Deadline reports Sadie Sink (Stranger Things, Fear Street) has joined the cast of Spider-Man 4 in an undisclosed, key role. Now, while Sink could conceivably be playing anyone in the upcoming movie, the site claims “the prevailing theory is she’ll be introduced as X-Men character Jean Grey.” So, has the MCU found its first new X-Men cast member, and will Spider-Man 4 feature more X-Men characters?
Sink’s distinct red hair means she could also be playing Mary Jane Watson, but given a) Zendaya‘s Michelle Jones-Watson is already a racebent version of the character, and b) she can always wear a wig to play someone else, so don’t expect that, unless if the multiverse causes two MJs to come into play. Regardless, Sink’s role is reportedly a major one, with the role of the previous cast members of Tom Holland‘s Spider-Man films expected to be a reduced as a result of the ending of Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), where Peter Parker’s botched pact with Doctor Strange led to everyone forgetting he even existed.
Spider-Man 4 (working title) is expected to roll cameras this summer under the direction of Destin Daniel Cretton (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings), for a release on July 31, 2026. It will arrive in-between Avengers: Doomsday (due out May 1, 2026) and Secret Wars (May 7, 2027), which will presumably bring back the X-Men’s previous big screen incarnations for one last hurrah, before Marvel Studios proceeds with their own version of the characters (who, if this report is any indication, might encounter their predecessors at some point before the Multiverse Saga wraps up.)
In the meantime, Sink, 22, will star in the post-apocalyptic musical film O’Dessa, releasing on Disney+/Hulu on Thursday, March 20, as well as the fifth and final season of Stranger Things, which will bow on Netflix sometime later this year. If she is indeed playing Jean Grey, she will be the third main actress to play the once-and-future Phoenix on the big screen, following the original film series’ Famke Janssen, 60, and X-Men: Apocalypse & Dark Phoenix‘s Sophie Turner, 29.
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