Spider-Man is one of the most popular Marvel superheroes of all time. As such, the web-slinger has been adapted for film a number of times throughout the years, resulting in three different live-action franchises. The first was Sam Raimi’s trilogy, which starred J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson. And the Oscar winning actor recently revealed his “heartbreaking” reaction to that franchise being cancelled before Spider-Man 4.
Sam Raimi’s original Spider-Man movie succeeded as a superhero movie long before shared universes became commonplace. Two sequels eventually followed, but Sony ended the series after the somewhat infamous threequel. It turns out that J.K. Simmons was pretty upset at the time, as he recently shared:
When they moved on from there [Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy], it was heartbreaking. I thought 'Oh well, that was fun,' and I was glad I had the opportunity. When they came back a couple of years ago and said they wanted to revive that gasbag of a character, I was thrilled. It was just about adapting him to 2020 and really to me, he's the same blowhard, just instead of running a newspaper he runs a media empire.
What a class act. J.K. Simmons’ character might not have been the lead of the Spider-Man trilogy, but clearly he was emotionally invested in the franchise, and his tenure as J. Jonah Jameson. And while he was sad when the studio moved on and eventually kickstarted the Amazing Spider-Man films with Andrew Garfield, at least the Whiplash actor was able to eventually reprise his role in the MCU.
J.K. Simmons’ comments come from an interview he had with THR on the red carpet of his new movie Being the Ricardos. With Simmons set to once again play the Daily Bugle boss in Spider-Man: No Way Home, eventually the conversation turned to his original run as J. Jonah Jameson. Clearly he’s thrilled with being able to play the iconic Spidey character again on the big screen.
J. Jonah Jameson returned to the big screen in a shocking manner during the mid-credits scene of Spider-Man: Far From Home. While Peter and MJ are enjoying a day in the city, the Daily Bugle (in this universe a gossip site) revealed Spider-Man’s true identity to the world… and also framed him for the murder of Mysterio. That twist ending is the catalyst for the events of No Way Home, which show Tom Holland’s character attempting to clear his name via Doctor Strange’s spell gone wrong.
Luckily for both J.K. Simmons and Spider-Man fans out there, he’ll one again reprise his role in the highly anticipated threequel No Way Home. He’s seen briefly in the trailers, watching in awe as villains like Lizard descend upon New York City. We’ll just have to wait and see how meaty of a role he has; Tom Holland recently revealed that he still hasn’t had the privilege of meeting Simmons in real life.
Spider-Man: No Way Home will hit theaters on December 17th. In the meantime, check out the 2021 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience.
