J.K. Simmons Explains That His Version of J. Jonah Jameson in SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME is a Variant

It was pretty awesome to see J.K. Simmons show up back in the role of J. Jonah Jameson when he popped up at the end of Spider-Man: Far From Home. It got fans wondering what that meant and how that’s possible because he played the same character in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man films. Fans wondered whether or not he's the same J. Jonah Jameson from the original movies, or just a different version played by the same actor, but this is clearly a different version of that character.

Well, Simmons has confirmed that this version of J. Jonah Jameson in the MCU is actually a variant. The whole variant thing was introduced in the Loki series, and this could also explain away Evan Peters’s version of Quicksilver that we saw in WandaVision. He explained in an interview with the Happy, Sad, Confused podcast:

"You know what, I think it's a slightly different version. Certainly, from the creators of the current iteration of the story, it's a very different character. To me, it's a slightly different character. It's the same blowhard; the same guy with less hair. Honestly, I kinda wish he had the same hair...The most important thing is that he's still the same blowhard and he does have the same damn mustache and cigar, at least. As is appropriate for that character, he's a little comic relief thing that gets sprinkled lightly into the movie."

This version of Jameson is hosting a live streaming channel, and getting people riled up over Spider-Man, making the hero look bad and making people think he’s a villain.

So, now that that’s all cleared up, that’s pretty cool! I like this whole variant thing, there’s so much that could be played with because of that and it’ll be interesting to see how the MCU continues utilize this concept as the movies continue to play out.

Spider-Man: No Way Home arrives in theaters on December 17th. What do you think about this version of Jameson being a variant?