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The question of “who” may, therefore, seem to be settled. But that raises the inevitable next question; namely, why is Jean Grey appearing in a Spider-Man film? Sink is getting third billing in the credits, proving she’s a major character, integral to the plot. She’s driving the story, at least as much as Spider-Man’s own mutation. Fortunately, we have a theory based on the MCU’s current direction and a tremendous deep-cut X-Men reference.
Mutants Are Already Part of the MCU
Let’s start with the groundwork: mutants have officially been part of the MCU since 2022. Not just because of the multiverse, either, but because we have at least two confirmed mainstream mutants: Kamala Khan’s Ms. Marvel and Namor the Sub-Mariner. She-Hulk: Attorney at Law likewise began introducing other superhumans without any origin stories, including some who are mutants in the comics. Wonder Man strongly implied Simon Williams is a mutant, too. The Mutant Saga may not have begun, but mutants are most definitely part of the 616 timeline.
Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk, and Wonder Man have one other thing in common: they all feature a governmental department called Damage Control, responsible for policing the superhuman community. So-called “enhanced” individuals have always been controversial in the MCU, as proven by the Sokovia Accords; those may have been repealed, but the impulse to protect “ordinary” people from metahumans is surely still strong. That will only increase as mutants become established, superhuman powers spontaneously generating, and Damage Control will be responsible for dealing with the impending crisis.
We already have several key elements of X-Men lore coming into play here. Damage Control scour the world looking for evidence of superhuman powers, imprisoning subjects in Supermax prisons. They’ve acquired Stark-tech drones for remote operations, a more mobile version of the Sentinels, and Bruce Banner’s tech is only one step away from power-inhibitor collars and the like. More concerning, though, Wonder Man‘s finale revealed superhumans aren’t just arrested as threats by Damage Control; they’re recruited as “assets.”
Rachel Grey Shows What Can Be Done With a Telepath
Mutant-hunting robots, inhibitor collars, and mutant assets are basically a staple of the X-Men comics. They’re particularly associated with a dark, dystopian future called “Days of Future Past” where the war between mutants and Sentinels has consumed the world. One key mutant in that timeline is Rachel Grey, the daughter of Cyclops and Phoenix, a powerful telepath and telekinetic in her own right, heir to the power of the Phoenix Force. Rachel was the first confirmed Omega level mutant, meaning there is no upper limit to her powers.
In the “Days of Future Past” timeline, Rachel was actually captured by mutant hunters and turned against her own kind. They used her as what’s called a “Hound,” because her telepathic abilities allowed her to track other mutants down. Rachel eventually broke free of their control, but would never forget her time as a Hound, the sense that she had betrayed her own race. And here’s the interesting thing; some Rachel Grey designs are evocative of the brief glimpses we’ve had of Sadie Sink’s character in Brand New Day. Some viewers have theorized Sink is playing Rachel, not Jean.
Is Sadie Sink a “Hound” For Damage Control?
Rachel is a fantastic character, but she’s a little too deep a cut for a franchise that hasn’t even introduced its own version of Charles Xavier yet. That said, it’s interesting to note how easily her story could be folded into that of the MCU’s Jean Grey. The Brand New Day trailer appeared to imply there’s a break-out from Damage Control (perhaps explaining why there are so many villains in the next Spider-Man film). Sink’s Jean Grey could be one of those escapees, on the run from Damage Control.
This raises the possibility similarities between Sink’s character and Rachel are deliberate. She could easily have been forced to work as a “Hound” for Damage Control, a psychic who tracks other mutants and metahumans down. In that scenario, she’d be Damage Control’s top priority, an asset far too valuable to lose, and they’d hunt her down relentlessly. She’d also naturally wind up drawn to other metahumans like Spider-Man, because that’s the way she’s used to using her powers. In the leaked trailer, Sink’s character knew Peter Parker’s real name and history – which could come from a basic psychic scan.
This is, of course, only a theory. But it works well with the history of the MCU up to this point, continuing the overarching narrative quite effectively. What’s more, it potentially sets up Jean Grey as the MCU’s version of Cerebro, the X-Men’s mutant detector, in that she has the power to help gather mutants to the X-Men’s cause. It would make sense to establish such an important hero before going all-in on the X-Men – and it may well be just what Marvel has done.
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