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SPOILER ALERT: This article contains major spoilers for “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,’ now playing in theaters.

After months of speculation about who Sadie Sink is playing in “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” the movie has finally hit theaters and Spidey fans can see for themselves which comic-book character she’s bringing to life

As many people predicted, the red-headed “Stranger Things” star is in fact playing Jean Grey, one of the original members of the X-Men. We’ll no doubt be seeing her in the MCU’s planned “X-Men” movie, though no details on its cast or release have been announced.

Sink’s identity is shrouded in mystery as “Brand New Day” begins, and her face isn’t revealed until roughly halfway through the film. Tom Holland’s Spider-Man begins investigating a new villain on the loose in New York City who has the power to possess bystanders’ bodies (as long as they’re less than 33 feet away). She uses her abilities to “jump” between between people’s minds and attempt to break into the headquarters for the Department of Damage Control. The organization, which is responsible for cleaning up the messes after superhero battles, has something that Jean wants locked inside a vault.

After a failed break-in attempt using a possessed Scorpion (Michael Mando), Sink turns to a stronger, larger and greener wrecking ball to get inside of Damage Control: the Hulk. She takes control of Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner and removes the inhibitor device that prevents him from turning into the Hulk. Spider-Man teams up with Jon Bernthal’s Punisher to take down the green giant and stop the him from destroying the Damage Control skyscraper entirely. Jean manages to break into the secret vault, but she’s tranquilized and apprehended by Tramell Tillman’s Damage Control CEO Bill Metzger.

It’s here that Damage Control is revealed as the real villainous organization in the movie. Metzger and his team hold Jean hostage and run tests on her to understand how her psychic powers work. A flashback reveals that Jean had an older sister named Sara who could also possess people’s minds. One day in the park, Sara gets abducted by Damage Control officers, and she possesses Jean’s mind to run away and save her younger sister. When Jean is imprisoned, she realizes she’s locked in the same cell that was used to hold Sara, who had died while being tested on by Damage Control. Jean overpowers their restraints and creates a gigantic psychic bubble that freezes in place nearly everyone in New York City.

Spider-Man is the only person who can overcome Jean’s psychic powers, and he’s able to reason with her to drop her vendetta against Damage Control. While Jean probes Spidey’s mind and lives through a tender memory he has of his late Aunt May (Marisa Tomei), Punisher is miles away lining up a sniper rifle to take out the mutant threat. As he fires the bullet, Spider-Man pushes Jean out of the way at the last second, but is hit by the gunshot himself. A devastated Punisher rescues Spider-Man and brings him to a hospital, where he eventually recovers; Jean had been using her powers to keep the hero alive, but she leaves before Spidey can say goodbye.

In the final moments of the movie, Jean is seen riding a bus out of the city. Could she be heading upstate to the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters? The famous mutant school is located in Westchester, and the fall foliage suggests school may be in session soon. There aren’t any references to the X-Men or other mutants in “Brand New Day,” but it seems clear that this isn’t the last we’ll see of Sink. It also seems like Damage Control may be morphed into a more evil corporation that’s anti-mutant in the future.

The “Stranger Things” breakout star is the third actor to take on the famous telekinetic mutant in live-action. In Fox’s previous “X-Men” movies, Jean had been played by Famke Janssen in the original film trilogy Then in the prequel series, “Game of Thrones” star Sophie Turner had taken on a younger version of the mutant. 

Now, it seems that Sink will be part of the next generation of X-Men in the MCU. We’ve seen several “X-Men” actors reprise their Fox roles, like Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool, Patrick Stewart as Prof. Charles Xavier and Kelsey Grammer as Beast. In “Doomsday,” Stewart and Grammer will be joined by James Marsden as Cyclops, Ian McKellen as Magneto, Rebecca Romijn as Mystique, Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler and Channing Tatum as Gambit. After living in their own X-universe, the stars will be thrust into the MCU, joining forces with the Avengers and Fantastic Four to take on Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom. With Sink’s casting, it seems like the MCU is prepping a new, younger cast of X-Men to join their sprawling universe of heroes.

SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers from “Stuart Fails to Save the Universe” Season 1 Episode 2, now streaming on HBO Max.

“Stuart Fails to Save the Universe” Episode 2 was chock full of cameos and guest stars — but saved the biggest one, at least for “The Big Bang Theory” fans, until near the end of the episode: The return of Kaley Cuoco as Penny. But a very different Penny.

In the episode, “Spoiler: Zack’s In This One,” Stuart (Kevin Sussman), Kripke (John Ross Bowie) and Bert (Brian Posehn) land in a much less apocalyptic Pasadena than the one they just escaped — and in this world, Kripke is no longer a vicious ruler (he plays off killing Raj in the previous world: “There are two possibilities. One, the world we were just in no longer exists. In which case I did not kill Raj. Two, that world and this world are part of an infinite number of worlds, in which case I killed one in an infinite number of Rajes. Mathematically, a rounding error.”)

But in the happy-go-lucky, peaceful new universe they land in, things aren’t as cracked up as they seem: The characters all have a device planted on the back of their necks, sending them an electric shock whenever they argue or get angry. And for this crew, with Stuart and Kripke going at it, that’s a lot.

