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Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s villain wasn’t a MCU edict, says producer

The villain for Spider-Man: Brand New Day sprang out of an organic creative decision from the film's director, Destin Daniel Cretton

Image credit: Marvel Studios

News by Jules Chin Greene, Staff Writer

Published on Wed Aug 05 2026

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Warning: spoilers for Spider-Man: Brand New Day are ahead.

Over the past couple of years, mutants have slowly trickled into the MCU. And it couldn't come at a better time, because Namor needs all the friends he can get.

In Spider-Man: Brand New Day, the villain possessing New Yorkers is revealed to be none other than a young woman named Jean Grey. Now, we've been expecting the X-Men to show up in the MCU any day now, and who better to get things off the ground than one of the Original Five X-Men?

A question for many fans, however, was whether the decision to bring in Jean Grey into Spider-Man: Brand New Day was a studio mandate or an organic creative decision made by the filmmakers. In a new interview with Deadline, Sony producer Amy Pascal reveals the forces that motivated director Daniel Destin Cretton to add Jean to the film.

Pascal said, "We didn’t pick Jean Grey because she was part of the X-Men; we picked Jean Grey because [director] Destin [Daniel Cretton] came in and said, 'If you guys want to do a movie that is about the way people feel isolated, even more today than ever, because of our technology and everything else, and not just young people, but everybody. But it has afflicted young people so much. If we can do a movie that is about how reaching out and making a connection to someone is the most important thing that you can do, then I understand how to do this movie.'

She continued, "And [Cretton] was the one who said, 'I really think it would be great if the villain could be a teenager,' instead of all the monsters we’ve done in the past. Because the other truth about Peter Parker is that the best stories are when the villains have the same problem that he does: anonymity and feeling isolated. It just seemed like the right story to tell for today, because it’s something that we can all relate to."

If you know anything about Miss Jean Grey, it's that she's been through it in Marvel Comics, and that's certainly the case in Brand New Day. In the MCU, she's bounced between different foster homes throughout her childhood, and the death of her sister, Sara, is undoubtedly another tragic element in her life. Hopefully, since the film ends with her on a bus headed upstate (to the X-Mansion perhaps?!), things will get better for her from here on out.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is in theaters now.

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Jules Chin Greene: Jules Chin Greene is a journalist and Jack Kirby enthusiast. He has written about comics, video games, movies, and television for sites such as Nerdist, AIPT, and Multiverse of Color.