Spider-Man: Far From Home featured one of the MCU's most shocking post-credits scenes when it introduced us to Earth-616's J. Jonah Jameson. Spider-Man trilogy star J.K. Simmons reprised the role, with a version of the Spidey-hating hothead who, in this reality, tuns TheDailyBugle.net.
The shock jock proceeded to reveal Spider-Man's secret identity to the world and continued to badger Peter Parker in Spider-Man: No Way Home.
During a recent interview with ComicBook.com, Simmons admitted that, despite those big moments, he and Tom Holland have never actually met! "Well, I only really appeared on screen with Tobey [Maguire]," the actor said in an interview with the site. "Even people in the industry, in the media are taken aback when I say I have never met Tom Holland. Even at whatever the last premiere that I went to, we just didn't happen to cross paths."
"So obviously I have great affection for what Sam [Raimi] and Tobey and I and the gang did, Kirsten [Dunst], everybody in those films, and my participation in the latest iteration is much more limited."
"But having said that, I love what Jon [Watts] is doing with it too," Simmons added, "and I love the way that they have kept it fresh without completely losing what made Spider-Man appealing in the first place."
An obsession with Spider-Man saw the MCU's Jonah go from broadcasting out of his apartment to a legit studio, and we're guessing he'll continue pestering the web-slinger in the upcoming Spider-Man 4 as well (especially now he's back to no longer knowing the hero's secret identity).
However, reflecting on being cast in Spider-Man: Far From Home, Simmons admitted he disagreed with Marvel over one fundamental change to the character: his lack of hair!
"They were deep into post-production on the movie, and we shot that one day of whatever, two, three, four scenes I had in the first movie. We shot it in one day in somebody's office on the Sony lot or one of the studio lots in LA," he explains. "They just cleared out their pictures of their wives and kids and it was shot so quickly."
"The Sam Raimi trilogy was very much kind of a throwback vibe, and particularly my character. I mean, I was kind of channeling the Preston Sturgis-era of movie making. We finally sort of compromised by me saying, I really want to keep the mustache. I really want to keep everything about the guy."
"And then the debate that we're inspiring I guess is 'Did he go bald in the meantime or was he wearing a toupee his entire life as the head of The Daily Bugle?'" Simmons continued, suggesting he may not have grasped the concept of the Multiverse (not that we blame him). "I think at the end of the day, it's an appropriate way to bring that character into the 21st century as the kind of media mogul that he is as opposed to the kind of dinosaur that he was."
Are you hoping to see more of Simmons in Marvel Studios' Spider-Man franchise moving forward?