Entertainment
Stranger Things Icon Joining Avengers: Secret Wars Casts Major Doubts On Spider-Man 4
By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
Earlier this year, Marvel confirmed that Stranger Things star Sadie Sink would be joining the cast of Spider-Man: Brand New Day. This kicked off endless online speculation about which iconic character she might play, and that speculation shifted into high gear with the confirmation that Sink would also be starring in Avengers: Secret Wars.
While some fans are excited to see what the talented actor will bring to this famous cinematic universe, the sad truth is that Sink playing some major new player is further proof that Spider-Man 4 is going to be a crowded mess filled with too many heroes and too little plot.
Spider-Man 4 Has Good Jeans
While Sadie Sink could obviously dye her hair any number of colors, most fans assumed that she would keep her iconic hair from Stranger Things as she joins the MCU. That would make her Marvel character a redhead, causing fans to speculate that she would either be playing Mayday Parker (Spider-Man’s daughter from an alternate universe) or Jean Grey (the telepathic powerhouse of the X-Men). Amid reports that Jean Grey will be one of the primary mutant characters in the MCU and that Sink will be reappearing in Avengers: Secret Wars, it looks increasingly likely that the Stranger Things star will be playing Jean Grey and that Spider-Man: Brand New Day will be a soft-launch for at least some of the X-Men.
That may sound good on paper. After all, fans have been waiting over 17 years to see the X-Men become part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a real way (and no, multiversal cameos from the Fox characters do not count). However, I can’t help but think that the next Spider-Man movie is shaping up to be a cluttered mess due to all the additional characters stuffed into the film. Remember, one of the reasons audiences loved Spider-Man: Homecoming so much is that it was a mostly self-contained adventure whose cameos from characters like Tony Stark didn’t take up much screen time, allowing the new characters to shine.
However, Spider-Man: Brand New Day is unlikely to have much room for Spidey’s roster of original characters. One reason for that is that the movie must balance all of its new characters and stories while wrapping up the plot of Spider-Man: No Way Home, which ended with everyone on Earth (including best friend Ned and girlfriend MJ) magically forgetting who Peter Parker was. Before Doctor Strange could cast the spell, though, Peter promised his buddies he would find them and renew their friendship.
Too Many Capes On the Dance Floor
He’s unlikely to have much time to do that, though, because Brand New Day is absolutely stacked with new characters and cameos from other Marvel heavyweights. For example, the movie will star both Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk and Jon Bernthal’s Punisher, and these extra heroes offset the outsized number of villains in the film. So far, we know that Marvin Jones III will be playing familiar Spidey bad guy Tombstone, while Michael Mando will be reprising his role as Scorpion, a bad guy we last saw in prison at the end of Homecoming.
There are also some other cast additions whose characters are so far unknown, including Strange New Worlds and Wynonna Earp star Melanie Scrofano. Spider-Man: Brand New Day will also star Liza Colon-Zayas, and fans have been frantically speculating that she will be playing Miles Morales‘ mother. If that persistent rumor ends up being true and Miles appears in the film, that means that this movie would have to serve as an origin story for a brand new hero while also finding something for its three other confirmed heroes to do.
Spider-Man: Brand New Bomb
Now, the confirmation that Sadie Sink will be in both Brand New Day and Avengers: Secret Wars has increased the speculation that she is likely to play Jean Grey. After all, while it would be cool to see her play Mayday Parker in Spider-Man 4, it would be weird to later bring yet another goofy multiversal cameo character back for Secret Wars, a major tentpole film intended to reset the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That means that the latest Spider-Man movie is likely to serve as an origin movie for Jean Grey and Miles Morales, all while wrapping up the No Way Home storyline and juggling nearly half a dozen assorted heroes and villains.
At a glance, it sounds like this movie is going to be a cluttered mess…the Spider-Man equivalent of Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, a film that traded plot development for endless fan service scenes and meaningless cameos. I’d love to be wrong, and Spider-Man: No Way Home ended up being a success despite its bevy of multiversal heroes and villains. But right now, Spider-Man: Brand New Day is on track to become a high-profile bomb, and if that happens to Marvel’s most beloved character, no amount of universe-resetting may be able to save Marvel from its inevitable death.
