Jean Grey's Villain Arc — Full Breakdown & Transcript

[00:02] Marvel's plan for a character like Gan Gray, whose actions in Spider-Man: Brand New Day were so bad, but whose story needs us to keep loving and rooting for Jessica Clemens. And look, Gan Gray isn't bad as Thanos. Uh, she's not as

[00:15] bad as Ultron or even Kingpin. But the difference there is those people are supposed to be a hero. She's supposed to be an X-Men. And that's what makes what complicated. Because we've already seen this problem with Wanda in the MCU.

[00:29] not you believe she was ultimately responsible for all of them or she was the real monster in disguise, the people of 616 and even the people of 838 didn't just forget what she did. So, are we supposed to like root for Gene? Do the

[00:41] did? And even if Peter Parker can forgive her, how do we expect her past not to follow her into the future as an X-Men? Or is that actually what we group of heroes who aren't perfectly good or perfectly forgivable, but who

[00:54] means to do the right thing after they done something so wrong? In Brand New is on a mission of revenge, but also a mission to find her sister Sarah, who was kidnapped by the DODC years earlier. Gan is desperate to find her, and anyone

[01:08] That's the DODC, the Punisher, Spider-Man, and unfortunately, a lot of innocent civilians. Then, at the end of the movie, she just goes off seemingly question and point of conflict for the fans that the writers Chris McKenna and

[01:21] because we know Gene is going to be part of the MCU going forward. and she seems the X-Men and ultimately a hero. When asked if they had any worries about character who eventually will need to be redeemed, Summers actually said this. I

[01:35] think technically she's not responsible for any deaths, but you come away with caused a lot of destruction and mayhem. Okay, go on. Even if you're going to the end or goes through transformation, you have to start them off in a place

[01:48] I understand the logic here. If Gene is going to have a redemption arc, Marvel legitimate threat at first. But I have a problem with how far they took it because Gan absolutely kills or seriously harms or just puts multiple

[02:01] this movie. And that taxi scene is especially jarring. She takes control of vehicle and then the movie just moves on. And now after the fact, the writers didn't kill anybody. Here's a list of the things Gan Gray does in Spider-Man:

[02:15] Brand New Day that Wanda has arguably only done one of these things with. And it in a minute. She inhabits and possesses multiple people. She possesses something he has spent years learning to control because he doesn't want to hurt

[02:27] people. She nearly gets a child killed by a tank. She possesses MJ, and she kisses Peter while pretending to be MJ. And in that kind of possession of MJ, that creates another really bad kind of gravity around consent. And this isn't

[02:39] even unique to Marvel. Wonder Woman 84 has its own really weird, incredibly bad consent problem when she sleeps with that guy who's actually inhibiting the thing. and then the movie just moves past it. So clearly superhero movies

[02:52] and bodily autonomy just kind of weirdly. She then goes on to try to kill city. She hijacks a helicopter and takes control of the man flying it. Gene is standards. And what makes all of this more damning is that almost every single

[03:07] with someone dead. The only reason any of these people survive is because Peter intervened. So, even if the writers want to argue that Gene technically didn't Gene didn't directly murder these people, but you can't really argue that

[03:22] people in situations where death was a very real possibility. And then there's actually get to see. Between her sister being kidnapped and by the DODC in Brand met her? Considering how far she's willing to go in the movie, if this is

[03:36] Parker is standing in her way, what happens to the people who got in her way that wasn't Peter Parker? And you know what? I'm not even going to gripe about actually here just because I want to understand what Marvel actually plans to

[03:48] do with this character, who at least right now feels very unredeemable that Gene is supposed to have a future as a hero in the MCU. If that's the can do. They can erase her responsibility altogether. Or they could

[04:01] really herself and that the circumstances made her do it and then we could kind of move on. They could make Gene evil. Maybe this is the beginning have to eventually bring her back down. Or does she have to acknowledge what she

[04:14] earn her way into being a hero? I think one. Not because I suddenly think Gene should be forgiven, but because And if Marvel really wants Gan Gray to become an X-Men, we can root for her. I

[04:27] what she did before they can ask us to move on. I recently heard an ice cream and it just rocketed me back into being a kid again. and I had such an immediate when my main concern was scraping enough loose change to be able to afford a

[04:42] bubble bill or a chip witch or really just any ice cream at all. Then I got a adult life intruded and it was hard to not feel a sense of loss. My therapist that sure the idea of having nothing more to worry about in life than your

[04:56] but the hard work I put in as an adult to shape my life is way more rewarding you know, to get ice cream whenever I want. Therapy really helps me put things the sponsor of today's video, makes starting therapy super easy. You take a

[05:11] licensed therapist quickly. And you can communicate however you feel comfortable therapist isn't a good fit for you, you can switch at any time with no to date have gotten help through BetterHelp, earning a 4.8 out of five

[05:24] in the description or go to betterhelp.com/newstars therapy. Signing up using our link helps support our channel and lets us keep right back to right now. In her first interview after Brand New Day, Satie

[05:37] backstory was especially important because of what she did. She described she doesn't think Gene is someone who actually wants to hurt people. Instead, hurt and hurting others is all she knows. And that idea seems to go beyond

