In
Spider-Man: Far From Home's mid-credits scene, J.K. Simmons returns as J. Jonah Jameson and reveals to the world that Spider-Man is secretly Peter Parker. It's a jaw-dropping scene in several respects, and now Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige has revealed why they brought the actor back and elaborates on the decision to make The Daily Bugle a website rather than a newspaper.
While that creative decision might upset some fans, Feige provides a compelling explanation for the change and goes on to confirm that Simmons is playing a totally new Jonah and isn't from another dimension or somehow connected to the version from Sam Raimi's trilogy of movies.
"He wasn’t in either of the two Amazing [Spider-Man films], so we felt like we had to do that at some point. Homecoming didn’t seem like the right idea, and then 95% of Far From Home takes place outside the city. So it felt like that was the opportunity to do a number of things. One: to have Mysterio win in a way that you’re not expecting, to have Mysterio pull one last trick on him. And in those conversations with Jameson, it was always about how the notion of the powerful publisher doesn’t exist anymore.
"Selling newspapers, “get ‘em out, they gotta go to print!” is a very romanticized notion that doesn’t exist anymore. So, you know, in the Ultimates there was the Daily Bugle website and things like that. But taking it into an even more contemporary radical left and radical right news journalist that kind of scream in front of the camera. And thinking, “Who could do it?”
"The thing is, JK Simmons is such a versatile actor. Look at what he’s done over the years since his iconic portrayal of this character in the Sam Raimi films. And then all of his work, Whiplash being one of the biggest ones. It can be the same actor with that somewhat similar voice inflection, but with a totally different persona. That had never been done before. We really liked the idea that it’s a new Jameson, he’s not from another dimension or multiverse or something like that. It’s a new Jameson in this world played by the same actor."
What we don't know is whether we'll see more of Jonah and TheDailyBugle.net moving forward, but it would be a great shame to not make him a thorn in Spidey's side in future adventures.
Do you guys think Marvel Studios made the right decision by overhauling these Marvel Comics staples? As always, be sure to let us know your thoughts on that in the comments section below.
Hit the "View List" button for more Spider-Man: Far From Home
spoiler questions answered by director Jon Watts and Kevin Feige!
Kevin Feige On Outing Spider-Man's Secret Identity
Spider-Man: Far From Home's mid-credits scene sees the web-slinger's secret identity outed to the world after Mysterio frames him for the devastating drone attack on London (and his death).
Don't expect a retcon, though, as Feige confirms that it will have a huge impact on his future adventures rather than being somehow brushed under the rug by the time the next movie is released.
"Much like the end of Iron Man, saying, okay, the rules have changed. Which now means we're going to have to do something completely different next time. The how and the when and the specifics can change and evolve, but setting yourself up for something that has never been done before... at the end of Iron Man, it was a hero publicly outing himself so that in the next movies and all subsequent movies, we couldn't fall back on the secret identity trope which had been part of Iron Man's story for decades in the comics.
"And now people know Peter's identity. People now think he's a villain, Mysterio plays one last trick on him and succeeds... [so that] means everything's different. Where it goes, we'll see. But it's exciting that it once again sets us up for a Peter Parker story that has never been done before on film."
Jon Watts On The Post-Credits Scene's Skrull Reveal
Spider-Man: Far From Home wraps up with a post-credits scene that reveals that the Nick Fury and Maria Hill we've been spending time with are actually shape-shifting Skrulls, Talos and Soren!
Asked to elaborate on the thinking behind that reveal, the filmmaker explained why it wasn't an easy decision.
"We had talked about including it as a body of the movie, but it made the most sense to be the very last little con in this movie about con men. Just one last little reversal. And we went back and forth as to whether or not we really wanted to do that or not, because it’s such a crazy twist that makes you want to watch everything again. Because, once you realize that Nick and Maria aren’t Nick and Maria, you can enjoy the movie in a completely different way. Everything they say takes on a different meaning when you realize that they’re not actually who they say they are."
