The MCU's first X-Men origin story has finally been released. Marvel Studios is finally moving full steam ahead with an X-Men reboot directed by Thunderbolts* filmmaker Jake Schreier that will launch a recast team of mutants. The flick is in development for release after Avengers: Secret Wars as part of the MCU's Phase 7, with filming rumored to begin in early 2027. Fans have recently been subjected to never-ending and evolving casting rumors for who will play the core X-Men team, but the first has now officially been chosen and introduced.
Warning - This article contains spoilers for Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
Over a year after Sadie Sink was officially cast in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, the MCU blockbuster has arrived and confirmed that all the theories, rumors, and leaks were 100% true: the Stranger Things star is the MCU's Jean Grey. The future X-Men hero serves as Brand New Day's pseudo-main villain, with her origin story unfolding across the Spider-Man blockbuster.
This is the first time Marvel has made an X-Men origin movie since 2011's X-Men: First Class. Made under 20th Century Fox, First Class served as an origin story for some of the most iconic mutants, including Prof. X, Magneto, and Mystique.
While the origin stories of other mutants were explored in later X-Men movies, First Class was the last Mutant movie to springboard a new X-Men universe. Now 15 years later, Spider-Man: Brand New Day is serving the same purpose: to both tell the origins of Jean Grey and launch a whole new wave of mutants in the MCU.
Jean Grey's Troubled Past Before Spider-Man: Brand New Day
The MCU establishes that Jean had an older sister, Sara Grey, who had similar telepathic powers and taught her how to "hop" into people's minds. The mutant sisters' mother, Elaine Grey, "sent [them] away" after they "changed" and began to exhibit telepathic powers, leaving them with only each other.
But that all changed while Sara was teaching Jean how to "hop" in a public park, the elder sibling wandered away to get ice cream. Just steps away from the bench where her sister sat, Sara was hit with a tranquilizer dart and snatched away by a Department of Damage Control squad led by Tramell Tillman's William Metzger, Brand New Day's secret big bad, who will reportedly return in the X-Men reboot.
Of course, Sadie Sink's mutant tried to flee to her sister's aid, although Sara made the tough choice to "keep [her] safe" by hopping into her less experienced mind and walking away from the situation. That moment paved the way for Brand New Day, as Jean was on the hunt for her sister with only one clue: V MAX.
How Jean Grey Unlocks Her Full Mutant Powers in Spider-Man: Brand New Day
After Jean spent much of Brand New Day wreaking havoc for Damage Control in an effort to get her sister back, she was captured thanks to a mutation inhibitor chip (created by Peter Parker) that temporarily blocked her powers.
Having been taken to a Damage Control facility to be chained up and tested in the hopes of replicating her telepathic abilities. It was there that Jean realized this was the very room where her sister was experimented on and ultimately died, before which she managed to telephatically communicate the phrase V MAX - a reference to the obstructed VENTMAX label scrawled across the roof.
Throughout Brand New Day, there is a general boundary on the Grey sisters' powers: their ability to "hop" into other people's minds and bodies has a 33-foot limit that can be chained from person to person as far as they wish.
Metzger and the Damage Control scientists carefully strapped Jean to a chair exactly 33 feet away to prevent their plans from unraveling. However, overcome by emotion and rage upon discovering her sister's demise, Jean breaks past that limit and unlocks her true, immense power that fans know.
The scientists detect that Jean is "much stronger than her sister" and that her powers are "evolving," to the point where her brain waves are "somehow affecting the objects around her." Having just unlocked her telekinetic talents to move objects with her mind, Jean's telepathic talents also reached new heights, freezing those within a huge field around Roosevelt Island.
Jean Grey Is Searching for a Family After Spider-Man: Brand New Day
While Jean Grey was limited to her simple "hopping" ability throughout Brand New Day, the movie culminates with the origin of how she achieved her full potential. Of course, these powers came out in moments of pure anguish, and Sink's mutant doesn't seem to have full control over her abilities... Yet.
After entering Peter Parker's mind to learn an emotional lesson from Marisa Tomei's Aunt May, Jean is taught that she "can't do this alone." However, she is adamant that she "[has] no one," which may be somewhat true for now, but Marvel fans know that Jean's real family is right around the corner.
Brand New Day ends with Jean Grey leaving New York City behind on a bus to an unconfirmed but perhaps rather obvious destination. It seems likely that Jean is heading for the X-Mansion and Charles Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, where she will meet Professor X and learn to harness her powers for good, along with meeting the true love of her life, Scott Summers, aka Cyclops.
