J.K. Simmons was heartbroken when Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 4 didn't happen. The actor first portrayed the grouchy publisher of The Daily Bugle newspaper dead set on revealing the titular vigilante's identity in 2002's Spider-Man and went on to portray him for the remainder of the trilogy. After winning an Academy Award for his menacing performance in 2014's Whiplash, Simmons returned to his fan-favorite role of J. Jonah Jameson for Spider-Man: Far From Home's mid-credits scene. However, the Marvel Cinematic Universe's version of the character was updated to be more Info Wars-esque.
Long before Andrew Garfield or Tom Holland ever suited up as the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, there were plans to continue Raimi and Toby Maguire's version beyond the original trilogy. The director had plans for a fourth Spider-Man movie that entered development with John Malkovich and Anne Hathaway in talks to play Vulture and Black Cat. Due to his displeasure with how Spider-Man 3 turned and constant warring with the studio, Raimi eventually stepped down, and Sony decided to reboot the franchise with Marc Webb at the helm.
Now, during the press tour for his new film Being the Ricardos, Simmons was asked by THR about the role of J. Jonah Jameson, which he will be reprising once again in Spider-Man: No Way Home, debuting in theaters on December 17. While he initially found it "heartbreaking" when Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy ended, he is "thrilled" to be returning to the role in No Way Home, sharing a few new details about the character. Read what Simmons had to say below:
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.
Just as Simmons says, the character needed some updating when he was integrated into the MCU, as he now appears on a web series, TheDailyBugle.net, instead of publishing a print newspaper. With Jameson revealing Spider-Man's identity to the world during Far From Home's credits scene set to heavily influence the events of No Way Home, Simmons is primed for a major role in the most anticipated movie Marvel has produced in years.
While it was understandably heartrending that Simmons wasn't able to continue his career-defining role in Raimi's Spider-Man 4, having the opportunity to portray him again in the MCU is surely a great consolation prize for the Oscar-winning actor. While he has had a number of high-profile roles since then, including the abusive music instructor Terence Fletcher in Whiplash and Commissioner Gordon in Justice League, a role which he will reprise in Batgirl, nothing else Simmons has done has been able to match the commercial appeal of his portrayal of J. Jonah Jameson.
Source: THR