We finally got the long-awaited trailer for Spider-Man: Brand New Day on Wednesday and, as we hoped, it gave fans a lot to unpack. The trailer offered up our first real look at the savage Hulk, lots of action, and even some new looks at the mysterious villain Tom Holland’s Spider-Man is facing in the upcoming film, a villain that is summed up in the trailer as being a threat that can’t be controlled and can’t even be seen. The only thing the trailer didn’t give fans was the name of this mysterious villain or the true identity of Sadie Sink’s mystery character, but that doesn’t mean that there wasn’t a clue—at least according to X-Men fans.
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On social media, fans noticed something very interesting in the Brand New Day trailer, particularly when it comes to the mysterious villain unleashing their powers. There is a moment in the trailer where a huge energy wave spreads out across the city, capturing people in its wake (though not everyone—we do see Frank Castle seemingly immune to it.) It is an impressive show of power, but it’s also a familiar one because we’ve seen it from Jean Grey before. A user shared a short clip from an episode of the animated Wolverine & the X-Men, specifically “Shades of Grey” and, well, it does look an awful lot like what we saw in the trailer.
Jean Grey, Is That You?
Of course, similarities in the use of an energy wave between the trailer and this animated clip doesn’t necessarily confirm that Sink’s mystery character is, indeed, Jean Grey. There really aren’t that many varying ways to portray an energy wave, even a psionic one, after all. That said, it certainly looks a little too similar to be coincidence, particularly when you think about the context for the animated clip. In the episode, Jean has lost her memories thanks to her own powers and when she was threatened by anti-mutant forces, her psi-powers peaked and resulted in that blast which knocked out an entire city.
The figure in the Brand New Day trailer is clearly in control of faculties and powers so we might be able to rule out the amnesia of it all, but the impact of what transpires in the trailer seems to be pretty much the same and fans even have some theories about why. One of the things we see in the trailer is that Bruce Banner has been doing work on the suppression of mutant DNA, something Peter seeks him out about. With Jean being a mutant, that might be something that doesn’t sit well with her causing her to act. There is also the theory that, if Sink is playing Jean, she’s being mind-controlled by the demonic force known as the Beast which has always influenced the Hand.
Ultimately, however, theories are really all we have at this point and honestly, that is saying something. With just over a month left before the movie hits theaters, we have more questions than answers about Sadie Sink’s character, the villain of the film, and so much more. If the mystery and secrecy holds up, fans will be walking into theaters next month still looking for answers—or to see if they were right about Jean Grey all along.
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