J.K. Simmons to Reprise Role as Commissioner Gordon in Batgirl Movie



 

J.K. Simmons is returning to the Batman universe as The Hollywood Reporter reports that the Oscar-winning actor is in talks to reprise his role as Commissioner Gordon in the Batgirl movie. The film is being directed by Bad Boys for Life directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah from a screenplay by Bumblebee writer Christina Hodson. J.K. Simmons previously portrayed Commissioner Gordon in Justice League in a couple of key scenes which were to lead to Simmons returning to the role in Ben Affleck’s The Batman and its potential sequels, a franchise that never came to fruition as Robert Pattinson took over the role under the direction of Matt Reeves. 

 


 

The news that J.K. Simmons is coming back as Gordon is certainly surprising and certainly raises the question of what timeline this HBO Max film is set in. Others had assumed with the casting of In The Heights’s Leslie Grace as Barbara Gordon/Batgirl that Jeffrey Wright, the Gordon of Matt Reeves’s incarnation of The Batman would be the one playing the titular character’s father in the upcoming film. I never assumed that this was a foregone conclusion though and held out hope that J.K. Simmons could return to the role with DC embracing the concept of the multiverse with their upcoming The Flash movie. Besides as casting was ramping up for the role of Barbrara Gordon Haley Lu Richardson was the runner-up next to Leslie Grace so it seemed like the casting was a color-blind process which meant the role of Commissioner Gordon could have been played by either Jeffrey Wright or J.K. Simmons. Also Simmons who started bulking up at the time of his casting as Gordon in Justice League regained that formidable stature for his role as Chris Pratt’s dad in The Tomorrow War so to hear that J.K. Simmons’s talents and capabilities in dedicating himself to embodying various characters isn’t going to waste is wonderful news. 

 

 



So with the inclusion of J.K. Simmons in the Batgirl movie does this mean we should expect to see Ben Affleck back as his version of the Dark Knight? That would be incredible as Affleck is already set to reprise his role in the upcoming The Flash film but that is not necessarily what's going to happen. For all, we know the timeline altering events of The Flash will set up a new actor as Bruce Wayne/Batman in the DCEU while Robert Pattinson continues on as his version of the Dark Knight in Matt Reeves’s franchise as indicated by Complex’s report last winter about DC planning to run two Batman franchises simultaneously while not necessarily guaranteeing Ben Affleck’s continual involvement past his presence in The Flash. Perhaps the new DCEU Batman actor will serve as a mentor to Barbara Gordon in Batgirl or maybe Ben Affleck will remain The Batman but remain a character in the shadows not seen onscreen and only talked about with great weight if Ben Affleck moves on from the role and DC has yet to find his replacement by that point. 

 


 

In any case, J.K. Simmons coming back to the Batman universe to play Commissioner Gordon is a win for sure. Simmons is a highly accomplished veteran actor famous for his turn as J.J. Jonah Jameson in the Rami Spider-Man films, his standout performance in Whiplash, and even smaller films like that of Hugh Grant’s The Rewrite. In addition, J.K. Simmons reprised his role as J.J. Jonah Jameson at the end of Spider-Man: Far From Home in a surprise cameo and will presumably be coming back for Spider-Man: No Way Home so the prospect that J.K. Simmons will be playing J.J. Jonah Jameson and Commissioner Gordon at the same time is an exciting one and one full of potential to see the full versatility and range of the actor on full display.  

 


 

 



 

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