Funko has opened pre-orders for four new Spider-Man: Brand New Day Pops, while the film, the biggest hit of the year with more than $2.5 billion worldwide, has been on premium digital since October 6. On paper the lineup looks random: a telepath, a Hulk, a vigilante behind the wheel of his van and a Spider-Man in a towel. On screen, all four scenes share the same origin, and it fits in a single box.
Jean Grey enters the MCU through a Spider-Man movie
Spoilers ahead. Marvel kept Sadie Sink's role under wraps for months, and the film only reveals it late: the body-hopping telepath attacking Department of Damage Control sites is Jean Grey. She is looking for her sister Sara, taken by the agency as a child, and learns in the third act that the experiments run on her killed her.
The choice of Sara will surprise comic readers. The character first appeared in 1980, in Uncanny X-Men #136 by Chris Claremont and John Byrne, as a married adult with kids and no powers to speak of. The film makes her younger and turns her into a telepath. Marvel Studios took the most forgettable member of the Grey family and built an entire origin story on her, without going through the Phoenix or Xavier's school.
The Jean Grey Pop is the character's first one from the MCU. Sink is the third actress to play her in live action, after Famke Janssen and Sophie Turner. Until now the catalog only had her comic-book look: Pop #645 in 2020, a holiday version as #1533 last year, the Wasteland outfit as #1597 this year, plus half a dozen Phoenix figures since 2013. Her box number has not been announced yet, and neither have those of the other three.
The official description sells her as someone who will use any method to reach her goals. That is a villain's résumé. The film ends on a grieving sister leaving New York alone, on a bus.
The other three boxes are scenes she sets in motion
Taken one by one, the other three figures look like an action highlight reel. Put back in the film, each of them revolves around Jean.
- Spider-Man v Hulk – Pop! Moment: Jean possesses Bruce Banner, knocks out the inhibitor keeping him in check and unleashes a savage, uncontrollable Hulk. The fight frozen in this 6-inch diorama was set up by her, off screen.
- Punisher with Van – Pop! Rides Deluxe: Frank Castle's van was already slamming into Spider-Man in the trailer, and Castle is the one who opens fire on Jean at the end. Peter takes the bullet for her. It is the Punisher's first vehicle in the catalog, and the third Pop with Jon Bernthal's face after Daredevil's #216 in 2017 and Daredevil: Born Again's #1545 in 2025.
- Spider-Man with Towel: mask on, swim trunks and a towel, Peter meets Yelena Belova in the bathhouse she uses as an office. He has come to ask for help against the body-hopping telepath. Specialty retailer exclusive.
Funko wrote the same tagline for the Moment and the Ride, word for word, swapping only "showdown" for "chase". Two action scenes sold as interchangeable, when the film ties both of them to the same character.
Someone is missing from the pool
I'm taking Jean Grey, no contest. A first MCU appearance for a character created in 1963 outweighs the rest of the lineup combined, and she is the only figure in the wave that points somewhere instead of replaying a scene. The film's last shot sends her off, and the next X-Men chapter on the big screen will start from there.
The Spider-Man v Hulk Moment convinces me a lot less, and I know it's the piece everyone will want. The license already has its Hulk, as a 6-inch Super, Pop #1588 released in July. More to the point, a Moment exists to freeze a scene, and this one is missing its cause: without Jean, it's one more fight between two Avengers. You get the puppets, not the hand pulling the strings.
The real gap is in the fourth box. Spider-Man in a towel is half a joke: the scene works because Yelena is waiting in the water, laughing at him for keeping his mask on. Yelena already has four Pops, from Black Widow (#607) to Avengers: Doomsday (#1638), and none from this film. Funko sells the guy walking into the bathhouse and forgets the woman who made him come. As for MJ, she still has no figure in a license that now counts fourteen items, keychains included.
All four figures are up for pre-order, with shipping expected between March and May 2027. In the meantime, the film hits 4K and Blu-ray on December 15, three days before Avengers: Doomsday.
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