A Musician With a Song in Brand New Day Called the Villain “Jean” — Then Asked If That Was a Spoiler

Marvel has spent months refusing to say who Sadie Sink is playing in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. She’s confirmed as the film’s lead villain. Beyond that, nothing — and Sink has deflected every version of the question, most recently offering only, “I am not Aunt May.”

On the premiere carpet, someone with a credit on the film may have said it anyway.

Steve Lacy — whose track “Oh Yeah?” is featured in the movie — was asked by Valkyrae which character he was most excited to see, with an explicit instruction not to spoil anything.

“You know what? Jean. I like Jean… She’s the villain, but, like, there’s a reason to her madness.”

Then, immediately:

“Is that a spoiler? I like her character. I like her character. I don’t know.”

Why this isn’t nothing

Lacy is a musician, not cast or crew, and he can’t confirm anything on Marvel’s behalf.

But artists with song placements generally see the material their music sits under. He wasn’t working from trailers, and the walk-back is the tell — the sentence stops, the question arrives unprompted, and he repeats “I like her character” twice rather than say the name again.

Every previous claim about this character has come from scoopers. This came from someone with a credit on the film, on the studio’s own premiere broadcast.

The Jean Grey question

Everyone will land in the same place: Jean Grey, the X-Men telepath, and the leading theory since Sink was cast.

The reported footage doesn’t discourage it. Sink’s character has been described using telepathy and mind control across New York, with Peter Parker apparently the only person immune to her.

But a name is not a character. “Jean” could belong to someone with no X-Men connection whatsoever, and Marvel has built entire marketing cycles on precisely that gap. A villain called Jean who turns out not to be Jean Grey would be a better misdirection than most of what the studio has attempted lately.

Until Marvel says it, it isn’t said.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day opens in theaters July 31. The soundtrack, with score by Michael Giacchino, arrives the same day via Sony Music.

Source: Steve Lacy, speaking to Valkyrae on the Spider-Man: Brand New Day premiere livestream carpet, July 26, 2026.