The DC Extended Universe had a wild life in theaters, full of peaks and valleys. During Zack Snyder's original trilogy (which is streaming with a Max subscription), J.K. Simmons was cast as Commissioner Gordon, to the delight of fans. Ahead of Justice League, Simmons went viral for his ripped arms. And now he's finally reacted to the chatter surrounding his biceps.
J.K. Simmons appeared as Gordon in both version of Justice League, with an extended role in the Snyder Cut. He reprised that role for the scrapped Batgirl movie, which would have beeb a much larger role. The Whiplash actor recently spoke to ComicBook about how his gym photo went viral years ago, sharing:
Here's the thing about getting jacked for Justice League. I had done a movie called, I'm Not Here, coincidentally, written and directed by my wife. I played a character who was emaciated, think of The Machinist, and I had lost a ton of weight, and without being unhealthy I'd lost 35 pounds. So when I went back into the gym with my pal, Aaron Williamson, and just started pounding the protein and going crazy at good old Gold's Gym in Laurel Canyon in the valley. He snapped a few pictures when I was really pumped up and at my strongest during that period, asked if I would be okay if he posted it on Instagram. I didn't know what Instagram was, I didn't know anything. This was a few years ago. And I was like, yeah, sure, whatever.
There you have it. It sounds like Simmons' fitness journey didn't actually have all that much to do with his small but memorable role in Justice League. Instead, he was trying bulk back up after losing weight for another role. But that didn't stop the internet from exploding when the actor's biceps arrived online.
Justice League was a highly anticipated upcoming DC movie ahead of its release. And a such, fans were trying to use any images or set photos as clues about what the blockbuster might include. Some moviegoers thought that Simmons getting ripped meant Gordon would get some action sequences, but that didn't happen. Later in his same interview, Simmons spoke about just wanting to look good for his wife, before the image of him pumping iron broke the internet. In his words:
And then three, four months later, all of a sudden, somebody's whatever, it reposting it and I get texts from 30 friends in the same day, 'What the hell? Whoa, man, that picture, blah, blah, blah.' And the press got ahold of it and said, because I was about to do Zach Snyder's Justice League, the assumption was, 'Oh, well, he's getting jacked so he can be in a DC comic.' But if you think about it, Commissioner Gordon wears a trench coat the whole movie. So it really doesn't matter what his biceps look like, it was just coincidental timing with me trying to reclaim my distant athletic youth and trying to stay fit and give my wife some eye candy.
And just like that, the truth comes out. Still, J.K. Simmons' biceps will live forever online, and in the hearts of DC fans who wanted to see him kick ass in Justice League.
Unfortunately, it's unclear if we'll ever see him back as Gordon on the big screen again. It doesn't look like Batgirl will ever get released, and DC's new co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran are crafting a brand new shared universe from scratch. We'll just have to wait and see which actor lands the role of Batman's biggest ally in Gotham.
The DCU begins with Superman on July 11th, 2025. While we wait, check out the 2024 movie release dates.