[05:52] Brand New Day because Sadi goes on to say that what makes the X-Men compelling that they may have done bad things and those flaws can ultimately make them don't disagree with that. I actually

[06:04] have never been interesting because they're perfect people. They're complicated people who are forced to figure out how to live with their has a big problem, and that's understanding why someone does something

[06:16] terrible is not the same as forgiving them for doing it. And Gene can be hurt. understand all of that while also still saying what she did was wrong. And I walk with Gan Gray. I don't know if it's this necessarily of a huge obstacle for

[06:30] beginning of a new era of really violent, morally complicated hero origin stories. Kind of like what we saw in Netflix Defenders. Brand New Day was a asking us to focus on the good in Gene rather than the bad. But again, as a

[06:44] story, I actually think this gives Gene a really interesting hurdle because everyone to forgive her. You can forgive someone and still acknowledge that they did wrong. You can still fail to get forgiveness from people you've hurt, and

[06:56] So, what if Jean's journey as an X-Men is about living with what she's done, didn't happen, not blaming the DODC, but recognizing the pain she's caused and bring less pain into the world than she takes from it. Gene doesn't need to

[07:11] become a hero who knows exactly what she's capable of and chooses every X-Men way. And this isn't even a new some time dealing with the idea of redemption and whether someone who has

[07:24] of redemption. Nightcrawler gets into this idea that we've all done dark mean you've never made terrible choices. And that's important because Gene wouldn't be the first X-Men to wrestle with a darker part of themselves. Hell,

[07:37] these characters have been heroes or villains or some kind of weird combination of the two. So maybe Jean's messy introduction isn't actually be. Maybe it's the most X-Men thing Marvel can actually do. I keep also

[07:50] Wanda is probably the best example we have of someone who controlled hundreds harm in the MCU, and like Gene has been physically punished and emotionally share another important similarity. Both are young women who came into their

[08:05] control them. And both have allowed anger and grief to push those powers into very dangerous places. But there's one major major difference on top of that. Everyone knows what Wanda did. No one knows what Gene did. So, did Wanda

[08:17] people she hurt just forget what happened? And does the audience understanding Wanda's trauma actually erased the things that she did? Well, time Marvel tried to turn Wanda back into a hero.

[08:30] ending and assume Marvel is going to do anything similar to like Gene. If aware of how many people felt unsatisfied by Wanda's exit. And I don't Wanda was a fan favorite. For me, the problem is that after Wanda Vision,

[08:44] like a continuation of Wanda's story. And that's irritating because I actually that movie. I love this unfiltered perspective of a woman who has spent her entire life experiencing loss, who finally finds the thing she wants most,

[08:58] love, and has that ripped away from her again. I love her selfishness. I love trying to get back to something that never really existed. But we never relationship she destroyed. And we never really saw Wanda reckon with the people

[09:11] her explanation for everything wasn't really satisfying. Wanda's story didn't Marvel's going to take into consideration that with Jean's story. challenge my own little arguments.

[09:24] whether Gene deserves to be a hero after doing terrible things, we also have to forgiven some pretty terrible people already. I mean, Loki destroyed New dealer. And we've got characters like the Punisher, who has done some pretty

[09:38] now a new Avenger. And these are all rooting for. And we do root for. Maybe not US Agent that much, but the rest we be getting such a high bar? Maybe the audience's reaction to Gene actually

[09:51] interesting that we're often more comfortable with male characters having heroes than we are with the female characters in the MCU. And Marvel has We don't need Loki to undo the Battle of New York. We don't need Tony to somehow

[10:06] make all the weapons just disappear. Actually, his urge to protect the world after his war days is what dooms us over and over again. What we need is to see the standard Gene should have been met with. Not did Gene do a terrible thing.

[10:19] also, let's be real, Gan's been a villain in their movies before. In Phoenix, loses control of her powers, kills Charles, kills Cyclops, and is the single biggest threat in that movie. And yet, Gene didn't permanently become the

[10:32] have to invent a rule for Gene being both incredibly dangerous and still doing this with Gene for a minute now. So, after it all, what is Marvel Honestly, I don't think the answer is

[10:44] New Day. And I don't think Gene needs to suddenly become evil either. I think the Marvel could just let Gene live with it. Let her know that what she did was wrong feelings about it. Let some people forgive her and let other people never

[10:57] with me, forgiveness isn't the same thing as redemption. And Gene doesn't needs to prove over time that she understands why it wasn't okay and she's that's how you really introduce the MCU's X-Men anyways. Because the X-Men

[11:10] with perfect control over their powers. They're flawed people trying to figure make them different and sometimes very, very dangerous. Gina has already shown Now I just want to see what happens when she learns how to live with it. Comment

[11:24] that she's redeemable or do you think she's going to hell forever? And a members, bro, who supports us at the executive producer level. Big thanks New Rockstars that help contribute to this video. Zack Berg, Gina Joshua,

[11:38] camera, the New Rockstars editors, Joshua, Steven Hurd, and Abby Freel, and works on this video and all the other videos. Follow me at Lulu Clement. Rockstars Network for breakdowns and news coverage of everything you love.

[11:51] Thanks for watching. I'll see you guys later.