News has broken via The Hollywood Reporter that Oscar winning actor J.k. Simmons has been cast in the upcoming ‘Justice League: Part One’ film to be directed by DC Extended Universe helmer Zack Snyder.
The character that Simmons will be playing may come as a surprise to some given the rumours that have been circulating for months about their death at the hands of Jared Leto’s Joker some time prior to the events of this years ‘Batman v Superman: Dawn of Jusice’.
Have you worked it out yet? … Simmons will be playing Commissioner James Gordon!
The character, played most recently on the big screen by Gary Oldman in ‘The Dark Knight Rises’, is also a feature on the Fox series ‘Gotham’ played by Ben McKenzie.
The lack of casting news for the character of Gordon in ‘Batman v Superman’ has lead many to the conclusion that his character was killed off by The Joker further adding to his nemesis status with Ben Affleck’s Batman. We should stress that at this point although confirmation has come from Warner Bros. of Simmons inclusion in the film there is no news as to whether this would be in the present day of flashback sequences which could the depict the supposed death and explain his absence from ‘Batman v Superman’.
Simmons recently won huge praise including an Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA for his supporting role in the film ‘Whiplash’. Comic fans will probably know him best for his role as J. Jonah Jameson in the Tobey Maguire ‘Spider-Man’ films.
His casting brings an extra weight to the already huge cast of characters but we here at Get Your Comic On think he will do a fine job as the Commish. The inclusion of the character doesnt give a huge amount away from the story but does go some way to telling us about how much the film will be steeped in DC Comics lore. All very exciting!
‘Justice League: Part One’ begins filming in London in April and is aiming for a November 16th 2017 release date.
In the meantime don’t forget that ‘Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice’ hits cinemas on March 25th worldwide! You can check out the first episode of the Get Your Comic On web show where we discuss the characters of the film here:
https://youtu.be/UPra3Xt002s
