Contains spoilers for “Spider-Man: Brand New Day”
So, yeah. All those clues about Sadie Sink playing Jean Grey in “Spider-Man: Brand New Day?” They turned out to be right. Sink is indeed the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Jean Elaine Grey, reimagined here as a product of the foster system who can leap from mind to mind within a 30-foot radius and who has a very personal bone to pick with the Department of Damage Control, a faction first introduced in “Spider-Man: Homecoming.”
Jean might be an antagonist whose powers raise some seriously concerning ethical questions — as Zendaya’s MJ would be quick to tell you — but she’s no villain. As a powerful, yet desperate and downtrodden outcast, she embodies what Marvel’s mutants are all about. Now that we know for sure that Sink is playing Jean, we can finally start considering what her appearance in the movie means for the future of the MCU, too.
Not only does the introduction of a young, edgy Jean Grey imply the impending arrival of a younger, edgier X-Men roster, but Jean’s characterization in “Brand New Day” also offers us some hints about the nature of said roster and her future in it, and may speak volumes of the team’s potential focus characters.
Jean Grey is best known for one particular version of the X-Men
“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” is the best live-action Spidey in decades, and the fact that it chooses to feature Jean Grey out of all the X-Men suggests that the MCU may be planning to unleash a very particular version of the group. While Jean has been a part of various different X-rosters over the course of her comic book history, Jean — especially young Jean — is associated with a very specific version of the team: the very first X-Men.
Charles Xavier’s first X-Men team consists of Jean, Scott “Cyclops” Summers, Bobby “Iceman” Drake, Warren “Angel” Worthington III, and Henry “Beast” McCoy. As adults, the quintet continue to share a bond, and they eventually reunite as the first version of the X-Factor team.
These five characters have been around in the X-Men live-action movies, but never as a team of similarly-aged heroes. As such, Jean’s presence here might suggest that the MCU plans to fix this by initially focusing on Xavier and his five original X-Men. Apart from being a fresh take on the classic lineup, this would also allow for a much-needed cool-off period for certain overused mutant figures — namely perennial mutant MVP Wolverine, still played by Hugh Jackman as of “Deadpool & Wolverine.”
A prominent Jean Grey virtually guarantees a large MCU role for Cyclops
Perhaps no other X-Man has raised their public profile as much as Scott “Cyclops” Summers in recent years. The X-Men’s optic-blasting field leader and occasional freedom fighter-slash-savior of mutantdom has gone from a stick in the mud and the subject of those misguided “Cyclops is a cop” memes to one of the most buzz-worthy Marvel characters around.
James Marsden’s Cyclops famously got a raw deal in the original “X-Men” trilogy, being reduced to a background character in favor of Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and ultimately dying unceremoniously in “X-Men: The Last Stand.” Now, arguably the coolest moment in the “Avengers: Doomsday” character teasers was seeing this version of the character going all out in a comics-accurate uniform. There’s also the matter of “X-Men ’97,” which depicts Ray Chase’s Cyclops as a wise-cracking, capable leader who can use his optic blast powers to slide around the battlefield and wreak havoc left and right.
This is directly related to Jean Grey in one key way. Cyclops and Jean are one of the most prominent Marvel couples, and many of their most famous comic book stories are intertwined with each other. The fact that “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” gifts the MCU with a prominent, charismatic Jean Grey is effectively an early Christmas gift for all fans of the duo. After all, there’s every likelihood that the inevitable young MCU Cyclops will be a match for Sadie Sink’s magnetic Jean, which would make the pair too interesting to not focus on. In “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” Jean is vocal about people like her and Peter being unable to afford loved ones. Time will tell if that’s the case — for either of them.
“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” is now in theaters.
