J.K. Simmons Cast As Commissioner Gordon

Edited by Robert Beach 

As March dawns, we must accept the fact that we seem to be barreling head first towards the inevitability that the DC movie universe will 1) be happening and 2) be guided by the unwavering hand of Zack Snyder. Between the pretty terrible kick-off of Man of Steel and the ongoing train wreck that’s been the Dawn of Justice marketing campaign, this hardly seems like a march towards quality than a slow descent into mismanagement and insincerity. 

However, one thing that has consistently buoyed this downward spiral is the presence of top-quality actors in various roles sprinkled across the films. Ben Affleck, Jared Leto, and Jeremy Irons are all Oscar winners for a very good reason. Now, the powers that be at WB have added a fourth Oscar winner to the line up with J.K. Simmons as Commissioner Gordon.

Starting at the baseline, this is a good choice for Gordon. Gordon’s one of the most important and dynamic figures in the entire Batman mythos, so getting such a force of personality and talent as Simmons is a great call. What’s more, Simmons can showcase a side of Gordon’s character that’s never been explored by Gary Oldman’s great performance, or the fun, but not terribly engaging, portrayal of the character on Gotham. 

The Batman we’re going to be getting later this month is a haggard and quasi-psychotic version of the character ripped straight from the pages of Dark Knight Returns (because WB/DC didn’t learn their lesson with the last Batman film to borrow from DKR).  Affleck’s Batman is an old, grizzled bastard who fell off the map for a time before returning to the role. It’d make sense the Commissioner Gordon of this world is equally tired and haggard, given he’s had to keep Gotham safe all by himself since Robin’s death in this universe. 

Like I said, this seems like a good idea, but it also seems like an idea marinated in a philosophy and focus that’s been the bane of the DC adaptation factory since 1989. I mentioned earlier the DCEU will be boasting 4 Oscar winning actors as it goes forward; the thing is all of those actors are playing characters grounded firmly and solely in the Batman universe. It’s easy to forget with how spread out everything is now. While I think that’ll make a great Batman movie it makes me nervous that the powers behind the entire DC film UNIVERSE are moving heaven and Earth in the name of Batman.

Look, the saga of Batman and Bat-fans have become one of the most taxing and clustered issues at the heart of modern fandom, so I don’t want to get too bogged down in this particular nonsense.  The question of what Batman’s popularity means or what aspects of him people think should be prevalent has been run into the ground by far more analysts than I’d care to count so that’s all being put aside.  The reason DC’s continued dedication to Batman in this context sticks out to me is that it seems completely counter-intuitive to the entire point of making a universe of films. 

The whole reason DC and WB choose to launch Superman and produce Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, and the Justice League is WB wanted to show they could produce superhero films that weren’t just gritty, urban crime thrillers. He’s going to be in both Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad; he’s the one who meets with the Flash, and he’s the one whose supporting characters are filling out the Justice League movie, just add to the sense WB doesn’t want to be making DC films that aren’t just Batman movies. 

That apathetic attitude towards the material hovered over the DC movieverse since the beginning, partly just by forced comparison.  It took Marvel 4 years to go from Iron Man to Avengers. In that same time, DC/WB have gone from Man of Steel to Dawn of Justice. Meanwhile, they moved heaven and Earth to produce a Lord of the Rings prequel trilogy in full and launched a new prequel series for Harry Potter. 

That same apathy informs a lot of the performances we’ve seen from these same Oscar winners in the various trailers at hand. 

Jared Leto and Jeremy Irons are award-winning character actors, but the way they’re playing big-name characters like Joker or Alfred is about as basic as you can get for their respective personas. 

The same honestly goes for everything we’ve seen of Affleck’s Batman so far; he’s broody, gruff, angry, and paranoid. Honestly, Affleck’s presented vision of Batman is so generic and unimpressive you could’ve put anyone in the suit, and it wouldn’t have mattered at all. That tone of “we’re here for the paycheck, so give it your medium” has been a constant drag on the energy in DC’s lead ups. 

Obviously, this is all just conjecture, so I’d really like to be wrong on this.  Maybe Dawn of Justice will turn out great. And maybe when DC finally pulls the trigger on that Batman movie, it’ll be the Oscar-worthy hit the studio’s been salivating to recreate since Dark Knight. If we really did get a Batman movie keen to engage the audience with mature themes rather than just draping itself in grim realism to exude the illusion of maturity to assuage the self-consciousness of adult comic book fans, I’d be the first one to sing its praises.  

For now, the only thing we know for certain is J.K. Simmons probably won’t be playing J. Jonah Jameson in Marvel’s new Spider-Man film unless they’re going to digitally trim his mustache in post. I really hope adding another name actor to the Batman supporting cast proves to be worth it. 

If you liked this article, please like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter