and megalomaniacal man with a big messiah complex. Supposedly born at WWII and witnessing the horrors of what humans are capable to, he became misanthropic and decided that the best way to assure the future of humankind is to create a new home for it while destroying the former one with the majority of the population on it.
It is also shown Sullivan is sadistic, as he shows obvious joy in killing and taunting his opponents about how he is morally superior to them. Also, despite being a victim of the Nazis according to him, Sullivan's ideology is little to no better than the Nazis'. He constantly talks about how DNA determines the behavior and personality of a person and thinks of those who don't match his standard as "genetical defects". This makes him a sort of social darwinist. He judges the worth of people on their genetic rather than their qualities.
Sullivan may have some fondness for his family, who was seemingly killed when he was very young. However, it is ambiguous if it is true given he talks about them in order to manipulate a journalist into killing a member of the Black Foxes.
Gallery[]
