Sadie Sink Confirmed as Jean Grey in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and the Reveal Surprised Me

Sadie Sink is officially playing Jean Grey in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. I just got back from my screening, and I can confirm the casting that has been rumored for months, maybe even a year. This is a spoiler-filled discussion of her role, so if you only wanted the casting confirmation and nothing about the plot, this is your warning to stop reading now.

Overall, I thought Brand New Day was a phenomenal movie, beautifully shot from a cinematography and color perspective, and by far the best Spider-Man film of Tom Holland's run. I would say it is probably the best live-action Spider-Man movie since Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 2. I am saving my full, detailed thoughts on the movie for separate non-spoiler and spoiler discussions. This piece is specifically about Sadie Sink, Jean Grey, and what her arrival means going forward.

Why I Was Skeptical of the Sadie Sink Rumors

The rumor that Sadie Sink would play Jean Grey, both in this Spider-Man movie and in Avengers: Secret Wars, had been floating around for a while, reportedly from Deadline or Variety, I am not certain which. I was skeptical at first, not because I doubted she would be a great choice, but because the reasoning behind the rumor bothered me. Everyone kept theorizing she had to be Jean Grey simply because she has red hair, as if hair dye does not exist.

I do not think a studio picks an actor based on hair color. It does not hurt that Sadie Sink is a natural redhead, but the real reason she was chosen is that she is a great actor who has become something of a household name through Stranger Things. That is the casting logic that made sense to me, not the hair.

Our Fun Theories About Rachel Summers and Shathra Turned Out Wrong

Before the confirmation, there was some fun speculation about who exactly Sadie Sink could be playing. One theory was that she could be Rachel Summers, the daughter of Scott Summers and Jean Grey from the Fox X-Men timeline, with the idea that Jean had been pulled into the MCU by Peter Parker's spell and could not be sent back because her mind cannot be affected by magic. Another theory floated was that she could be the multiversal mind-controlling Spider-Man villain Shathra, the Wasp Queen.

Both theories were wrong. She is confirmed as Jean Grey. I am not entirely sure why the studio felt the need to hide that fact for so long. My guess is it made for a fun speculative mystery to get people talking about the movie, or maybe they did not want new X-Men casting news to overshadow the film and wanted the focus to stay on Spider-Man. I am not really sure which it was.

Jean Grey as the Film's Apparent Villain Was Not on My Bingo Card

Jean Grey essentially serves as the villain of this Spider-Man movie, and I have to say, that was not on my bingo card. Jean Grey being positioned as the antagonist of the next Spider-Man movie is not something I would have predicted even a year or two ago.

That said, she is not actually the real villain of the film. That should not come as a huge shock, since she is going to be a leading member of the X-Men and the mutant saga going forward.

The Real Villain Is Damage Control's William Metzger, Not Jean Grey

The actual villain of the film is William Metzger of Damage Control, and how that organization wants to control superpeople feeds directly into a broader plan to control mutants. I will say I called it big time that Damage Control was behind things going into this movie. As I put it, "throw enough against the wall, you're bound to hit something."

Because Spider-Man movies pull in such a wide audience, everyone is going to see this film, and I think that is one of the key reasons the mutant saga's premise was introduced here rather than elsewhere. The movie lays out the whole concept of controlling mutants, wanting to use or steal their power, and persecuting them for being labeled dangerous.

This Movie Sets Up the Mutant Saga's Central Conflict

The film establishes mutant phobia existing even within a mutant's own family. There is a scene where Jean is sitting on a bench talking to her sister, who also has mind control powers, and we learn their mother abandoned them. The movie also introduces mutant inhibitor chips, created by Bruce Banner and Peter Parker or at least based on their work, which will almost certainly come back into play in the mutant saga after Secret Wars in the form of mutant inhibitor collars.

Where Jean Grey Fits Into the Future of the MCU's X-Men

I think Sadie Sink's Jean Grey is about to become one of the new faces of the MCU. She is the X-Man moving forward, in my view. I am not even sure the first MCU X-Men movie will feature characters like Professor X or Magneto in a primary role, maybe at the very end, but I do not think they will be central. I think we could see Jean looking for other people like herself, other mutants, and the X-Men beginning to form before they are officially the X-Men.

If Professor X and Magneto are introduced later as older characters, that would suggest their MCU versions have lived in the shadows for a long time regarding their powers. The upcoming Secret Wars reboot could rewrite history a bit and establish that mutants have always existed but were kept quiet, similar to how it played out in the Fox X-Men timeline, where the public did not become broadly aware of mutants until around the year 2000. There is a scene where Jean gives a speech, and I believe a Senator Kelly character appears as a strongly anti-mutant figure.

Coming back to the MCU X-Men film itself, I think it is really possible that instead of leaning on Xavier, Magneto, or Wolverine, the mutant saga, especially its first phase, is going to lean really hard on Jean Grey. I think the studio sees Sadie Sink as a leading woman who can help carry this franchise forward.

Sadie Sink's Performance and What I Hope Comes Next

Her portrayal of Jean Grey in this film is fantastic, and I loved it. She is a phenomenal actress who has shown she can play both the villain and the hero within the same movie, which fits a complicated character like Jean Grey. This should set the stage for her, hopefully several years down the line, to perhaps take another crack at a Phoenix saga story, though I am not certain that is the right move. They have done Dark Phoenix twice now, and it has never panned out well, so there are plenty of other great X-Men and mutant stories to tell first. I hope they steer clear of it for a while, and that after this villainous turn in Brand New Day, the rest of her run as the character is as a hero for a long stretch.

Sadie Sink is around 24 years old, so she could play this character for another 20 years if the studio wanted, maybe more. That leaves plenty of time to tell a lot of great Jean Grey stories before circling back to Phoenix territory with a hero audiences will have followed for a decade or more, someone who has been a leading character of the saga before becoming the very threat that brings the X-Men, the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and Spider-Man together in a fight against her.