A few days ago, before I’d gotten the chance to see the stunningly reviewed Spider-Man: Brand New Day, an interview dropped in which Sadie Sink was asked for one word we’d only understand after seeing the movie. Now, if you know anything about the run up to this 2026 movie release, you should know Sadie Sink has been pretty opaque throughout this entire process. Despite rumors, this press tour has been misdirect after misdirect over the secret character she ultimately is playing, and I honestly thought she was just being weird and throwing us off the scent. In actuality, however, her one-word response was spot-on, and a moment that threw me for an emotional loop while watching.
First of all, we obviously have to get into spoilers here, so if you haven’t seen Spider-Man: Brand New Day, yet, this is not the story for you.
The One Word Sadie Sink Said We’d Understand After Watching Brand New Day
Sadie Sink was out and about promoting the then-upcoming Marvel movie when she was asked to name something fans will “only understand” after watching Spider-Man: Brand New Day. I saw the interview a couple of days before I went to see the movie, and she had a one-word answer:
Scrunchie.
At the time, I honestly thought this moment was pretty weird. I thought it was (probably) a non sequitur again meant to throw us off what was coming in the movie. She’d obviously already been attempting to keep the audience at bay for months prior to this interview. (That is, until her role was spoiled on the carpet just days before release.) She’d even said at one point that avoiding spoilers was “not that hard” for her, unlike Tom Holland. And it didn’t help this video came straight from the Marvel team, making me feel like it was a possible misdirect.
Then, I saw the movie.
How A Scrunchie Led To One Of The Most Heart-Wrenching Moments In Brand New Day
In Spider-Man: Brand New Day, it’s Jean Grey and her sister Sara against the world after they’ve been kicked out of their home. That is, until the day Sara is unceremoniously taken from a park, and from Jean’s life. She leaves Jean with one clue “v-max,” a mysterious word with a meaning that seems unclear to the many people Jean tracks down and asks.
Some time later, Jean is also taken and left in a high security room, a room that once housed her sister. She eventually finds out Sara is deceased after seeing a sticker on an air unit reading ‘v-max” and noticing an object sitting on a desk across the room: the scrunchie her sister always wore in her hair. The scrunchie moment is heart-wrenching. It makes you empathize with Jean and her part-villainous, part-pure intentions. It makes Jean the perfect antagonist for Spider-Man, who has also faced incredible loss in this movie.
So, yeah, one word that we all understood, and could only understand after watching Brand New Day is absolutely the word scrunchie. It’s a great tease from the already masterful Sadie Sink, who casually kept us off the scene on what was doubtless a very long press run for her. Just like previous Tom Holland Spidey installations, the movie is already resonating with audiences globally, so grab your scrunchie, your xuxinha, your haargummi or シュシュand get to the theater.
