J. Jonah Jameson's Best MCU Future Is Leading A Spider-Man Villain Team

Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage

J. Jonah Jameson's best MCU future could be leading a Spider-Man villain team following his returns in Spider-Man: Far From Home and Venom: Let There Be Carnage. 12 years after his final appearance in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 3, J.K. Simmons' return as the foul-mouthed Daily Bugle editor is the latest in a long line of multiverse surprises to spill from the MCU's phase 4. Simmons' reprisal of his iconic Jameson role is a masterstroke by Marvel's creative team, who are surely looking to tap into the reserves of goodwill that Raimi's original Spider-Man trilogy still holds today.

With his signature toothbrush mustache, flattop haircut, and ever-present cigar, Jameson is a classic Stan Lee character dating back to the first-ever The Amazing Spider-Man issue from Marvel comics in 1963. Jameson, both in Marvel cinema and comics canon, exists as a primary antagonist of Spider-Man who has a complicated relationship with the hero, that usually translates to him vociferously berating the web-slinger through various forms of Daily Bugle media. Raimi's Jameson is primarily portrayed as a pompous skinflint who, above all else, despises Spider-Man, and this trait seems to have carried over to the MCU given the TV broadcast playing in the explosive Venom 2's post-credits scene.

While J.K. Simmons' character is clearly still associated with the Daily Bugle at this point, J. Jonah Jameson's best MCU future is leading a Spider-Man villain team. Jameson's 2 MCU post-credit scenes, spurred by popular demand, should result in a more substantial role being handed to Simmons' iconic character. The MCU's phase 4 multiverse opens up numerous canonical possibilities to take Jamesons' character in, with the most thrilling prospect the timeline in which he battles Spider-Man alongside other supervillains using the mechanized Spider-Slayer.

While the J. Jonah Jameson further revealed in Venom: Let There Be Carnage's post-credits scene does little to suggest a huge deviation from Sam Raimi's originally envisioned character, the multiverse's narrative-warping powers should not be discounted in this instance. The MCU has already acknowledged recasting J.K. Simmons' Jameson is a nigh-impossible task by instead choosing to reinstate the Whiplash actor to his role after 12 years away from Marvel projects. This begs the question of what the MCU could do with Jameson beyond the usual media-based eviscerations of Spider-Man, which should utilize Jamesons' dark Marvel comics storyline.

In The Amazing Spider-Man #25, Jameson's mood towards Spider-Man turns murderous following a series of perceived slights by the web-slinger, at which point he resolves to do battle with Spidey. Jameson recruits a number of villains Spider-Man has previously bested, including the mad Professor Spencer Smythe. Smythe is a tortured genius capable of advanced engineering ingenuity, which Jameson financially backs to create villainous machines known as "The Spider-Slayers." This remote-controlled machine projects Jameson's face onto a screen so he could leer at Spider-Man while the robot's coiling steel arms squeeze the life out of his enemy.

Although Spider-Man ultimately defeats every iteration of Spider-Slayer thrown at him by the Daily Bugle editor, the MCU introducing an evil Jameson would certainly subvert the expectations held for future Spider-Man installments. Installing an actor of Simmons' chops into a weightier, more menacing role would also allow room for other unexpected character partnerships to flourish. Having Jameson lead a villainous army could open up the tantalizing possibility of Spider-Man and Venom actually working together in the MCU's Venom 3, perhaps with a purview to an antihero concept like the Sinister Six for Venom's character further down the line. While none of this has been suggested at as of it in the franchise, the MCU's smart decision to bring back fan-favorite Simmons as Jameson proves they understand the age-old concept of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." By utilizing the multiverse to re-imagine a darker J. Jonah Jameson, the MCU has the opportunity to make its next Spider-Man installment the best one yet.

Next: Venom 2’s Ending & Spider-Man Universe Future Setup Explained