'Spider-Man: Far From Home': It Sounds Like J. Jonah Jameson And The Daily Bugle Will Appear In The MCU
We haven't seen J. Jonah Jameson, Peter Parker's bombastic, Spider-Man-hating newspaper boss, in a live-action Spider-Man movie since 2007, when J.K. Simmons perfectly embodied that character for director Sam Raimi. (Jameson didn't appear on camera in The Amazing Spider-Man movies, but he did respond to Andrew Garfield's Peter Parker in an e-mail.) We also haven't seen him appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe yet, but it sounds like that's going to change in the upcoming Spider-Man: Far From Home. Read on to discover what we learned on the set.
During our visit to the London set of Spider-Man: Far From Home, we participated in a Q&A with executive producer Eric Hauserman Carroll, who spilled tons of details about what we can expect to see in the film. When asked if the filmmakers had thought about exploring aspects of Peter Parker's life like his job at The Daily Bugle or relationship with Jameson, Carroll essentially confirmed that we'll see an MCU J. Jonah Jameson in some form, though he danced around exactly how that would play out:
"Yes, we've absolutely talked and thought about those characters a lot, specifically in reference to this film. What we just want to make sure we're [presenting] them in a way that doesn't make you feel instantly like you've seen them before. So we have a couple of ideas, some of which I can't really go into detail because they're spoilery, but it's absolutely – if we had an "in" for the Daily Bugle that wasn't just your traditional newspaper...and Peter Parker, there's this cool, weird thing happening where being a photographer isn't necessarily a mark of distinction anymore. We all have better cameras in our pockets than most people even owned ten years ago. So how do we get Peter or somebody into that world without it feeling like, do kids really aspire to go be photographers for The New York Times anymore? Or do they aspire to have their tweet reposted, and so on.
"So we're trying to pay as much homage to the source material as possible, and we do think there are a couple of fun ideas like that in here, most of which I don't want to spell out for you, but absolutely. We want to take as much of the mythology that people love and present it in a way that's totally faithful to what people love about it, but in a [different] way."
Someone followed up, asking if it was fair to say that Jameson and The Daily Bugle would not be in this movie, and Carroll replied, "No." That certainly sounds like we're going to be seeing a different take on that character – perhaps one that makes a bit more sense for 2019.
Last year, Jameson appeared (in voice only) in the PlayStation 4 video game Marvel's Spider-Man as a podcaster, the host of a right-wing talk show called "Just The Facts with J. Jonah Jameson" on which he peddles conspiracy theories and badgers listeners/callers who have been saved by Spider-Man. It's technically possible that Marvel Studios could implement that idea into their movies (could The Daily Bugle be a podcast network?), although it seems like it'd be difficult to justify Tom Holland's Peter Parker working in that field. But keep your eyes peeled for an appearance by Jameson when Spider-Man: Far From Home arrives in theaters on July 2, 2019.