It was Batman Day today, D.C. Comics’ third annual celebration of Gotham’s crime-fighting Dark Knight. (The holiday was originally conceived to mark Batman’s 75th anniversary in 2014, and has since become an annual promotional event.) And while plenty of big name celebrities—including fan-favorite Joker Mark Hamill—took the opportunity to hop on social media and express their love for the character, few had as much ammunition backing them up as Justice League director Zack Snyder. Snyder commemorated his affection for the world’s greatest detective and his supporting cast by giving fans a little treat, tweeting out the first picture of J.K. Simmons as Commissioner Jim Gordon in the November 2017 film.
The black and white shot shows Simmons-as-Gordon standing next to an active Bat Signal, presumably waiting for Ben Affleck to show up and then enigmatically, rudely leave. (Snyder tweeted a picture of himself standing adjacent to the giant lamp, too.) We can’t see many details in the photo, but Simmons doesn’t look like he could tear a phone book in half with his bare hands, lending credence to the idea that his recent workout regiment wasn’t directly related to his part in the film.