Ever since Sadie Sink was cast in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Marvel fans have been debating and theorizing endlessly about who she will be playing in the upcoming sequel. Initial reports noted she would be playing a “significant role” in the film, which was later bolstered by news she would return to the MCU in the upcoming Avengers: Secret Wars. A lot of characters’ names have been thrown around about who Sink’s mysterious character might be, including perhaps The Punisher cohort Rachel Cole Alves, a multiversal variant of Mary Jane, or maybe Peter Parker’s daughter Mayday from the future. They’ve all taken a backseat to the prevailing theory, though, that Sink will play Jean Grey from the X-Men.
Now, an alleged leaked photo from Spider-Man: Brand New Day has been making the rounds, one that features Sink standing next to Jon Bernthal’s Punisher. The image, whose validity has been called into question thanks to the Google Gemini watermark in the corner, has many fans re-opening the debate about Sink’s character. Though many maintain she is playing Jean Grey in the film, a previous theory that perhaps Sink is playing the Marvel villain Typhoid Mary has seen a resurgence in belief.
Sadie Sink Picture Leak From Spider-Man: Brand New Day Has Fans Questioning Character ID
The alleged leaked image from Spider-Man: Brand New Day that has been making the rounds today (seen here) has reignited the debate that Sink may be playing Typhoid Mary in the film for one big reason: her look. The red bangs and hoodie are quite similar to how the character appeared back in Iron Fist Season 2, which has fueled the speculation. This is a foolhardy guess, though, as the visual similarities in these two characters are not at all enough to make it clear that Sink would be playing Typhoid Mary.
If Marvel Studios were bringing back this villain/anti-hero for the MCU in a proper way, they would almost certainly do it in a way where two things would be true: 1. Typhoid Mary would have the iconic curly hair and face paint from the pages of the comics, and 2. The MCU version of Typhoid Mary would almost certainly be aged appropriately enough that she could potentially function as a love interest for both Daredevil and Kingpin, two of her romantic partners in comics (Sadie Sink is 24, while Charlie Cox is 42, and Vincent D’Onofrio is 66).
This photo also carries the assumption that, despite Daredevil: Born Again acting as a sequel series to multiple Netflix shows, Marvel Studios would continue the trend of Typhoid Mary’s look from Iron Fist Season 2. Even though Finn Jones is set to reprise his role as the living weapon in Born Again Season 3, his return appears to completely ignore the events of his own show’s series finale, where Colleen Wing has taken on the mantle of Iron Fist and Danny Rand is now channeling his powers via guns. To that end, maintaining the fidelity of Typhoid Mary from Iron Fist, while casting a different actress, makes no sense.
The validity of the photo remains the biggest sticking point, though many online “scoopers” claim it is real and the Gemini logo in the corner is simply an effect of fans trying to enhance the image. In any event, the photo being real wouldn’t necessarily prove one way or the other who Sink is playing in Spider-Man: Brand New Day; we already knew that she would have some involvement with Bernthal’s character, so the two sharing the screen wouldn’t be a big surprise.
Furthermore, the fact that Marvel is maintaining such an intense amount of secrecy around Sink’s character remains some of the best anecdotal evidence that she’s actually playing Jean Grey rather than any leaked images. Across the near two-decades of filming, Marvel Studios has rarely kept a character’s identity this secret. This, combined with her clear mind-control abilities seen in the initial trailer, confirmation that she’ll return in Avengers: Secret Wars, and, yes, that she has red hair, seems to all indicate that Sadie Sink is playing Jean Grey. If Sink was playing a lower-profile character, Marvel would have confirmed it, but by keeping it behind the veil, they’re making sure fans keep the conversation going and setting the stage for their next big reboot in the MCU: their own take on the X-Men in the MCU.
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