It’s obvious who Sadie Sink will play in Spider-Man 4, and it’s not Jean Grey or Mary Jane

Walloping-web snappers! We finally got a Spider-Man 4 casting update, and it’s bigger than Wilson Fisk’s breakfast.

Sadie Sink, best known for playing tomboy Max in the fantastic Netflix show Stranger Things, will reportedly join Tom Holland in an unknown role.

Well, I say unknown. There’s actually a lot of speculation from the press and superhero movie fans alike that Sink will be playing either the powerful telekinetic mutant Jean Grey or possibly a multiversal variant of Mary Jane Watson.

Now I understand why people might immediately link her with these two characters. Sink has red hair, and Jean and MJ are arguably the most famous redheads in Marvel comics, so the connection is obvious. Yet Spidey knows more than two people with red hair, and I think it’s far more likely that Sink is playing one of his amazing friends, the ferocious Firestar.

Amazing Friends

If you were too young to watch the animated series Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends (unlucky), then it’s possible you don’t know much about Firestar, but she’s basically a powerful pyrokinetic mutant. 

In the aforementioned show, she, alongside Iceman, served as Spidey’s sidekicks, helping him keep New York safe from the various villains and crooks who love terrorizing the city. 

The character was popular enough that she eventually made the leap from the small screen to the printed page, and she’s been something of a regular fixture in Marvel Comics ever since. History lessons aside, though, you might wonder what evidence I have that Sink will be slipping into her signature yellow spandex.

Face it, tiger… you’ve got this wrong

Marvel Comics

I’m glad you asked. You don’t have to be the Living Brain to understand why she’s not playing Mary Jane. Some people may not like the MCU version of MJ or Zendaya’s portrayal for diverging too much from the comic version. 

Still, Marvel spent three Spider-Man movies establishing this character as Peter’s love interest. They’re not going to undo that by introducing the “real Mary Jane” to please the four basement-dwelling dweebs who can’t deal with the character being a grumpy brunette. 

Having two MJs (we know Zendaya has a minor role in the upcoming Marvel movie) would confuse general audiences, and it would be a sh*tty thing to do to Zendaya. Meanwhile, the evidence for Jean is a little circumstantial. 

Jean Grey? More like Jean Get Outta Here…

Marvel Comics

We know Marvel is keen to introduce more mutant characters to the MCU, and I’ve no doubt that Jean Grey, one of the most important figures in X-Men history, will likely factor into those plans. 

Still, Jean and Peter don’t have much of a history in the comics beyond an awkward encounter or two in the Ultimate Universe, and introducing such a pivotal character in a film that’s partly owned by Sony seems unlikely to me. 

To be fair, several scoopers have linked Sink with Jean, but I just can’t convince myself to trust them. Why? Because scoopers make me think of poop, which is what these people are usually talking about. In all seriousness, though, people have been fan-casting Sink as Jean for years now (something Marvel and scoopers will know), so it’s hardly a surprise her name is in the running. 

You’re a star… a Firestar!  

Marvel Comics

To bring this back to Firestar, I think she makes the most sense for three reasons. The first two we’ve already covered, the characters have shared history with Spider-Man, and I can’t see Disney wanting to introduce her in a film they don’t have complete control over.

The third, then, is probably the most compelling from a storytelling point of view. Last we saw Peter, he was totally alone. No one remembered him, and he sacrificed everything for those he loved. It seems likely then that Spider-Man 4 will pick up with Peter at a low point in his life, with no friends, family, or allies. So who better to help Peter get out of this funk than introducing some amazing friends! 

That or she’ll be playing Gwen Stacy. Wigs exist, people, I don’t know why we’re pretending Sink can only play characters with red hair. 

If you enjoyed this then you might enjoy other things we’ve written about people wearing spandex, like our ranking of all the Marvel shows or our Marvel movie ranking… we like ranking things, okay?