(Photo Credit: Marvel Studios / Sony)
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has an X-Men problem. With Marvel keen on introducing mutants in projects like Spider-Man: Brand New Day ahead of their solo movie, the studio runs the risk of the X-Men pulling focus from the main hero, in this case, Tom Holland’s friendly neighborhood web-slinger.
The closed captions for the new Brand New Day trailer confirmed what has long been rumored: Tramell Tillman is playing Bill Metzger, a prominent anti-mutant activist in the comics who, in the MCU, will be the Director of the Department of Damage Control.
Why Bill Metzger and Jean Grey are raising questions about Spider-Man 4’s priorities
With Sadie Sink all but confirmed to be playing Jean Grey, that now makes two X-Men characters set to appear in the fourth Spider-Man movie. While I prefer my Spider-Man movies to feature as few non-Spidey characters as possible, part of Marvel Studios’ deal with Sony involves them beefing up the supporting ensemble with established MCU heroes. For Brand New Day, that’s Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk and Jon Bernthal’s Punisher.
It’s Jean Grey and Bill Metzger’s inclusion that I’m starting to have an issue with in Brand New Day. If Marvel just had Metzger appear to tease a future role in the X-Men movie, that would be one thing. Hawkeye had a glorified cameo in Thor solely so audiences knew who he was before Avengers.
It’s the fact that the trailers have been teasing a conflict between Metzger and “a threat we can’t control,” believed to be Sink’s mysterious character (a.k.a. Jean Grey), that has me worried that Brand New Day will feel more like a backdoor pilot to the MCU X-Men reboot than a proper Spider-Man sequel.
After making fans wait five years for a new Spider-Man movie, we want the focus to be on the superhero in question. Teasing the mutants is fine, but making a major X-Men hero a substantial part of Brand New Day is a bad decision.
It’s clear Marvel wants the X-Men to be a major part of the MCU moving forward, and I don’t blame them, but I want to see it done right. That doesn’t mean Cyclops popping up in Doctor Strange 3. Fingers crossed that Brand New Day is the first and last time we see the X-Men steal the focus from another hero’s movie.
