Sadie Sink's Spider-Man: Brand New Day role is sending X-Men fans into overdrive
Sadie Sink's Spider-Man: Brand New Day role is finally revealed (not that we are actually surprised).
Right, so Sadie Sink — best known for making everyone cry in Stranger Things — is now the talk of Marvel fans everywhere thanks to her turn as Jean Grey in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. The film isn’t actually an X-Men flick, but apparently it’s got enough mutant action that the internet has gone properly wild about her being the face of the next X-Men era.
Sadie Sink is the best casting for Jean Grey thus far! My new fav Jean!
The performance has done what Marvel P.R. wish they could bottle: unite fans across Twitter (or X, if you’re being awkward about it) in outright praise. Real old-school X-Men obsessives, total newcomers, the lot — everyone’s lost it over her. And if you’ve been following the franchise, you’ll know landing a universally-loved Jean Grey isn’t exactly easy, given how many actors have taken a shot at the role over the years.
Spoilers and That Ending
If you’ve seen the film (and judging by social media, half of you rushed in on opening weekend), Jean Grey ends up walking away from New York after some heavy drama involving Peter Parker convincing her not to kill Bill Metzger. Marvel couldn’t have telegraphed her next steps more heavily if they’d drawn a glowing sign over her head: she’s off to find a new start, so yes, maybe she’ll pop up at Professor Xavier’s famous school before long. Also, they’re already teasing the Dark Phoenix side of Jean – cue lots of tension over whether she’ll go full cosmic meltdown in the next phase of the MCU.
The X-Men Factor
Notably, Marvel Studios have confirmed a fresh X-Men movie is definitely coming, but don’t get impatient — it’s meant to debut after Avengers: Secret Wars in 2027. In the meantime, we’re apparently getting Avengers: Doomsday, which is set to rope in some of the legacy X-Men actors from the old Fox run. It looks like Marvel’s finally pulling the trigger and blending all their mutant storylines into one shared mess, probably to reset everything after years of fiddly rights issues.
Marvel Studios’ next X-Men film will only arrive after Avengers: Secret Wars (2027).
Marvel boss Kevin Feige has gone on record that the next X-Men phase is all about a younger batch of mutants, which puts Sink right at the centre of it all. She’s got “franchise face” written all over her at this point — and people are clearly ready for it, if their hashtags are anything to go by.
Until the next big official announcement, expect a lot more fans debating just how far they’re willing to follow Sadie Sink’s Jean — and whether anyone else should even bother stepping up for the Dark Phoenix era this time around.