So much for those far-fetched hopes that J.K. Simmons might return to whatever is going on with the future of Spider-Man to reprise his role from the Sam Raimi trilogy as Daily Bugle boss J. Jonah Jameson. Simmons is taking up residence in the streets of Gotham City for Warner Bros.' DC Cinematic Universe.
Simmons will be crossing paths with the DC superheroes for JUSTICE LEAGUE, taking on the role of Commissioner Gordon, last played on the big screen by Gary Oldman for Christopher Nolan's Bat-verse trilogy and currently done on the small screen by Ben McKenzie on GOTHAM in the character's pre-Commish days.
JUSTICE LEAGUE would appear to be Gordon's first foray into the expanding DC Cinematic Universe, so don't expect to see Simmons showing up at all in BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE, unless he's some late post-credits addition. But Warner Bros. is slowly starting to set the table and flesh their DCU out with each new film for the rapid expansion that is to come when each hero/heroine gets their own solo corner to live in.
There were a number of us still out there wishing that maybe Marvel would attempt to bring Simmons back for the next Spider-Man reboot, given how much fans embraced his performance in Raimi's films. However, that doesn't appear likely to happen at this point, and so good for Simmons taking up shop in another comic book universe where he can hopefully once again deliver a version of a well-known character that'll stick with us no matter what.
JUSTICE LEAGUE: PART ONE is scheduled for release on November 17, 2017.