Let’s Talk About Sadie Sink’s Role in ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’
The title of the article says it all, really. In today’s theory article, we’re going to use what we know thus far and plant some educated guesses to try to figure out who Sadie Sink is portraying in Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
Sadie Sink was first confirmed to be a part of the Spider-Man: Brand New Day cast by Deadline in March 2025. Not much was confirmed about her role except that it was meant to be a “significant” character. Since then, outlets and fans all across social media have been springing up fancasts left and right about who she could be. This has included some famous Marvel redheads like Mary Jane Watson, Jean Grey, Firestar, Rachel Cole, and even an iteration of Mayday Parker. Other theories have portrayed her as a character like Gwen Stacy or even as mysterious multiversal villains like Shathra and the Spider-Queen.
Today, we’re going to navigate all the information that we know publicly from reliable sources, along with some of my insider information, and try to make an educated guess that could finally provide an answer to who Sadie Sink is portraying once and for all. And with that being said, let’s dive right in.
What we know about Sadie Sink in Spider-Man Brand New Day
The first thing we usually look at when trying to decipher a character is their appearance. The look could be a strong indicator of the character Sadie Sink is portraying. And from what we can tell, this character has Sink’s ginger hair, wears a yellow jacket, a military camo outfit, pants, and combat boots, as confirmed by the pictures of Sink on set.
Now, this look could point toward a more human or grounded character with some sort of military or combat expertise rather than a multiversal threat. Still, it could also be a very elaborate ruse by a villain, so we can’t just base it on looks alone. We need more to solve this much-debated mystery.
The second thing we need to look at is what we have been informed about by reliable scoopers and outlets. The first instinctive detail we had was that Sadie would be an ally, given her on-screen presence as Max Mayfield in Stranger Things, but that may not necessarily be the case. According to her casting list description, she is a “sharp and free-spirited woman with a mysterious past, who is strong-willed, intelligent, and not easily intimidated.”
And given the recent trailer leak, it’s clear she is no joke. But it also gave us a massive clue about her character. She’s not necessarily on Peter’s side, but it doesn’t seem to be a full-blown antagonist either, given that she is currently under the watchful eye of Jon Bernthal’s Punisher in the movie.
Her character, at the very least, seems complex. And this very complex character is on the run from the Department of Damage Control, where I reported in my last exclusive that Tramell Tillman would be portraying the new head of the DODC and will appear in Spider-Man: Brand New Day intending to capture Sadie Sink’s character because they believe that she is a mutant, or at the very least someone with unchecked powers.
Speaking of powers, recent reports have pointed toward her being a shapeshifter. And something interesting to note is that, in an interview with EW, Sink herself said, “A lot of people forget that hair color can change” when asked about her role in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Many people saw that as a reference to her hair color, but maybe she was slyly referring to the shapeshifter role.
In addition to that, there were reports of a female villain being attached to this movie, and one that could reportedly control the minds of multiple people at the same time, not to mention that, given the scenes from the recently leaked trailer, there seem to be a lot of trippy, mind-bending effects at play here. Very Doctor Strange-coded if you ask me, except that Doctor Strange won’t be in this movie. And I can confirm that there will be hallucination-type sequences in this movie involving multiple characters, not just Peter Parker.
So, there’s clearly a lot going on here, and judging by the dumpster fire of leads and rumors over Sadie Sink’s role in the last few months, trying to pinpoint one single character might seem troublesome.
Scoopers and outlets within these circles, myself included, have gone from Mayday Parker to Shathra to Jean Grey in the matter of a few months, chasing every new lead that comes out of this set, and it seems like every new little detail that comes out contradicts something we have reported on before. It’s why most scoopers are afraid of putting out there who they think Sadie Sink is portraying because, at the end of the day, no one likes to be wrong and have their credibility take a blow.
However, in one of my late-night think tanks, as I like to call them, it hit me. What if all the leads coming out of this movie aren’t misdirects? What if, instead of focusing on the smaller details, we looked at the big picture altogether? If all the leads are true, Sink would be portraying an antagonistic female character with red hair, some form of military training or expertise, a complicated past, telepathy, the ability to “shapeshift,” and classification as a mutant by the DODC. And I think we may have found our culprit.
Theory: Sadie Sink could be portraying Mary Alice Walker, aka Typhoid Mary
Probably not the character you guys were expecting, huh? Let me give you guys a quick rundown of who Mary Walker is and try to convince you as to why I think Sadie Sink is portraying this character in Brand New Day.
Walker was introduced in the comics in 1988 as a complex character from the get-go due to her troubled past of childhood abuse, which resulted in Mary developing alternate personalities through her dissociative identity disorder. Moreover, due to the deep psychological strain of her past abuse at the hands of her father, Mary’s alter was able to awaken her latent psionic abilities, which were later revealed to be of a mutant nature.
