There are many great things to reflect on in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy, but certainly one element that ranks high on that list is J.K. Simmons' performance as loud-mouthed Daily Bugle Editor-in-Chief J. Jonah Jameson. The actor's turns in all three films provide them with some of the best, funniest, and most memorable moments, and the fact that the incarnation went away with the franchise reboot is still considered one of comic book cinemas greatest losses. But could Simmons' Jameson ever return to the big screen? Apparently it's not out of the question.
The Whiplash actor was recently a guest on Sirius XM's The Howard Stern Show, and as the interview was wrapping up, Simmons revealed some fascinating information about a possible future return of his J. Jonah Jameson. The subject came up as Stern was listing off some of the actor's most notable titles, and took the opportunity to ask if there's any chance Simmons could one day be in another Spider-Man film. The Academy Award nominee didn't go into extreme detail about how he's been making deals with Sony and figuring out his return, but did instead offer, "I just heard that we…that’s a possibility."
The radio host followed up by asking if Simmons would grab the opportunity if it were presented to him, and the actor responded in the very positive affirmative, saying, "Absolutely."
So how could this happen? There are two possible approaches, and one is quite a bit more complicated than the other. If Sony were to take the easy route, they could just cast J.K. Simmons in the next installment of the Amazing Spider-Man franchise, given that the rebooted series has not yet introduced its own take on the character. Of course, the problem with this approach is that this version of Jameson would be a different version than the one featured in the Sam Raimi movies, and that could cause a bit of confusion in terms of keeping the continuities of each series separate.
The alternate plan for having J.K. Simmons return as J. Jonah Jameson would involve a bit more narrative acrobatics. Basically, I wonder if The Amazing Spider-Man couldn't do its own adaptation of the recent Spider-Verse arc in Marvel Comics that saw characters exploring the multiverse and coming across different versions of Spider-Man in alternate dimensions. If this were to happen, Simmons could have the opportunity to literally play the exact same version of J. Jonah Jameson that he did in the Sam Raimi movies, with characters from the rebooted franchise crossing dimensional walls and encountering him. Admittedly, this idea would involve a great deal of setup, but it also would present something unlike anything we've seen before in comic book movies.
The fact that J.K. Simmons was so perfect as J. Jonah Jameson likely has a lot to do with the fact that we have not yet seen a new version of the Daily Bugle chief in The Amazing Spider-Man, but would you want to see Simmons play the same character in the rebooted franchise, or would you want to see the series go in a different direction? Tell us what you think in the comments below.
