Steve Lacy walked the red carpet at the Spider-Man: Brand New Day world premiere and may have spoiled one of the biggest Marvel secrets in years.
At the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on Sunday night, Lacy was interviewed by streamer Valkyrae on the official red carpet livestream. She asked the singer which character he was most excited to see in the film—specifically "without spoiling anything." His answer landed like a grenade.
"Jean. I like Jean. She's the villain, but there's a reason to her madness. I like her. I like her character," Lacy said.
When Valkyrae asked him if he had just shared a spoiler, Lacy appeared to pull back: "I like her. I like her character. I don't know why."
The clip spread across X within the hour, with Sadie Sink trending shortly after. Fans immediately linked "Jean" to Jean Grey, the iconic X-Men telekinetic mutant, and to Sink, whose character had been shielded from press throughout the entire marketing campaign. Lacy attended the premiere because his song "oh yeah?" appears on the film's soundtrack.
To be precise about what Lacy did and did not say: he named a character called Jean as the villain, but never said "Jean Grey" and never mentioned Sink by name. One wrinkle: a character named Jean DeWolff, a detective played by Liza Colón-Zayas, is also in the film. In the comics, DeWolff is a police ally rather than a villain, which makes the Grey interpretation the one fans overwhelmingly landed on.
The reaction online was instant and chaotic.
"Bro did a double take immediately as if he heard [Kevin Feige]'s snipers shift towards his direction," fan @mad21scientist wrote on X. @StevenTnyc added: "Steve Lacy spoiling and confirming the 'secret' that Sadie Sink is Jean Grey … imagine them trying to keep this secret all during the marketing to have it spoiled by a person on the red carpet." @wadesknife was less analytical: "STEVE LACY SPOILING JEAN GREY'S ROLE LMFAOO WE'RE NEVER GONNA HEAR FROM THIS GUY AGAIN KEVIN GET HIM."
The fan theory that Sink was playing Jean Grey had been circulating for over a year, fueled by what Cosmic Book News described as darkened hair and green contacts visible in Marvel's own teaser videos. The film's official synopsis teases "a powerful villain no one can even see," a description consistent with a telepath. Tom Holland had previously told TikTok that Jean Grey is "not in this movie, but it would be pretty cool," a denial Cosmic Book News framed as deliberate misdirection.
Sink was cast in the film in March 2025 without a character name attached, and she had kept quiet about her role through months of speculation, occasionally poking fun at the wilder fan theories. Director Destin Daniel Cretton told The Hollywood Reporter that the film is better when audiences arrive not knowing certain things.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day, the fourth film in Tom Holland's run and the 38th MCU entry, opens in the UK on Thursday and in the US on Friday.
