The announcement that Adam Driver will play Mister Sinister in X-Men could fix the MCU‘s biggest problems with Jean Grey. The mad scientist is one of the most prominent X-Men villains in the comics, but has yet to appear in any live-action adaptations. However, given his history with the original Marvel Girl, he could be a major gamechanger in several ways.
Played by Sadie Sink, Jean Grey was introduced into the MCU in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. She was the mystery villain of the film, who used her psychic powers to stage an attack on the Department of Damage Control. However, this was ultimately revealed to be motivated by the DODC abducting her older sister, Sara, and killing her with their experiments.
Despite this, some MCU fans objected to Jean being painted in a sympathetic light and being allowed to escape. They objected to her manipulating innocent people as part of her agenda. This included making a construction worker walk into traffic and using MJ to distract Spider-Man. However, this apparently out-of-character behavior could take on a new light with the introduction of Mister Sinister.
Mister Sinister opens avenues for Jean Grey in MCU
First seen in 1987’s Uncanny X-Men #213, Mister Sinister was born Nathaniel Essex in 19th century London. A contemporary of Charles Darwin, Dr. Essex was inspired by the new science of genetics. Unfortunately, this inspiration took him down a dark path. He subsequently became obsessed with breeding a perfect race of superhumans.
He was aided in his early experiments by the villain Apocalypse, who used the same Celestial technology that empowered him to enhance Dr. Essex. As Mister Sinister, Essex fixated upon Jean Grey as the perfect specimen to create the ultimate Mutant. To that end, he cloned Jean after her death, and arranged for the clone, named Madelyne Pryor, to romance a heartbroken Cyclops.
With Mister Sinister confirmed as the chief villain of the MCU X-Men movie, several possibilities have been opened up for Jean Grey. One intriguing idea is that the Jean Grey in Spider-Man: Brand New Day is a clone. This twist would serve two purposes.
Firstly, it would free Jean of responsibility for her apparent crimes. This would allow audiences to sympathize with her more easily. Secondly, it would give the writers of X-Men one less hero whose powers and backstory required explanation. Additionally, unleashing a cloned clone to see what damage it might do is true to Mister Sinister’s methods.
Even without the Jean Grey of Brand New Day being revealed as Madelyne Pryor, Mister Sinister’s inclusion in the MCU X-Men points to big changes. Most of Sinister’s stories in the comics pit him against Jean Grey on some level. This suggests that Marvel Studios is seeking ways to highlight her, without recreating the Dark Phoenix Saga yet again.
