J.K. Simmons has made a return to the Spider-Man franchise as J. Jonah Jameson in the MCU. But Simmons, who originated the role in Sam Raimi’s first Spider-Man trilogy for Sony, admits he was heartbroken when Raimi’s Spider-Man 4 didn’t move forward.
While on a press tour for his new film Being the Ricardos, Simmons was asked by “The Hollywood Reporter” about playing J. Jonah Jameson again in Spider-Man: No Way Home after appearing in a cameo capacity in the previous film, which set up a bit of multiverse storytelling. Simmons admits that it was initially “heartbreaking” when Raimi’s trilogy came to an end but he is “thrilled” to be returning to the role in No Way Home. Here is what he had to say:
“After the Sam Raimi trilogy and then when they moved on from there, it was heartbreaking, I’m not going to lie, and I thought, “Oh well that was amazing fun, I’m so glad I had that opportunity,” and then when they came back a couple years ago and said, “Hey guess what, we’re going to revive that gasbag of a character,” I was thrilled and it was just a question of adapting him a little bit to 2019. Really to me, he’s the same blowhard just instead of running a newspaper now he runs a media empire.”
Simmons first appeared as the grouchy publisher of The Daily Bugle newspaper in 2002’s Spider-Man. He instantly became a fan favorite due to his spot-on look and interpretation of the character from the comic books. Simmons portrayed him for the remainder of the trilogy but after the third film, which still made some big buck at the box office, was met with a more polarizing response from fans, Sony Pictures went in the direction of rebooting the franchise with The Amazing Spider-Man. Raimi was also exhausted from constant warring with the studio over his plans versus theirs and he also admitted some displeasure with the third film as well. Simmons went on to win an Academy Award for his terrifying performance in 2014’s Whiplash and his Spider-Man days appeared to be behind him.
Simmons would end up returning to the role in a surprising move for fans during a mid-credits scene in the MCU’s Spider-Man: Far From Home, the second rebooting of the brand with more Marvel input and Tom Holland in the role of Peter Parker/Spider-Man. While he still sounded like the signature character we came to love in the first trilogy, he did get a bit of an upgrade as he now runs a web series, The DailyBugle.net. Via this platform, the character revealed the identity of Spider-Man to the world and now we await that aftermath in Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Are YOU happy J.K. Simmons is back as J. Jonah Jameson? Do YOU wish Sam Raimi remained at the helm of the Spider-Man films with Simmons back for Spider-Man 4?