J.K. Simmons says he has a 'very, very small part' in Justice League

After playing Peter Parker’s newspaper editor J. Jonah Jameson in the Tobey Maguire-starring Spider-Man films, J.K. Simmons is making his way to a different comic book series this fall, when fans will see him — just a bit of him, according to the actor — as Commissioner Gordon in Justice League.

The actor shared some details about his part in the Warner Bros. superhero film, along with how Gordon could continue to appear in future films in the DC Extended Universe.

“My part in the first film coming out this fall is very, very small,” he told ScreenCrush in a recent interview. “It’s a little introduction of the character. But whenever the next one gets off the ground, whether it’s The Batman movie or the Justice League sequel, and I know those things are getting shuffled around right now … we thought we might be getting to work pretty soon on The Batman, but we’ll see what the future brings. Hopefully that’ll be another comic-book character that I get to take two or three or four cracks at.”

Simmons’ casting as the Caped Crusader’s Gotham City ally was announced last year, and he previously told EW he hoped to show a more “badass” side of the character — and a strong one too, as evidenced by that viral photo of the actor putting in some serious work at the gym.

“People of my generation remember Commissioner Gordon as this jolly, ineffectual Santa Claus type, and I think over the years in the comics there’s definitely much more of a badass side to him,” he said back in July. “One of the things that’s interesting to me is investigating hopefully a little bit more of that badass [side]…You’re living in a universe where it’s pretty tough to be a badass compared to somebody like Batman, but in the universe of non-superheroes I like the idea of Commissioner Gordon as a guy that can take care of himself, a guy that’s a real partner to Batman, not just a guy that turns on the bat signal and goes, ‘Help! Help, Batman!’”

Gordon was most recently seen on-screen in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, where he was played by Gary Oldman. An animated incarnation of the character also appeared in this year’s LEGO Batman Movie, voiced by Héctor Elizondo.

Simmons and the rest of the Justice League hit theaters on Nov. 17.