As time went on, she developed her telekinetic and telepathic abilities, as well as her prowess as a martial artist and close-hand-to-hand combatant. She became a notorious street assassin who caught the Kingpin’s attention and became one of his most essential enforcers. She’s had run-ins with the likes of Daredevil and Spider-Man. She has had a complex relationship with Daredevil, which eventually led to her becoming the Hand’s temporary leader during the Shadowlands comic event.
The evidence supporting Sink as Typhoid Mary
Already off the bat, this character is checking off multiple boxes for me. First, her appearance is similar to that of Sadie Sink’s unknown character in the movie, with the red hair, similar bangs, and the military combat uniform.
Secondly, Mary’s classification as a mutant in the comics, coincidentally referred to as Mutant Zero following the events of House of M, falls in line with the supposed mutant nature of Sink’s unknown character in the movie and also supports the premise of DODC going after her because of her apparent mutant nature.
Thirdly, her psionic powers match the apparent mind control sequences that we’ll see in the movie, with multiple guards at one point being influenced by an apparent unknown force, and seeing how, in the leaked trailer, Sadie’s character approaches these guards with arms open wide, unarmed, makes me think that she may very well have an ace up her sleeve that could support that.
Additionally, it could also explain why Punisher is helping her and why Punisher later tries to kill Banner. Not to mention, we also see Peter Parker go through some psychedelic, hallucinatory sequences in the trailer, as well as reports of other characters that will undergo these hallucinations, which could very well be the work of Sadie’s character, if she is indeed Typhoid Mary.
As for the shapeshifter portion of her skill set, it also fits in with Typhoid Mary, given Mary’s diagnosis of DID. In the comics, whenever Mary Walker shifted into her Typhoid Mary alter, her appearance would physically transform, with half of her face transforming into a pale hue, with her hair and physique changing as well. This is very much reflective of individuals who have DID, although quite exaggerated. This also slyly connects to Sadie’s previous remarks about her changing hair color.
What’s also interesting about Mary having DID is that it gives a reason for Bruce Banner to be in the movie. It’s publicly known information in the realm of the MCU that Dr. Banner has the alternate personality of the Hulk and was able to put the brains and the brawn together, allowing both the Hulk and Banner to coexist peacefully.
What if that is the main reason that Peter goes to search for Banner in Brand New Day? Knowing Peter, it’s likely he had a run-in with Sadie Sink’s character at the beginning of the movie as the sweet, innocent Mary before later encountering her villainous alter ego. If he becomes aware that Mary has alternate personalities, could that be why he goes to Dr. Banner to ask for help in helping Mary control her alternate personalities?
After all, it’s highly unlikely that Peter would need Banner’s help with Gamma radiation at that particular moment in the movie, and maybe Banner likes the idea of being able to help someone as Dr. Banner. Especially someone he can identify with that has a similar situation to his, instead of having to rely on the Hulk, and touch upon the subjects of overcoming traumatic experiences and coping mechanisms that can help her be a better person.
Another interesting connection here is the appearance of the Hand. Remember, in an earlier exclusive, where I talked about “a dark, mysterious female character… that had a Japanese-inspired cyberpunk aesthetic look, had a katana, and was associated with the samurai and shinobi characters (whom we now know are the Hand)? In the comics, Typhoid Mary was actually one of the leaders of the Hand during the Shadowland era in Daredevil’s absence and used them to conduct illegal activities at the behest of Kingpin. And she used a katana in this era. So this is another box that checks off in favor of Sadie Sink being Mary Walker.
And lastly, if you’ve read my Q&A here, you may recall I mentioned that in a lead I was chasing, Sadie Sink’s character could very well be one of the faces of the Mutant Saga. Typhoid Mary’s history in Marvel Comics is interesting in relation to the mutant side of the comics, particularly because she was the result of an experiment called Project Psyche, aka Weapon IX.
I wonder, what famous mutant project came after Weapon IX was completed? If you guessed Weapon X, aka Wolverine, Sabretooth, and more famous mutant origins, then you’d be right.
One rumor I had heard from a source regarding the whole Mutant Saga storyline is that it will eventually be revealed that the United States has been conducting the Weapons Plus program for many years in the MCU, and with the Mutant Saga knocking at our doorstep, the X-Men about to make their debut, and the possibility of Weapon IX being in an MCU movie before the introduction of the mutants, is too much of a coincidence to me.
The evidence against Typhoid Mary
Now, as always with these theory posts, I could be wrong here, and there are a number of reasons why. The first and foremost point one might bring up could be that we already had Mary Walker in the Marvel/Netflix universe in Iron Fist season 2, and that character is technically still alive.
Now, we don’t know whether the Netflix universe is fully integrated into the MCU or just an adjacent thing where similar events happened in the MCU. They selectively choose what did or didn’t happen. It’s most likely that the events of Iron Fist may not be 100% copied over in the MCU, and Mary Walker’s storyline could be one of them.
The other point could be that she may very well be just an original character or some other character that we don’t know of yet. But time will tell.
Who do you think Sadie Sink is playing in Spider-Man: Brand New Day? Let us know on social media or join our Discord (via Patreon) to discuss this and the rest of the Multiverse Saga with other Marvel fans!
