Published Jun 20, 2026, 6:00 PM EDT
Tom is a Senior Staff Writer at Screen Rant, with expertise covering everything from hilarious sitcoms to jaw-dropping sci-fi epics.
Initially he was an Updates writer, though before long he found his way to the TV and movies team. He now spends his days keeping Screen Rant readers informed about the TV shows of yesteryear, whether it's recommending hidden gems that may have been missed by genre fans or deep diving into ways your favorite shows have (or haven't) stood the test of time.
Tom is based in the UK and when he's not writing about TV shows, he's watching them. He's also an avid horror fiction writer, gamer, and has a Dungeons and Dragons habit that he tries (and fails) to keep in check.
It was always obvious that Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) was one of the MCU’s most powerful heroes. From the moment she arrived in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Wanda made it clear she was a level above almost every other hero at the time. However, for all her impressive feats in the Infinity Saga, there was still a sense that audiences had only scratched the surface of what Wanda was truly capable of.
That changed completely with WandaVision. The 2021 Disney+ series transformed Scarlet Witch from a powerful Avenger into one of the MCU’s most dangerous individuals. Wanda’s ability to imprison the entire town of Westview inside a reality of her own creation revealed a level of power that dwarfed even the likes of Doctor Strange. Since then, the MCU hasn’t really had anyone who could live up to Scarlet Witch, but Spider-Man: Brand New Day appears to be changing that.
While Sadie Sink’s character is still not officially confirmed, the second Spider-Man: Brand New Day trailer makes it difficult to believe she is anyone other than Jean Grey. Several moments appear to showcase telepathic and telekinetic abilities associated with the iconic X-Men hero, including scenes of chaos erupting across New York City and what looks like mass mind control. If Sink is indeed playing Jean Grey, then the MCU may have finally found a worthy successor to Scarlet Witch.
The MCU Now Has A New Scarlet Witch-Level Threat
While Marvel continues to avoid officially naming her, several scenes in the second Spider-Man: Brand New Day trailer strongly suggest audiences are witnessing Jean Grey’s MCU debut. For example, one scene shows civilians across New York City being telepathically used to taunt Spider-Man (Tom Holland), while another reveals countless people frozen in place with only Peter Parker being unaffected.
Only Scarlet Witch has demonstrated comparable abilities. Few, if any, other MCU characters have the capacity to manipulate entire populations simultaneously. The scale of telepathic influence hinted at in Brand New Day feels remarkably similar to Wanda enslaving the residents of Westview in WandaVision. If it is indeed Jean Grey in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, then the MCU is finally introducing a character whose power level rivals Scarlet Witch. Given how close Wanda came to literally imploding the multiverse, Jean’s arrival could have significant consequences for Earth-616.
What’s more, Jean Grey makes a lot of sense as Scarlet Witch’s spiritual successor. Both characters are fundamentally compassionate individuals burdened with powers so vast that controlling them becomes an ongoing struggle. Their arcs in Marvel Comics often revolve around the consequences of losing control rather than intentionally seeking destruction. There are a few characters yet to appear in the MCU who have comparable powers to Scarlet Witch, but none have stories with themes as similar to Wanda’s as Jean Grey.
Jean Grey In Brand New Day Raises Serious MCU X-Men Questions
(c) 20th Century Fox Film Corp.As exciting as Jean Grey’s arrival in Spider-Man: Brand New Day may be, it also creates a lot of questions. For years, Marvel Studios has teased the existence of mutants in the MCU without fully committing to the X-Men outside multiversal appearances. For example, Professor X (Patrick Stewart) appeared in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and Deadpool & Wolverine featured plenty of legacy Fox X-Men characters. However, none of these crossed over into the MCU proper. Until now, the assumption has largely been that the X-Men do not yet exist on Earth-616.
Jean Grey’s introduction in Spider-Man: Brand New Day goes against this. One of the most important X-Men in Marvel history, Jean is a founding member of the team. The notion that she could already be operating in the MCU naturally raises questions about where Xavier and the rest of the X-Men have been all this time. Not only would characters like Doctor Strange or Nick Fury surely know about them, if the X-Men exist in the MCU, then their absence during catastrophic events like Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame becomes difficult to ignore.
It seems implausible that a team of heroes as powerful as the X-Men would remain completely absent when the fate of the universe hangs in the balance. Fortunately, there are several possible explanations. Xavier’s telepathic abilities could potentially be concealing mutant activity. Another is that Doctor Strange could have erased the X-Men from global memory with a spell similar to the one that made the world forget that Peter Parker is Spider-Man in No Way Home.
Whatever answer Marvel chooses, Spider-Man: Brand New Day cannot simply introduce Jean Grey and move on. While seeing one of Marvel’s most iconic mutants finally enter the franchise is undeniably exciting, the movie will need to provide meaningful answers about the broader status of the X-Men in the MCU.
Release Date July 31, 2026
Runtime 150 Minutes
Director Destin Daniel Cretton
English (US) ·