Brand New Day Writers Say Jean Grey Isn’t Responsible For Deaths
The X-Men’s introduction to the Marvel Cinematic Universe is well and truly underway, with Lee Sung Jin, Jake Schreier and Joana Carlo taking on a reboot of the comic book team and casting reveals sending social media into a frenzy. This new addition to the Marvel world began with Jean Grey and her secret appearance in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, the 39th MCU feature and the fourth installment in their Spider-Man series, starring Tom Holland and directed by Destin Daniel Cretton.
Stranger Things’ Sadie Sink dons the role of Jean Grey, taking the mantle from previous stars Famke Janssen and Sophie Thatcher, a casting choice that was kept tight-lipped and even denied despite online rumours. Her role in the story is mysteriously antagonistic compared to the heroic actions of New York’s friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man, consisting of stealing the agency of others and causing mass destruction.
However, the film’s screenwriters, Erik Sommers and Chris McKenna, have recently affirmed their stance that the character does not cross any major, unforgivable lines during her complicated, divisive pursuit.
“I think technically, she’s not responsible for any deaths,” Sommers proposed. “But you come away with the impression, certainly, that she’s caused a lot of destruction in mayhem.”
As mentioned, the character’s motive and backstory mix the response to her chaotic, stressful actions, yet promise a cathartic conclusion of forgiveness and allyship, with Sommers adding, “Even if you’re going to have a villain who really is redeemed at the end or goes through a transformation, you have to start them off in a place where they feel formidable.”
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The writer also takes a moment to voice his advocacy for the X-Men member to make her MCU as a threat, shared, “If it doesn’t feel like this is going to be someone who is a challenge to our hero, physically, emotionally, mentally, then you don’t really buy it.”
His co-writer also mentioned the long yet exciting process of keeping Sink’s exact role in box-office smasher Spider-Man: Brand New Day a secret and a well-deserved shock for Marvel fans.
“What we were really excited about was this villain got to be a mystery for so long in the movie,” McKenna added. “We were in Peter’s shoes. We were not putting the audience ahead of him, so he was reacting to everything, and we were with him reacting.”
The writers also addressed their future input in the MCU, teasing their work in the upcoming mammoth project, Avengers: Doomsday and its direct sequel Avengers: Secret Wars.
“We’ve been excited to be able to work on The Avengers. It’s really all we can say at this point,” McKenna continued. “We love working with Marvel. We obviously have a relationship going back a long time with the Russos from Community.”
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