First impressions matter.
Without Robert Downey Jr. swaggering into pop culture folklore as Tony Stark in 2008's Iron Man, the MCU may have been seen as an experimental failure instead of the billion-dollar juggernaut it became.
While Marvel Studios' immediate future may not live or die on the success of the X-Men, it's clear that president Kevin Feige – who cut his teeth in the industry on 2000's X-Men – is going all-in on making the Mutant Saga a success upon the release of the Jake Schreier-directed movie in the next few years.
"The whole story of Secret Wars really leads us into a new age of mutants and of the X-Men. [It's] one of those dreams come true. We finally have the X-Men back," Feige told Deadline 18 months ago.
The plan is obvious: X marks the spot with the MCU, with the X-Men set to become an all-encompassing part of Marvel's movie slate in the next decade (there are, apparently plans up to 2042 according to Feige).
Spoilers for Spider-Man: Brand New Day follow.
That brings us to Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Marvel's worst-kept secret was, in fact, what we all expected it would be. Stranger Things actor Sadie Sink blew our minds as a younger, more tempestuous Jean Grey in the new Spidey adventure, a confident first step towards bringing mutants into the fold post-Secret Wars.
If Jean Grey had been a failure, X-Men would have already seemed shaky. With an inconsistent Multiverse Saga and the removal of Kang, Marvel Studios really needs a confident boost heading into an unknown future. Sink – and Jean Grey – provides that in spades in Brand New Day.
Sadie Sink, of course, goes a long way to selling that. Already a Stranger Things standout, Sink is a rare breed in a Marvel newcomer, exuding a presence and charisma that might trick lapsed fans into thinking she's been doing this for years.
Her emotionally-charged scenes with Tom Holland soar, too, thanks to her brittle, righteous anger bouncing off the wallcrawler's earnest goodness. As an audition to be front and centre of the MCU, Sink passed with flying colors. X-Men, then, has nothing to worry about with at least one of its leads.
From the ashes
Perhaps Spider-Man: Brand New Day's biggest positive, though, is how it deftly treats Jean Grey as a character and as a person. This is no mere fan service cameo. In a handful of minutes, we're given her tragic origins, a motivation for why she might have a severe distrust of authority in future appearances, and does justice to the tightrope act of an all-powerful mutant wrestling with her emotions. X-Men doesn't need to set up Jean Grey. She's all there – and we care about her already.
It shouldn't be discounted, too, that we're witnessing the start of a new generation in the MCU with Jean Grey and Sadie Sink. Avengers: Doomsday's rather tired looking Steve Rogers and diluted Avengers line-up is proof enough that Marvel needs to inject some fresh blood in the way, at one time, Tom Hiddleston, Tom Holland, and, later, Iman Vellani shook up their respective corners of the cinematic universe.
Jean Grey may be the first in a long line of mutants, too. There have been rumors of the likes of Cailee Spaeny (Alien: Romulus) and Charles Melton (Beef) jumping on board as Rogue and Beast respectively, while Licorice Pizza's Cooper Hoffman has recently denied he's playing Cyclops.
The throughline between them is they are all promising, up-and-coming talent. Maybe not household names just yet, but Marvel always feels at its most risky and rewarding when it gives the spotlight to someone who is just waiting for their big break. Just look at the positive feeling around David Jonsson as the new Black Panther for another example of Marvel leaning towards a younger crowd to fill out its superhero roster.
I hope other entries follow Brand New Day's lead by introducing more X-Men characters in other heroes' movies. Not only does it make the world feel more lived-in, it offers a chance for Marvel to replicate its biggest success: the slow build of each of its heroes before 2012's The Avengers.
If we can get Cyclops, Beast, and perhaps even Charles Xavier and Magneto settled into the MCU, it instantly creates more hype and anticipation for a crossover-style event when they all converge in their own X-Men movie.
So, X-Men has got off to the perfect start – all thanks to Sadie Sink and Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Let's just hope this mutant introduction is the MCU's new normal. Because it might just propel Marvel into an exciting, fresh era for the next decade.
For more, check out the breakdown of the Spider-Man: Brand New Day ending and our ranking of the best Spider-Man movies.
