A character with the potential to serve as a surprise ally to Jean Grey in the MCU’s X-Men movie was directly set up by Fantastic Four: The First Steps. For now, it’s unclear what exactly Marvel Studios has planned for its version on Jean Grey after Sadie Sink’s debut as the iconic hero in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Her future is open to speculation, but various comic storylines offer all sorts of interesting pathways the MCU could take with her character.
From the looks of things, her immediate future will appropriately invoke the early days of the X-Men comic in the 1960s. That notion is corroborated by a few of the details regarding Marvel’s plan for its first X-Men movie in 2028. Jean Grey was characterized as a teenager in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and the casting search promises an X-Men lineup that includes at least three of the five heroes that Professor Xavier started with when he created his first class of mutant heroes in X-Men #1 in 1963.
As for how the rest of the cast will fill out, a few names stand out as likely or conventional additions. As original members, both Iceman and Beast would make a great deal of sense for the story. Magneto and some of the villains who help comprise his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants could possibly be on hand as well. But there are some outside-the-box choices that Marvel Studios could throw into the mix as well, with one in particular being someone Marvel already laid the groundwork for in Fantastic Four: The First Steps.
Dragon Man & His Connection To Jean Grey In Marvel Comics Explained
Introduced in Fantastic Four #35 in 1965, Dragon Man is an incredibly powerful android designed to resemble a dragon-like gargoyle. Created by a scientist named Gregson Gilbert, the android quickly became a pawn of the scheming supervillain known as Diablo. As Diablo lacks the ability to challenge superheroes like the Fantastic Four and the Avengers physically, he relied on his communion with Dragon Man, whom he used as a weapon against them.
Because of his low intellect, Dragon Man was easily manipulated by Diablo into battles with prominent Marvel Comics superheroes on occasion. And with his strength, it’s not difficult to see why the likes of Diablo were so eager to control him. In the comic books, Dragon Man was shown to be strong enough to stand toe-to-toe with Hercules, The Thing, and Namor the Sub-Mariner.
But at heart, Dragon Man was actually an innocent creature and had no intention of being a force for evil. This facet of his character has allowed him to have friendly interactions with the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, and more. In the mid-2000s, Marvel leaned into Dragon Man’s good nature to add a new story to the first chapter of the X-Men’s story in the comic books.
It was revealed that, in the spirit of King Kong, Dragon Man developed an attachment to Jean Grey during a skirmish with the original X-Men team. Having realized that Dragon Man wasn’t the monster he appeared to be, Jean likewise became fond of Dragon Man and he subsequently became somewhat of a mascot to the group, even going as far as to live in X-Mansion with them and accompany them on missions to battle prominent X-Men villains.
Unfortunately, Dragon Man’s intelligence and brute strength became a hindrance to the group, similar in ways to the issues that the Savage Hulk caused when he was briefly on the original Avengers team. The X-Men ultimately parted ways with Dragon Man and sent him to live in a place called Monster Island.
Fantastic Four: The First Steps Confirmed The Existence Of Dragon Man In The MCU
Thanks to Fantastic Four: The First Steps, Dragon Man exists in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, albeit not on Earth-616. In the movie, Mr. Fantastic namedropped three criminal masterminds from Marvel Comics whom he helped bring to justice, one of which was Diablo. The Dragon Man connection became much more overt when he was shown in the flesh in the credits sequence which utilized the art style of the movie’s in-universe Fantastic Four animated series.
Marvel Comics built on the Dragon Man and Diablo Easter eggs through the one-shot tie-in comic book, Fantastic Four: First Foes, which saw the Fantastic Four battle Dragon Man and Diablo. This makes it abundantly clear that Dragon Man is out there somewhere, but so far, he’s only known to be in the native reality of the Fantastic Four, Earth-828. However, that may not always be the case, especially not with Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars potentially shaking up the multiverse.
How Dragon Man Could Fit Into Jean Grey’s X-Men Story
Avengers: Doomsday will feature a storyline where various realities (including Earth-616 and Earth-828) will collide. Given the talk of Secret Wars possibly serving as a reset of sorts, it’s not implausible that some of the characters from these realities become permanent residents of the mainstream universe after Avengers: Secret Wars and before the first proper X-Men movie. If that happens, Dragon Man could be available for an appearance in the 2028 film.
Dragon Man would certainly be an unorthodox pick for an X-Men movie, but his inclusion could be beneficial to the story, particularly if Marvel intends to do as much as it can to distance itself from the X-Men movies of the past. Rather than try to keep it grounded, the reboot can embrace the various, fantastical elements of Marvel’s world.
The MCU has already established the existence of monsters, androids, wizards, and gods, hence why Dragon Man would fit in nicely. And, in turn, his role would demonstrate that the movie, more so than any other X-Men movie to date, is fully engrained into a world that really feels like it’s based on Marvel Comics, as opposed to one that’s only about mutants co-existing with humans.
In addition to helping to create a unique identity for the movie, Dragon Man can do the same for the MCU’s take on Jean Grey in X-Men. Loneliness was a key theme of Jean’s arc in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and adapting her relationship with Dragon Man is one way Marvel can tackle the next phase in her story. Having the monstrous, child-like android as a pet of sorts could help Jean cope with this problem and maybe even more forward.
- Release Date
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May 5, 2028
- Director
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Jake Schreier
- Writers
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Joanna Calo, Lee Sung Jin, Michael Lesslie