Denise (Lauren Lapkus) didn’t make the trip through the wormhole with them, so Stuart goes looking for her — and finds her with her new beau, Gary (Tommy Walker). Meanwhile, hoping to find Sheldon and Leonard to get some answers, Kripke and Bert head to Caltech, where they find an extremely unhelpful receptionist (Riki Lindhome, who originally played Dr. Ramona Nowitzki on “The Big Bang Theory”).

The receptionist angers Kripke and Bert so much that they are picked up by the police — along with Stuart, who had also been arrested. They’re sent to a reprogramming facility, where they watch a video hosted by Christine Baranski, playing herself. (On “The Big Bang Theory,” Baranski played Leonard’s mother, Dr. Beverly Hofstadter.)

After thirty months of rehabilitation, the trio are finally released — and immediately kidnapped by a resistance group. That organization meets inside a warehouse, where we discover it’s led by. Penny (played by Cuoco). But this isn’t the Penny we remember from “The Big Bang Theory.” This one is a badass soldier/leader, who can’t stop slapping Stuart, Kripke and Bert. Denise is there too, as is Penny’s ex-boyfriend Zack (Brian Thomas Smith).

“A big part of it was offering them a challenge to do something entirely different,” co-creator and executive producer Chuck Lorre says of bringing back some of the original “The Big Bang Theory” cast members in new versions of their characters. “As you’ve seen in Episode 2, Kaley’s not playing the server in the Cheesecake Factory. It’s still Penny, and now she’s a badass guerrilla leader. That was part of the design from the very beginning. In a multiverse environment, these characters could recur as themselves, but with an entirely different backstory.”

On “The Big Bang Theory,” which ran from 2007 to 2019, Penny moves into an apartment next door to Leonard (Johnny Galecki) and Sheldon (Jim Parsons); as the series progressed, Penny and Leonard became a couple and eventually married.

At the end of Episode 2 of “Stuart Fails,” Penny’s secret hideout is discovered by the authoritarian bots that control human emotions, and just in time Stuart, Denise, Kripke and Bert fire up the Leonard, Sheldon and Howard quantum interference device that takes them to another universe: And next episode, it looks like things get a little magic.

SPOILER ALERT: This article contains major spoilers for “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” now playing in theaters.

Where in the world is Spider-Man going next?

After saving New York City in “Brand New Day,” Tom Holland‘s friendly neighborhood Spider-Man looks like he’s heading off-world once again. The post-credits scene in the latest Sony and Marvel movie revealed that the hero will return to the MCU and seems to be leaving Earth in his next appearance.

First, like many fans have theorized for months, Sadie Sink is playing X-Men member Jean Grey in “Spider-Man: Brand New Day.” She’s the primary antagonist in the movie, though it’s later revealed that the Department of Damage Control kidnapped and killed her older sister Sara. Once he realizes the cause of Jean’s Damage Control crusade, Spider-Man convinces her to release the psychic bubble she creates that freezes nearly every New Yorker at the end of the movie. He also saves her from getting shot by Jon Bernthal’s Punisher and gets hit by the sniper rifle bullet himself. At the end of the movie, Spidey recuperates, and Jean heads out of town (and possibly to Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters upstate).

In the final moments of the movie, Holland’s Peter Parker runs into his former best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon) at a cafe. Due to Doctor Strange’s spell at the end of “No Way Home,” the world has forgotten who Peter is, so Ned only recognizes the stranger after he crashed his house party earlier in the movie. With nothing to lose, Peter reintroduces himself to Ned and they perform their secret handshake without missing a beat. All of a sudden, Ned seems to regain his memories of Peter just as the film ends. Does that mean Zendaya’s MJ could also remember Peter? Could true love’s kiss actually reawaken her love for him?

Earlier in the movie, it’s also revealed that Ned has created a Spidey-tracking app that he uses to follow the hero’s location. During the post-credits scene, the app reappears as it attempts to pinpoint where the wall-crawler is. However, the Spidey Tracker starts to zoom out so far that it’s clear Spider-Man isn’t in New York City or even on Earth. The app locates the hero out in space, and then the movie announces that “Spider-Man will return” — but it’s unclear when or how.

Currently, Holland isn’t on the call sheet for the sprawling cast of “Avengers: Doomsday.” The team-up film brings together many of the A-listers on the Avengers, Fantastic Four, X-Men and Thunderbolts teams, but no Holland. However, that doesn’t count out a surprise appearance or cameo from the web-slinger, especially considering the entire MCU is coming together to battle Robert Downey Jr.’s evil mastermind Doctor Doom.

If Holland doesn’t reappear in “Doomsday,” then the post-credits scene could point to a role in “Avengers: Secret Wars,” the follow-up scheduled for next year. If the movie follows the comic run of the same name, it could bring together every hero from across the MCU multiverse into one dimension called Battleworld. In the comics, Battleworld stitched together all the different worlds and plopped every hero and their variant into one new universe. If the MCU followed suit, that could be the reason the Avengers, Fantastic Four and X-Men are eventually able to share one universe. Could that also bring together past Spider-Man stars Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, who crossed over into “No Way Home”? Fans will have to wait and see in “Secret Wars,” but that could be how Holland lands his next MCU appearance.