I’ve been a member of the Jean Grey Facebook group since 2018 (as the link shows). X-Men fans have cast Sadie Sink as Jean or Hope Summers for years (including myself). But Sink being Jean in Brand New Day feels like a potential Ralph Bohner situation to me, especially after reading the film‘s source material. The movie also apparently tells a mystery story like Wandavision, which adds to my skepticism (more on that later).
I‘ve read the story that inspired BND—Spectacular Spider-Man: Disassembled. BND has plot points and visuals from that story (e.g. Peter mutating, rebirth, organic webs) and its sequel Spider-Island, which I made a post about. There‘s also a character in those stories who mirrors alleged details about Sink’s character. Now let’s analyze the alleged behavior of her character:
- Freeing Scorpion: Months ago her character was rumored to mind control people to free Mac Gargan from prison. The trailer aligns with this rumor as it showed a possessed old lady driving a tank, and set footage showed the tank driving into a prison. So her character appears to be controlling people and forcing them to commit crimes.
- Depraved Indifference: Set footage also shows the tank causing dangerous car crashes, nearly rams into a bus full of people, firing bullets at Spider-Man, and blowing up pursing cop cars (in the leaked trailer). The character appears willing to sacrifice innocents for their agenda (even old ladies), and her dialogue in the leaked trailer suggests that too.
- Criminal Conspiracy: The Hand also appear to be attacking the prison, suggesting this is part of a criminal conspiracy. The official plot synopses also implies there is a criminal conspiracy and crime spree happening. They mention "an unusual trail of crimes" and "strange new pattern of crimes". Kevin Feige said the film focuses on Peter dealing with street-level crime and he has said this since 2022.
This villainous behavior is the polar opposite of Jean Grey. Even the way she controls people doesn’t resemble Jean’s telepathy, which other fans have noted. Jean is supposed to be the heart/soul of the X-Men. Even at her darkest moment (Dark Phoenix) she chose to sacrifice herself to save alien strangers over being a god. Even the bad things she did was due to her being under hypnosis or the influence of a cosmic drug. So contrary to popular belief, The Dark Phoenix Saga actually highlights Jean's heroism in the end.
>Chris Claremont: We wanted to demonstrate what she could do, and she ended up saving the universe. We wanted her to be the heart and soul of the team.
The behavior instead matches the big bad of Disassembled and Spider-Island - the Queen (Ana Soria). She’s a mutant with telepathy and telekinesis. In Disassembled she made people commit crimes and sacrificed them like pawns. In Spider-Island she plotted a criminal conspiracy and caused a crime spree in NYC. In that story, she was a mysterious hooded figure whose identity and goal were a secret; similar to what’s been done with Sink’s character so far. She later appeared in the Secret Wars comics as one of Doctor Dooms barons.
Now remember that Ralph Bohner twist in Wandavision? The show did that because it was a mystery box show. Mysteries have twists, red herrings, subvert expectations, etc. The director and writer said they were playing with expectations. And the twist never leaked online, which was noted at the time. Insiders and leakers like Robert Meyer Burnett and SookielsMine84 had inside info on the show, and were convinced that Evan Peters was Fox’s Quicksilver. It was a well-kept secret like the Vulture twist and the various character reveals in Thor: Love and Thunder.
Promos suggest that BND will also have a mystery. Plot synopses mention a “mysterious force“ unraveling the city and a “web of mystery”. There‘s also a logo on the tank that later appeared at NYCC 2025 on a poster with question marks on it, hinting at a mystery. So filmmakers are likely to create misdirections and Marvel filmmakers admitted to spreading fake rumors online and in-person to create misdirection (like the rumor of Taylor Swift being in D&W). Ryan Reynolds even made fake images. Years ago Kevin Smith said Marvel plants fake leaks to catch leakers (aka canary traps).
Now I’m not saying Sink can’t be Jean, just getting red herring vibes. Feige has poked fun at fan casting before (John Krasinski‘s Mr. Fantastic). Ana Soria’s a mutant with powers similar to Jean, so you can easily trick people to thinking she’s Jean. Ana‘s also a troubled and rebellious character; roles Sink likes to play. That’s how this feels to me right now—but time will tell. Leave your thoughts!
P.S.: Before anybody says it…Sink having a 5 movie contract with Marvel is an unconfirmed rumor from MyTimeToShineHello - a VERY unreliable source who's known for making stuff up. Kevin Feige had said that they don’t lock actors into long contractual obligations anymore. Not to mention the actor for Crossbones had a 7-picture deal.