Spider-Man: Brand New Day officially introduced Sadie Sink as the MCU’s Jean Grey. One of the X-Men’s founding members in the comics, Jean played a major role in both of Fox’s X-Men timelines, where she was played by Famke Janssen and later Sophie Turner. This Jean Grey has only just started out her mutant journey, initially mastering a pretty unusual psychic power before expanding into something far more spectacular by the end of Brand New Day. That expansion may be a major clue the MCU’s mutants are going to be very different to those we’ve seen in Fox films, though.
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According to Damage Control’s scientists, Jean’s mutant mind evolved in real-time as part of a stress and trauma response. That’s an unusual idea, and may mean Jean has undergone something called a “secondary mutation” – the activation of a brand new powerset, triggered by external events. We’ve seen that before in the comics, with Emma Frost’s secondary mutation giving her diamond skin in response to the genocide on Genosha, and it may mean the X-Men movies amp Jean’s powers up dramatically. Still, at this stage, here’s how Jean’s powers compare to the Fox versions.
The MCU’s Jean Grey Begins With a Very Different Mutant Power
Brand New Day opens with Jean demonstrating a power she hasn’t really shown in the comics; psychic possession. Jean is able to jump into the mind of anyone within a 33-foot radius, and then “surf” them from person to person. She can snap back to her own back at will (likely explaining why Jean’s mind was able to escape when Spider-Man smartly trapped her current host in a helicopter, too high up for her to reach anybody else). This power is original to the MCU, with the comics only ever showing psychics like Jean and Emma Frost swapping bodies.
Fox’s X-Men movies did hint powerful telepaths can pull off this kind of trick; it’s how Professor X survived death in X-Men: The Last Stand, transferring his mind into the body of a comatose man. But Fox never really explored this power in any detail, perhaps aware of the ethical implications. This consequently means the MCU’s Jean Grey immediately stands apart from both Janssen and Turner’s versions, with telepathic powers they either didn’t possess or simply never learned how to use.
Jean Is Already Demonstrating a Signature Professor X Power
Brand New Day evolves Jean’s powers as her emotions flare. She releases a blast of psychic energy, going one step further than possession; literally grabbing hold of the minds of others across a vast chunk of Manhattan, and freezing people both telepathically and telekinetically. This parallels a power we saw several times in Fox’s X-Men films, associated with Charles Xavier himself. It’s not quite the same, though; some of the people Jean has grasped appear aware of her influence (note MJ’s tears). Still, it’s reasonable to assume the powers are analogous, and Jean will expand this ability with time.
Notice the radius of Jean’s psychic freeze. In the Fox films, Professor X “froze” only smaller areas; his greatest feat was freezing the interior of an airport, in The Wolverine‘s post-credits scene. Jean’s newly-evolved mind takes hold of most of Manhattan, and she’s controlling the area with both telepathy and telekinesis (thereby preventing deaths). Consider this immediate confirmation that the MCU’s Jean Grey is far, far more powerful than any version of Professor X, and likely an Omega-level mutant with unlimited potential (as in the comics).
The MCU’s Jean Grey Doesn’t Have the Experience of Fox’s Versions
Sadie Sink’s Jean Grey lacks the experience of Janssen’s, but she’s already operating on a far greater scale than anything we see in the first X-Men movie. Note that she instinctively holds part of Manhattan frozen while also using telekinesis to threaten Metzger with glass shards; in contrast, Janssen’s Jean originally tended to do one thing at a time. Janssen’s version only exceeds Brand New Day at the end of X2, when she both controls the Blackbird and telekinetically holds back a flood. It’s reasonable to assume the possession power will evolve into the kind of full-scale telepathy Janssen’s Jean used when she tried to read Wolverine’s mind.
This is where the comparisons get difficult, though. This is where the comparisons get difficult, of course. Both Fox’s versions of Jean Grey built to a climax in a version of the epic “Dark Phoenix Saga” (and neither were particularly good). We spend less time with Sophie Turner’s Jean, meaning it’s hard to get a sense of her baseline powers; there’s a Phoenix raptor in X-Men: Apocalypse, meaning she’s already connected to a cosmic force of death and rebirth. In contrast, X-Men: The Last Stand reveals the true power of Janssen’s Jean was deliberately buried by Professor X, because he feared the threat. Sink’s Jean doesn’t demonstrate anything Phoenix-level – yet.
All in all, I think it’s safe to say Sadie Sink’s Jean Grey is coming from the most powerful baseline yet. We don’t know whether Marvel will tie her to the Phoenix Force in a third retelling of the “Dark Phoenix Saga” (if so, I rather hope it doesn’t happen for decades). There are rumors the character will return in either Avengers: Doomsday or Secret Wars, but otherwise, we’ll have to wait until the X-Men reboot to see how Jean’s powers evolve.
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Image Courtesy of Universal Pictures
