Spoilers ahead for Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is known for its tight security, with the cast and crew tasked with guarding the secrets of upcoming Marvel movies. Case in point: Sadie Sink's mysterious Spider-Man role, which turned out to be exactly who fans thought it was... Jean Grey. Rumors swirled about her playing the beloved mutant for months ahead of its release, and Kevin Feige explained why they still kept it under wraps.
Folks who spent years watching the Marvel movies in order know that the studio keeps its cards close to the chest. While some folks gasped when Sink was revealed as Jean, hardcore fans saw it coming. During a conversation with Variety, Feige explained why he wanted to keep that character a secret, offering:
It’s purely about creating the best possible opening weekend experience for the audience. Sadie’s character is one that our fans know has immense significance within the Marvel Universe, and she plays a key role in the future of the MCU. I’m just happy that the secret is finally out and that Sadie can stop dodging the question.
Points were made. This was clearly effective for some moviegoers, who don't spend their time looking over Marvel fan theories online. And rather than Brand New Day's promotional tour being taken over with questions about the X-Men movies, the focus was on Peter Parker and his journey. Although poor Sadie Sink had to do countless interviews without revealing who she was playing or what she actually did in the blockbuster. And unfortunately, Sink's role was spoiled on the red carpet on premiere day.
Luckily for the 24-year-old actress, she's got some experience with this. She promoted the final season of Stranger Things (streaming with a Netflix subscription) without revealing if her character Max was going to get out of her coma. Sink is basically a professional secret keeper at this point.
While the OG stars of Fox's X-Men movies are going to reprise their roles as part of the Avengers: Doomsday's cast, Sadie Sink's Jean Grey reveal is the first major bit of casting from Jake Schreier's developing X-Men film. The ensemble is slowly coming together for that long-awaited project, with Samara Weaving confirmed to play Emma Frost. There are plenty of other theories and rumors about who else might be playing beloved mutants, but we'll have to wait and see how many of them actually shake out to be true.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day's ending saw Jean on a bus upstate, which hardcore fans know is the location of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters aka the X-Mansion. And now that both Jean and Emma have been cast, anticipation for the new X-Men movie is at a fever pitch.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is in theaters now as part of the 2026 movie release list, and Avengers: Doomsday will follow suit on December 18th. Hopefully, we get more information about mutants in the MCU soon.
