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J.K. Simmons Talks Commissioner Gordon And Justice League

After leaving his mark on the Marvel world by playing J. Jonah Jameson in the Spider-Man movies, J.K. Simmons is now ready to enter the DC Extended Universe with his role as Commissioner James Gordon in the upcoming Justice League and presumably Ben Affleck's solo Batman film.

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After leaving his mark on the Marvel world by playing J. Jonah Jameson in the Spider-Man movies, J.K. Simmons is now ready to enter the DC Extended Universe with his role as Commissioner James Gordon in both the upcoming Justice League movie and presumably Ben Affleck’s solo Batman film.

While Gary Oldman already did an outstanding job with the character in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, fans are certainly excited to see what Simmons can do with the part, and in a recent interview with Collider, the actor spoke about how he’s preparing to play the iconic character.

“Obviously, a lot of really wonderful actors have played that character previously, and most of them I saw at the time the movies came out, never imagining that I would be doing the same thing. So, I can’t say that I don’t have some impression of that character in my head that’s based on what I saw, but I’m not planning on going back and watching any of the other films.

I’m just planning on learning as much as I can about him through the comics and getting my feet wet in the first movie, and then hopefully continuing on from there. I take this from my days doing theater. If I was doing a musical, I would never listen to the cast album because I wanted to do my version of something. I’m sure there will be differences and similarities with what Gary Oldman or Pat Hingle have done before, but I’m just going to try to do my take on it and be as informed as I can about the rich history of the Batman universe, going into it.”

Collider also asked him about the similarities between Gordon and Jameson, and Simmons acknowledged that the comparisons are easy to make:

 “There are easy comparisons to make,” he says. “I wasn’t a big comic book reading kid, so I did a fair amount of reading when I was playing Jameson, who was very much the comic relief in those movies. Even in the comics, he was a blowhard who was all bark and very rarely bite. My understanding, from what I’ve learned so far about Commissioner Gordon, is that he’s the older guy with the mustache who relates with our hero in a certain way. Other than that, it’s a vastly different character and much more of a stronger, impactful character in the DC universe.”

Given that Simmons is probably going to be playing Gordon for a while in the DCEU, anticipation is high to see what he can do with the role. He’s a fantastic actor though and as good as Gary Oldman was, we have no doubt that the Whiplash star will craft another excellent portrayal of the fan favorite character.

Tell us, are you excited to see what J.K. Simmons will do with Gordon in Justice League, or would you rather see someone else play the role?