Kevin Feige And Jon Watts On The Marvel Multiverse's Existence
We quickly learn that Mysterio lied about being from another Earth, but does that mean the Multiverse isn't real?
"There's no Earth-616," Watts confirms.
"Earth-616 is the comics version of it. He's just making that up." However, that doesn't mean the Multiverse itself isn't the real deal.
"[It] just means he was full of s**t," Feige says, referring to the Master of Illusions lies about the Multiverse and whether that means the whole thing is actually fake. "I mean, in Doctor Strange, we hear the Ancient One talk about the multiverse, so we’ve already established it as a thing."
Jon Watts On Keeping J.K. Simmons' Return A Secret
J.K. Simmons' return as J. Jonah Jameson is a genuine shocker, and there wasn't a single rumour or hint before the movie's release that the actor would be back for
Spider-Man: Far From Home.
Now, Watts has shed some light on the lengths Marvel went to in order to keep it under wraps!
"That was always the plan because we knew that we wanted to reveal Peter’s identity, and we wanted to bring in this idea of the news and not being sure exactly what you can believe or not believe. And it was always going to be him, but we didn’t want to say anything to him or to anyone because we didn’t want any press to leak out about it, via his agents or whatever.
"So we waited until the very, very last second and called him up, and he came by and he was, ‘Wait, what? You want me to do what?’ It took him a second to understand, but as we pitched the idea he was totally on board and he really loved getting to be the person who finally outs Peter Parker."
Kevin Feige On The Difference Between "The Snap" And "The Blip"
Thanos' attack on Earth has been referred to as "The Snap" for a while now, but
Spider-Man: Far From Home seemingly dubs the event "The Blip." According to Feige, there is a clear difference between the two terms and they're actually used to refer to the different stages of what the planet went through.
"We always referred to it as the Blip," he explains,
"and then the public started referring to it as the Snap. We think it's funny when high school kids just call this horrific, universe-changing event the Blip. We've narrowed it down to, the Snap is when everybody disappeared at the end of Infinity War. The Blip is when everybody returned at the end of Endgame… and that is how we have narrowed in on the definitions."
Jon Watts On Where Things Could Go Next For Spider-Man
Spider-Man's secret identity has been revealed to the world and the public now believes he's a villain, so where on Earth do things go next for the wall-crawler? Watts wasn't willing to give away specifics, but reveals that there have already been some talks about the fallout from that mid-credits scene.
"I mean, we definitely have ideas of where we want to go but the goal is to just try to make this movie the most dynamic and entertaining experience possible. And if that means ending on a crazy cliffhanger and painting yourself into a corner, so be it." That's the second time Watts has referred to the scene in that way, so the identity reveal clearly isn't going to be retconned!
Kevin Feige On Easter Eggs Pointing To That Skrull Reveal
As noted, the post-credits scene features the reveal that Nick Fury and Maria Hill have been Skrulls all along because Talos and his wife have been covering for the former S.H.I.E.L.D. Director.
However, seeds were laid for that reveal throughout the sequel!
"Fury does things earlier in the film where he refers to the earth to Peter as "your world," instead of "our world." And when you watch it for the first time, it just goes by. But when you watch it a second time, knowing what's coming, it's fun to see that they're there. And Jon Watts is very good at laying in those Easter eggs."
Jon Watts On Whether Talos Has Been Nick Fury All Along
We don't actually know how long Talos has been impersonating Nick Fury, and Watts has added fuel to the fire by pointing out that there could be a reason why he cut his toast the way he did in
Avengers: Age of Ultron (something which has actually spawned countless fan theories about whether that was actually Fury even before the post-credits scene in
Spider-Man: Far From Home).
