In Spider-Man: Far From Home's mid-credits scene, Marvel Studios delivered one of its biggest surprises ever when J.K. Simmons reprised his role from Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy as J. Jonah Jameson.
Playing a new, shock jock-style version of the character, he went from being The Daily Bugle's Publisher to the host of TheDailyBugle.net. After revealing Spider-Man's identity to the world, his vendetta continued in Spider-Man: No Way Home until he, like everyone else, forgot Peter Parker existed.
With this month's Spider-Man: Brand New Day, all signs point to filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton delivering a fan-pleasing street-level adventure. Unfortunately, it seems he hasn't made room for Jonah in the story, despite it having a sizeable runtime.
In an interview with ComicBook.com, Simmons said, "Not in it, dude. I don’t know who on the internet decided that that was [a] fact, but I ain’t in it."
Now, there's always a chance that he's telling a little while lie to hide his involvement in the movie. There's surely a place for Jonah in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, given that he likely still believes that Spidey is a menace, but at the same time, Marvel might feel that the character has run his course in this corner of the MCU.
Still, this is a missed trick, especially as the comic book version of Jonah played a role in The Scorpion's creation by funding the experiment that turned Mac Gargan into a supervillain.
"Well, I only really appeared on screen with Tobey [Maguire]," Simmons previously said of never meeting Tom Holland while working on Marvel Studios' Spider-Man movies. "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," he continued. "But having said that, I love what Jon [Watts] is doing with it too, and I love the way that they have kept it fresh without completely losing what made Spider-Man appealing in the first place."
So, a disappointing update, but we'll have to wait and see what happens. In the meantime, you can check out some new Spider-Man: Brand New Day TV spots in the players below.
In Spider-Man: Brand New Day, it's a Brand New Day for Peter Parker. Fighting crime full-time as Spider-Man in a world that doesn’t remember him—and the pressure of seeing his old friends move on without him—sparks a change in Peter he may not have the power to control.
But that transformation might also be the only thing that can stop a shocking new threat to the city and those he loves - a powerful villain no one can even see. The world may have forgotten Peter Parker, but he hasn’t forgotten them.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day's cast includes Tom Holland, Zendaya, Sadie, Jacob Batalon, Jon Bernthal, Tramell Tillman, Michael Mando, and Mark Ruffalo.
The movie is directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and written by Chris McKenna & Erik Sommers. The film is produced by Kevin Feige, Amy Pascal, Avi Arad and Rachel O'Connor. Executive producers include Louis D'Esposito and David Cain.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day swings into theaters on July 31. The movie opens in the UK on July 29.