Next month, J.K. Simmons will start filming on Batgirl, a new movie in development at HBO Max based on the popular DC Comics character. Often in different mediums, Batgirl is secretly Barbara Gordon, the daughter of Batman’s good pal Commissioner James Gordon. Leslie Grace will play Barbara in the new movie with Simmons as her father, reprising the role he first played in Justice League.
Because this is the same actor playing the same character he’s played before, one might be quick to assume that Batgirl is a part of the DCEU, sharing a cinematic universe with Justice League. Simmons now suggests that this could in fact be a new version of the same character rather than the exact same Gordon we previously saw on the big screen. While not exactly saying 100% that this is a different incarnation of the character, possibly set in a standalone universe unconnected to the previous DCEU movies, Simmons teased that this is a new Jim Gordon with a much more expanded role than he had before.
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J.K. Simmons also says he was just as pleasantly surprised when he got the call to return as Gordon in Batgirl as he was when he got the offer to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe as J. Jonah Jameson. The actor is playing a different incarnation of the same character in Spider-Man: No Way Home after previously playing Jameson in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy. This could be seen as another hint that the Batgirl Jim Gordon is not necessarily the same Gordon who was first in Justice League, just a similar version played by the same actor.
“Well, it’s a more significant character in the story this time around, which is great. When we were doing Zack Snyder’s Justice League, that was with the intent that we were laying groundwork for these characters to be expanded on. And with these superhero multiverses, I guess now they go in different directions.”
On Dec. 17, Simmons will be back as J. Jonah Jameson in Spider-Man: No Way Home. This is one of many upcoming movies which will make the best of the live-action multiverse, as Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will be leaning heavily into that concept as well. DC and Warner Bros. are doing something similar with The Flash introducing the DCEU’s multiverse resulting in Michael Keaton’s Batman and Ben Affleck’s Batman appearing in the same movie. It’s fun to mix up classic characters with new incarnations, but it might be hard to keep up with after a certain point.
“I was as surprised as I was when [Marvel] came back to ask me to do [Jameson] that they were coming to me to play Batgirl’s father, Commissioner Gordon again, in this new version of the universe. We’ve already had lots of discussions about the script and how to play everything. I’m excited by the cast and the directors and … looking forward to diving back into the DC multiverse.”
J.K. Simmons will start filming his scenes for Batgirl in January. Reportedly, the movie will debut exclusively on HBO Max sometime in 2022. This news comes to us from Den of Geek.
