The X-Men have been long rumored to be about to start to appear in the MCU. With a whole new phase, more Avengers, and the introduction of characters like Doom, it seems only a matter of time until the mutants arrive.
Now a new rumor is picking up steam online. According to Jeff Sneider (via The Hot Mic podcast), Stranger Things actress Sadie Sink is the frontrunner to play Jean Grey. The character could debut as soon as in Avengers: Doomsday in mid-2026. Sneider says he’s very confident in his source.
Sink is 22, and if they go young to fill the roles it would indicate they expect the X-Men to be sticking around in the MCU for a long time.
The character of Jean Grey has previously been played by Famke Janssen and Sophie Turner across the Fox adaptions.
Sneider talks of November 2027 as the release date for the X-Men movie, which will form a central pillar of a new phase centred on mutants which will kick into high gear once Secret Wars ends the previous phase.
The most famous storyline involving the character is the Dark Phoenix saga. Returning from a mission in space, Jean Grey is exposed to the deadly radiation of a solar flare and briefly attains her ultimate potential as a telepath and telekinetic. Jean becomes a being of pure thought and then re-forms herself upon return to Earth with the new costume, identity, and power of Phoenix. Things do not go well for her.
The storyline has been adapted, unsuccessfully in the eyes of many fans, twice already for X-Men movies.