The MCU All But Confirms Sadie Sink's Jean Grey Won't Be Another Dark Phoenix

After Avengers: Secret Wars next year, the MCU is about to go gung-ho on the X-Men. The mutants will form the backbone of Marvel’s next saga, and they’ve lined up a very exciting cast: Kit Connor as Cyclops, Samara Weaving as Emma Frost, Obsession’s Inde Navarrette as Rogue, etc. And of course, we’ve already met one of the most important X-Men — and she’s the most promising new character to be introduced into the MCU in years.

Earlier this summer, Spider-Man: Brand New Day came along to collect all the money. Not only was it the first live-action Spider-Man movie in five years; it was the best Spider-Man movie since Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 over two decades ago, so audiences turned up in droves. They came for Spidey, but they stayed for someone else. Brand New Day didn’t just feature Tom Holland’s long-awaited return as Peter Parker following a half-decade hiatus; it also gave an O.G. X-Man her long-awaited MCU debut.

After months of speculation, Brand New Day’s midpoint twist confirmed that the redheaded telepath played by Sadie Sink was, indeed, Jean Grey. This might’ve been the worst-kept secret since No Way Home’s additional Spider-Men, but either way, Sink’s introduction as Jean proved to be a smashing success. Not only is she perfect for that character; the MCU is already avoiding her most overdone comic storyline.

Jean Grey's MCU Debut Makes Another Dark Phoenix Storyline Redundant

Brand New Day is the first ever Spider-Man movie where the main villain isn’t a Spider-Man villain. There are plenty of deep-cut Spidey villains in supporting roles, from Tombstone to the Scorpion, but the primary antagonist of the film isn’t a villain from Spider-Man’s rogues’ gallery, or even a villain at all, really. Jean is the antagonistic force in the film, but she turns out to just be an angry, grieving kid who wants to know what happened to her missing sister, and just needs to feel a mother’s love for once in her life.

As usual, Peter ends up killing his latest enemy with kindness. When he finally lets Jean into his mind, she has a heart-to-heart with his emotional projection of Aunt May, and it makes a world of difference for this poor, lonely kid to feel loved and looked-after for once. The third act of Brand New Day is a really touching, really poignant redemption arc for Jean. But before that redemption, she did some pretty despicable things, like kissing Peter as M.J. and tossing an old man in front of a speeding car.

She becomes more of an antihero, but she’s a capital-V villain in the first half of Brand New Day, and that’s a good sign for Marvel’s X-Men future. The fact that we’ve already seen Jean as a villain — controlling folks, using her powers against people, etc. — means the MCU probably won’t repeat those beats by doing “The Dark Phoenix Saga” yet again.

Why Marvel Movies Could Never Get Dark Phoenix Right

20th Century Fox had an X-Men cinematic universe for about two decades before merging with Disney and giving the rights back to Marvel Studios, and during that time, the studio managed to fumble “The Dark Phoenix Saga” — one of the most seminal and iconic story arcs in the X-Men’s history — on two separate occasions. And what’s even worse is that they gave it to the same guy twice.

Simon Kinberg co-wrote X-Men: The Last Stand, a failed adaptation of “The Dark Phoenix Saga,” and then wrote and directed Dark Phoenix, another failed adaptation of “The Dark Phoenix Saga,” as his directorial debut. Kinberg misunderstood the story the first time, telling it more from everyone else’s perspective (especially Logan’s) than Jean herself, then he misunderstood it in a whole different way the second time: he didn’t properly build up to Jean’s villain turn, so the emotions of that twist didn’t land right.

If we really are in the worst possible timeline, Kinberg will probably get a third opportunity to botch Dark Phoenix on the big screen. But Kevin Feige has stressed that the MCU’s X-Men movies will be exploring the dozens of classic comics that haven’t previously been adapted in movie form, and Dark Phoenix has been done to death.