The newest Spider-Man film, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, hits theaters today, and with its release we’re finally going to get the answer to the question that has plagued fans for a year now: who the heck is Sadie Sink playing?

The cast includes the usual trio from the previous Spider-Man films: Tom Holland as Peter Parker, Zendaya as Michelle “MJ” Jones-Watson, and Jacob Batalon as Peter’s best friend Ned. We also know that another pair of MCU stars – Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner and Jon Berenthal as Frank Castle – are along for the ride. But when it was announced that Sadie Sink was joining the cast, Marvel was uncharacteristically catty about what role she’s playing in the film. The move was intended, of course, to get people talking and speculating, and it worked.

Sink is best known as Max from the Netflix hit Stranger Things, but she’s branched out into other TV and film work as well, most notably playing Brendan Fraser’s daughter in the movie that finally got him his Oscar, The Whale, so she’s definitely got the acting chops to join the MCU. But without knowing exactly which role she’s taking, speculation has run rampant. One of the most popular theories has been that she’s going to be Jean Grey, officially ushering the X-Men into the MCU. The Fox X-Men are going to appear in Avengers: Doomsday and probably its sequel Secret Wars, but the MCU is going to bring in their own version of the mighty mutants in a couple of years, and Sink would be a great choice for Jean Grey. 

Theory Number Two is that Sink is actually going to be Mary Jane Watson, the original character that everybody has assumed Zendaya is representing in the MCU. It would be a sneaky trick, to be sure, to pull that kind of switcheroo, but I think it would also be kind of disrespectful to fans of Zendaya’s character, not to mention Zendaya herself. And let’s be honest, she’s kind of a big deal these days – I don’t know if Kevin Feige would want to get on her bad side.

Both of these theories, it should be pointed out, seem to be predicated on the fact that the two characters mentioned, like Sink, happen to be redheads. It’s not the best reason to cast somebody, but it’s not the worst either. That said, we can float other possibilities based on the same criteria. For example: Angelica Jones, aka Firestar, would be an out-of-the-box choice. Firestar is the rare Marvel character that didn’t originate in comic books, but rather in a cartoon show, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. Since migrating to comics, though, her interactions with Spider-Man have been minimal, associating more with the New Warriors, Avengers, and X-Men, in that order. 

From there the list of significant redheads starts to run thin – Pepper Potts and the Black Widow are both spoken for in the MCU, and Thor’s half-sister Angela is available, but no matter how good an actress she is it would be difficult to picture the petite Sadie Sink as a Viking warrior goddess. Medusa appeared in the short-lived Inhumans TV show, and as much as I’m sure Marvel would prefer we forget that existed, I don’t see Sink taking that role either. After that I would have to start flipping through the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe to find further candidates, and I don’t think Marvel would put that much effort into characters that obscure.

Having this conversation with my wife, she tossed out my favorite theory: maybe they’re just screwing with us and Sink is going to be a redheaded version of Gwen Stacy. I would actually applaud that level of trolling, were they to go in that direction. 

All that said, I know that several of you reading this already know the answer to this particular mystery. I’m publishing this column on Brand New Day’s official release date, and there were two successful days of preview screenings. I personally know several people who’ve already seen the film, most of them in the Comic Book Collecting group I help moderate on Facebook, and the comments have been highly positive. Nobody, as of this writing, has spoiled the mystery for me, and I appreciate that, since I’m not going to be seeing it until tomorrow morning.

The thing is no matter who Sink is playing, I have to admire the way Marvel Studios has played this particular bit of casting. I complain a lot about how nobody in the entertainment industry is capable of keeping a secret anymore. Trailers give away the whole movie, comic book solicitations give away the endings of storylines before they’re published, and casting surprises are virtually nonexistent. Somebody in that same comic book group I mentioned said not long ago that they hope the upcoming Man of Tomorrow movie will have cameos by Batman and Wonder Woman, and I had to say that I seriously doubt that they’d introduce two such important characters that way – certainly not without making a big deal of who they cast in the respective roles.

But Marvel has turned Sink’s casting into a way to generate buzz. She’s even gotten into it herself. Earlier this week a video was released on the official social media channels where Sink teases the fans by confirming two roles she’s definitely NOT playing: Spider-Man and Aunt May. Now this COULD go wrong – if it turns out she’s playing, for instance, J. Jonah Jameson’s secretary Betty Brant, that would be quite a letdown. But assuming she’s a significant character, somebody who has the potential to be a major player in upcoming Marvel franchises, then they’ve played their game very well.

The game will be over soon, of course. With the movie in theaters I have no doubt her role will soon be common knowledge. I’m just hoping I can continue to dodge spoilers for another 24 hours. I wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest if, in the next week or two, they release a new trailer that prominently features Sadie Sink in her new role as Squirrel Girl. (Or whatever.) But they’ve kept the surprise this long, and I both appreciate and respect that.

Credit where credit is due.

Oh, and if you HAVE seen the movie and know the answer to the original mystery, do us all a favor and keep it to yourself a little while longer. We haven’t all seen it yet. 

Blake M. Petit is a writer, teacher, and dad from Ama, Louisiana. His most recent writing project is the superhero adventure series Other People’s Heroes: Little Stars, volume one of which is now available on Amazon. He’s also started putting his LitReel videos on TikTok.