Jack Sparrow may seem central to the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, but the series needs an engaging, original villain more than it needs the libertine captain. The Pirates of the Caribbean series started off strong with 2003’s The Curse of the Black Pearl, but it in recent years, it has struggled to win over critics since the original trilogy wrapped up with The World’s End in 2007.
Critics and audiences have complained that the Pirates of the Caribbean sequels, particularly Dead Man’s Chest and At World’s End, featured stories that were too complex and too messy for viewers to unravel easily. However, subsequent installments, On Stranger Tides and Dead Men Tell No Tales, both flopped critically and received far more hostile receptions than the first two sequels, proving that the Pirates of the Caribbean series needs the often-forgotten East India Trading Company more than it needs Captain Jack.
Even though he’s central to the original Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy’s knotty plot, the East India Trading Company’s snide Cutler Beckett is rarely focused on as a major villain of the series, often cast aside in favor of more dramatic and scary figures, like Captain Barbossa or Tia Dalma. But the sneaky, duplicitous Beckett and his ties to the East India Trading Company offer some real historical grounding for the fictional universe, something the fourth and fifth films sorely lack. Throughout the original trilogy, it’s clear that the age of piracy is nearing its end no matter what the heroes do, a threat that Beckett represents effectively. In the fourth and fifth films, viewers have no reason to think the status quo will ever change, thus making it harder to care about Jack’s lesser adventures.
A t-stock company, Kraken’s corpse in At World’s End.
Barbossa suggests that Beckett forced Davy Jones to kill his pet leviathan as a show of loyalty, prompting the pair to note that the world is growing smaller and the regulation of trade routes is destroying the very idea of piracy. It's a poignant moment that makes it clear their days are numbered no matter how many clever ploys Jack can pull off, and one which puts real emotional weight into the end of the original trilogy. As a result, the decision in subsequent Pirates of the Caribbean sequels to largely sideline the East India Trading Company’s influence as a villain makes the action less resonant and believable, with the franchise straying into fantasy and ignoring the real existential threats to its titular antiheroes. To bring it back on track, the franchise needs another Cutler Beckett - or, least, it needs to being back the company.
