First ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ Sadie Sink Video, Statement Add Confusion

Sadie Sink at the “O’Dessa” Premiere during the SXSW Conference & Festivals at the Paramount Theatre on March 8, 2025 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Hubert Vestil/SXSW Conference & Festivals via Getty Images)

SXSW Conference & Festivals via Getty Images

One of the strangest mysteries in recent comic book movie history is how the MCU is handling Sadie Sink’s character in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Who the actress is playing has been kept a total mystery, a rarity for the type of movie that often advertises its villains as much as its heroes.

Now, however, we have our first full look at Sadie Sink in Spider-Man: Brand New Day courtesy of a cutesy redacted video attempting to continue the secrecy around her character. She’s not in any sort of recognizable costume, though I do find it interesting all the same.

Barring any color-level adjustments, it seems the movie has darkened her hair and eyebrows from their vibrant, Stranger Things red to be more subtle. It’s an interesting comparison to both Famke Janssen and Sophie Turner, who previously played the Jean Grey role that Sink is rumored to have. Janssen, when she first started out, had darker hair than this, but by the end, had colored it extremely vibrant, unnaturally red by the time she was in her Phoenix era. Turner, meanwhile, had the bright hair color we remember from her Game of Thrones years.

And if that wasn’t enough, Sink appears to be wearing green contacts, replacing her natural blue. You might guess who has green eyes in the comics…

So, Jean Grey, but the star of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Tom Holland, has now dismissed this idea outright via TikTok. Holland said that Jean Grey is “not in this movie, but it would be pretty cool.”

Of course that just…may not be true. Holland was previously infamous for spoiling things in the MCU, a lesson he has more than learned since then. Actors often outright lie about being in projects, as we saw with alternate Spidey Andrew Garfield, who repeatedly denied he was in No Way Home (he was, obviously).

Still, it remains almost nonsensical that any character except Jean Grey would be hidden to this degree. We see Sink’s character mind-hopping between everyone from civilians to The Hulk, and why would any other female Spider-villain or Marvel character with similar qualifications be hidden like this? It just does not add up.

What also doesn’t quite make sense is Jean Grey…being a villain in a Spider-Man movie, even if all evidence points to that. The two have rarely, if ever, shared any sort of significant comic book history. It would be a very odd introduction for her ahead of the Secret Wars full-on kick-off of the MCU X-Men, though who knows, we’ve seen plenty of villains be “misunderstood,” or maybe she’s starting out in her more hostile Phoenix form.

Anyway, I don’t buy it, no matter what Holland says. The look, the powers and the secrecy? It has to be Jean Grey.

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