The Batman is a DCEU project that’s in a state of flux – you know it, I know it, and perhaps most of all, the studio execs over at Warner Bros. know it, too. A troubled pre-production saw Matt Reeves (War For the Planet of the Apes) hopping on board only to depart soon thereafter. Thankfully, those creative differences were quickly ironed out, and Reeves is now back behind the camera with a vision that will seemingly give us a fantastic take on the Caped Crusader.
However, we don’t really know much about what he’s got planned just yet and one thing that everyone’s wondering is now that he’s overhauled the script, can we still expect to see the likes of Joe Manganiello (Deathstroke) and J.K. Simmons (Commissioner Gordon) show up? When asked point blank, the former said a while back that he was unsure about his involvement in the film, while Simmons, who spoke to Collider recently, had the same story to share.
When asked if there were anymore appearances lined up for his character, Simmons told the outlet:
Nothing has changed. There are conversations going on, that I’m not going to make public. As far as I know, there’s no opportunity, in the immediate future, for me to do more Commissioner Gordon, but I continue to be optimistic that it will happen again.
While it’s nice to hear that he’s optimistic, this certainly doesn’t sound too promising. And if for some reason we never got to see the actor in the DCEU again, that’d be a real shame.
After all, even though Simmons appeared in only a few scenes in Justice League, he was very believable as Gordon and left a good impression on most fans. But with the state that WB’s cinematic universe is in right now, it’s understandable that finding room for more of the Commissioner might not be their top priority at the moment.
Nevertheless, both Aquaman and Shazam! look to be winners and with any luck, they’ll put things back on the right track for the DCEU as we begin to inch closer and closer to The Batman. Which will hopefully find a way for J.K. Simmons to be involved.
