Marvel just soft-launched the X-Men in Spider-Man: Brand New Day — what the new Jean Grey means

[#item_full_content] [[{“value”:”Well, it turns out the rumors were actually true. Ever since Sadie Sink joined the Marvel universe with a mystery role in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, fans had been theorizing who the breakout Stranger Things star might be playing. Theories ranged from minor villains to other Spider-heroes, but there was one theory that persisted through them all.
Jean Grey, aka a key member of the X-Men. I was honestly dismissive of the idea, figuring it was too outlandish. Well, I’m glad to have been wrong.
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Looking at Sink, it’s easy to understand why that theory was a popular one. Sink’s red hair and look match pretty closely to the comic design of Jean Grey. And hey, we’ve been hearing for years that Marvel was going to do something with the X-Men property eventually. At the time it seemed like we’d have to wait until at least the end of the Avengers Doomsday/Secret Wars two-hander next year to glean some info on that plan.
But Marvel Studios still knows how to pull off a few surprises, which is why the entire theater still gasped when the identity of that misguided psychic causing all the body-hopping trouble was finally revealed.
Jean Grey, one of the most powerful and prominent mutants in Marvel lore, is now officially in the MCU. But… what does that mean?
Marvel seems to be eyeing a new take on the X-Men
It’s no surprise that Marvel has tried to put some space between the long-running Fox version of the X-Men film series and any potential reboot that will incorporate into the MCU. Fox turned this property into a monster hit that spanned more than a dozen films across two decades. It’s a broadly known piece of pop culture, with millions of fans connecting those characters to that adaptation.
They’ve played around in the sandbox in recent years, incorporating characters and actors from the Fox era in cameo roles (i.e. in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness) and larger roles more rarely (i.e. Deadpool and Wolverine). But we haven’t gotten a true piece of big X-Men lore in the mainline MCU. Until now.
Introducing Sadie Sink as the new, proper, MCU version of Jean Grey is a big step for Marvel Studios’ plans for the X-Men characters. And the execution in Brand New Day left the door wide open for exactly what it could mean in the details, meaning the storytelling avenues are wide open for however an eventual X-Men film comes together. Jean is a powerful psychic, but they never got into mutants or anything like that in Brand New Day. So, whatever approach the studio wants to take is still open.
Jean is still young enough she could easily go off and join up with a version of Xavier’s School, or if they opt to side step that set-up entirely (since we have seen that on the big screen a few times now), she’s an established anchor character now who can help lead a MCU X-Men roster. Because remember, though we all know the big screen versions and the core story of how the X-Men launched, there are plenty of remixes and spins on the concept and characters in the comics. Marvel could mine any of them to launch a fresh spin on the franchise.
In the film we only hear Jean talk about how she and her sister developed their powers… which seems to indicate mutants are just out there, developing their powers in the wild in the MCU.
Sostablishing Jean with no further explanation of mutants also could be Marvel’s way of just… establishing mutants in the MCU, no further explanation really required. It’d skip a lot of origin story, but hey, folks pretty much know the basics at this point, right?
What’s next for the X-Men in the MCU?
Realistically? It’ll be at least a few years until we see Sink’s Jean Grey again. The film slate for the next couple of years is mostly set, with Secret Wars the only movie in 2027, and Ghost Rider and Black Panther III already holding down 2028. So the earliest a proper X-Men film could hit would probably be 2029 or 2030, barring some major calendar shake-ups (which certainly could happen!).
We already have a director attached for the new X-Men film in Jake Schreier (Thunderbolts*), and news broke this weekend that Samara Weaving (Ready or Not) has likely landed the role of Emma Frost — which means Emma Frost will be a piece of this new-look take on the films. She played a minor-ish role in the First Class prequel film, but the character has a massive history and role in the comics. So, it’s same to assume Marvel is incorporating Frost deeper into the X-Men strategy than we’ve seen in the past.
The events of Brand New Day also create a dynamic we’ve never really seen on the big screen with a key member of the X-Men now friends and connected personally with Spider-Man. Of course, the comics have a long history of Spider-Man team-ups with the X-Men, so that totally fits with the comic lore — even if it’s certainly a new twist for the films.
It should also be noted that Peter Parker also accidentally created a key piece of the X-Men lore with his abilities inhibitor research to control his own spider mutations. With that tech now established and tested on Jean, it means it can also be utilized by forces like Damage Control down the line with the X-Men.
My guess is that by introducing Jean Grey in a surprise appearance alongside Spider-Man, Marvel is laying the groundwork for a fresh approach to tackling the X-Men franchise. The fact that we got a major mutant without any real mention of mutants? It’s a bold move. But having a major talent like Sink in the role means they’re almost certainly setting her up to return.
When and how? Now those are the questions only Kevin Feige and his secret whiteboard can answer.
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