Did “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” Just Set Up the Mutant Saga for the MCU?

This past weekend, Spider-Man swung into theaters to the largest domestic opening ever (even bigger than Avengers: Endgame) and passed $1 billion in only six days. But that is not the whole story, with the movie opening the doors to the possible mutant future of the MCU.

SPOILER WARNING: Major spoilers for Spider-Man: Brand New Day are featured in this post. Proceed with caution!

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is packed full of amazing action set pieces, heart-wrenching scenes of love and loss, and expands the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a way many didn’t see coming. Tom Holland proves once again that he is an amazing actor and helps solidify his place as one of the best superhero performers in the game, putting him up there with the likes of Robert Downey Jr, Anthony Starr (Yes, I put his Homelander performance in this group), and the Chrises – Hemsworth and Evans.

For me, though, it was the way that Destin Daniel Cretton weaves in a story point that will take us, the viewers, into the next stage of the MCU after Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, and that is the introduction of the X-Men and what will be the major McGuffin in the upcoming X-Men Saga, or Phase 7.

Peter, in the first act of the movie, is going through physical and mental changes brought on by his decision to lead a lonely life as the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. At the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home, he instructed Doctor Strange to use a spell to make everyone forget that Peter Parker is Spider-Man, including MJ and Ned, the two people closest to him.

In Brand New Day, the choice not to tell them, to have them live their lives without Peter so that he could keep them safe from harm, is causing his spider half to take more control. It causes physical change. Peter now has organic web shooters and emotional changes; he stops pulling his punches. To counteract this, he creates an inhibitor to limit his spider side, helping him stay in balance.

Enter Jean Grey!

Yes, Sadie Sink is Jean Grey. Because, of course she is!

Jean is on the warpath to free her sister from the Department of Damage Control (DODC), who held her sister, also a telepath. They experimented on Jean’s sister until her death. Jean uses anyone and everyone to get to her sister, including Professor Hulk and Frank Castle.

Peter decides to use his spare inhibitor chip on Jean to stop her from attacking the DODC. But then comes to find out that the DODC were the bad guys all along.

So, in a film about Spider-Man coming to terms with him needing his friends and family in his life, they set up the story that will (likely) be in the MCU’s Mutant Saga, mainly the DODC trying to control mutants.

Kevin Fiege has said during the press tour for Brand New Day that there are so many story arcs in the comics to pull from for the Mutant Saga that they could go in any direction they want. However, the idea of a government entity singling out a small group of the population because they are different seems timely and true to the core of the X-Men.

Brand New Day’s final conflict wasn’t Jean and Peter going blow for blow; it was Peter teaching Jean, with the help of a memory from Aunt May, that yes, there are terrible people out there, and they will judge anyone they feel is the other. But there are also good people out there who care for others, despite their differences.

The story of the X-Men in the comics has always been more about people gaining superpowers due to some genetic mutation. The X-Men narrative has always been about the other and making a space for yourself in a world that’s not very accommodating to anyone different.

Jean’s introduction to the MCU was a very drastic change from her comic book origin, but it was still true to the core of the X-Men. Superhero movies are always best when sticking to the framework of the source material while mixing in some of the real-world conversations. And Spider-Man: Brand New Day did that.

The Mutant Saga continuing with mutant vs DODC in the MCU is very plausible.

Along with Jean, the other “mutants” currently in the MCU include only Ms. Marvel/Kamala Khan. We will have the original cast of the Fox X-Men movies in Doomsday, but I don’t expect them to make it through that film to continue being part of the MCU. Wanda Maximoff can be implied as a mutant, but her future in the MCU is up in the air right now.

There have been X-Men casting rumors circulating the internet over the last few days. But until I see the cast on stage, say, at D23 Expo (starting August 14, 2026), I will be holding my excitement.

I loved Spider-Man: Brand New Day. I loved the story, the action, the performances, but most of all, it felt like a complete story, with a little extra spice for what is coming for mutantdom.

Who do you want to see in the Mutant Saga?

Tell us in the comments below.

Author: Sean Miley

I’d rather find the things that I like about a story, movie, or tv show, than lead with negativity. I love Star Wars, Doctor Who, MCU, comic book and conventions.

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