"There was one crazy thing that was a fan theory, that I didn’t get to work into the movie. But it was really funny about Fury cutting his toast diagonally. Do you know that one? It’s the question that he’s asked in Captain Marvel, to prove that he is who he is and he says he doesn’t like his toast cut diagonally. But there’s a shot in Age of Ultron of him cutting a piece of bread diagonally. So it spawned all these crazy fan theories of is that not really Nick Fury in Age of Ultron? Is he a Skrull? So I read all that stuff."
Kevin Feige On Grounding Spidey's Villains In Reality
Mysterio was the second villain Spider-Man has faced who had a grudge against Tony Stark, and Feige reveals that rooting the web-slinger's bad guys in reality was important to them from the start.
"I think what was important is that we started by saying, this is not a science experiment gone wrong that created that. We like that our MCU Spidey villains are rooted more in reality, if you can call it that. So that's where we started with Mysterio. And getting into the notion of drone technology and hologram technology, and how would one would have access to that level of technology takes you back to Stark Industries and wanting to fill the void left when Tony sacrificed himself. We thought it's fun tying in characters from the other films, like the Peter Billingsley character who just worked alongside Obadiah Stane in our very first movie. We thought it was fun to see him return."
With Iron Man now dead and gone, though, you have to hope these movies will now move on from tying everything into Iron Man and Stark Industries so Spider-Man can be his own, well man!
Jon Watts On Why It Had To Be J.K. Simmons Or No One
"Yeah, there was never a question," the filmmaker says when asked if it was always the plan to bring back J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson.
"I was like it has to be him or let’s not do it."
As for the actor's reaction when he was approached to reprise the role, Watts says: "I think he was initially just a little weirded out by the request. He was like,‘Wait, what? What do you mean?’ But then I got to properly pitch it to him and it totally made sense to him. I think it must have been a little bit surreal for him to just step back into this role after such a long time. But it was incredible."
Jon Watts On Whether J.K. Simmons' Return Is A Multiverse Tease
While he admits that it hadn't occurred to him beforehand, Watts admits that the fact that this version of Jonah Jameson looks identical to the version in Sam Raimi's trilogy
could be noteworthy.
"Yeah. Definitely it raises some very interesting questions. I don’t know that I have answers for them just yet. But, yeah, it does open up some strange possibilities by having him be the same person." Asked whether he's talked to it about Feige, he added:
"Not really allowed to say, but I would say that all options are on the table. That’s how I like to think of it." Till will tell if that pays off.
Jon Watts On Botching J.K. Simmons' First Take As JJJ
Watts was, in fact, so blown away by having Simmons reprise the role, he messed up the first take!
"I ruined the first take because just he launched right into it and it was so amazing that I couldn’t stop laughing. It was so great." Did that annoy the actor?
"No, I think he was glad that it was still working."
As for how this version of Jonah differs to the one we saw on screen before, the filmmaker admitted that comparing him to controversial broadcaster Alex Jones definitely makes sense.
"Yeah, I think he’s definitely sort of on the fringes of the news media," he said, referring to Jonah's MCU status.
Kevin Feige On Having Spider-Man Move Out Of Iron Man's Shadow
Spider-Man has been in Iron Man's shadow for a while now, but we can expect that to change moving forward.
"In the spoiler territory of the end of the movie, we return [Peter] back to New York. And we return to the fun of how awesome is to see Spider-Man swinging around New York," he says.
"We return to a new classic version of J. Jonah Jameson that we haven’t seen in many films, and yet, in a totally different, new context. And at the same time, charting new ground for [Spider-Man] with, his identity is out there. Which has never been done before in the movies. One was [Tony Stark’s] choice, one was against [Peter’s] will. That’s the difference. That was the difference."
Moving forward, he says,
"It’ll be fun to see Spidey back in his element, out of the shadow of Tony, out of the shadow of the other Avengers, as his own man now, as his own hero. And yet now facing his own challenges that aren’t coming from Avengers fighting, like Civil War, or aliens coming, like Infinity War or Endgame. It’s all Peter focused and Peter based."
Many thanks to Collider, ComicBook.com, Fandango, and Uproxx for the quotes used in this post.