JEAN GREY · SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY
X-Men #101
CGC 9.4 NM · Universal · Marvel Comics, 1976
Jean Grey joined the MCU.
Did Phoenix heat up X-Men #101?
A sales-based look at X-Men #101 CGC 9.4 Universal through the Sadie Sink casting rumors, escalating Jean Grey spoilers, and the theatrical release of Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
01 / THE STUDY TIMELINE
The rumors drew attention.
The price signal stayed mixed.
99 recorded sales from January 2024 through capture. Four Brand New Day milestones. Quarterly medians are used because monthly trading is sparse.
Dots retain recorded sale dates. Quarterly medians sit at the quarter midpoint; connecting lines do not estimate daily prices. Lines connect observed medians across periods with no sales; no values are calculated for those empty periods. Bars show recorded transactions per period. 2026 Q3 partial; latest captured sale Aug 17 and no Sep sales Scroll horizontally on smaller screens.
Sep 2024–Feb 2025 pooled median · 15 sales
July 2026 · one recorded sale · 1 sales
Aug 1–Sep 28 · two recorded sales · 2 sales
Jan–Sep 28 vs. Sep 2024–Feb 2025 · 2026 capture ends with Aug 17 sale
WHAT THE SALES SHOW
The first casting report did not produce a clear local jump.
Across the 90 days before and after Sadie Sink’s March 12, 2025 casting report, the median moved from $1,050 (7 sales) to $993.50 (12 sales), a 5.4% decline. The report made Jean Grey a mainstream theory, but it did not confirm the role.
When Jean Grey rumors intensified in late February 2026, the 90-day comparison moved from $937.50 (12 sales) to $1,000 (14 sales), or +6.7%. A March 27 round of more specific Jean Grey reporting produced a smaller +2.5% comparison, from $976 (11) to $1,000 (13). These windows overlap heavily and describe the same rumor cycle rather than independent effects.
The release-week spoiler and July 31 theatrical opening cannot yet support a robust post-release comparison. Only two sales were captured after release through September 28: $950 on August 4 and $1,245 on August 17. Their $1,097.50 median is descriptive, not a stable new baseline.
02 / CATALYST BY CATALYST
What changed around each event?
Median prices and recorded volumes in the 90 calendar days before and after each date. Event-day sales are excluded. Overlapping windows are not independent effects.
| Milestone | Before median | After median | Price change | Volume change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $1,0507 sales | $993.5012 sales | -5.4% | +71.4% | |
| $937.5012 sales | $1,00014 sales | +6.7% | +16.7% | |
3 | $9765 sales | $1,097.502 sales · very small sample | +12.4% | -60.0% |
| $953.504 sales · very small sample | $1,097.502 sales · very small sample | +15.1% | -50.0% |
Samples below five transactions are flagged. Percentage changes are descriptive and do not establish causation. Trading is too sparse for a reliable monthly sequence around the Brand New Day cycle: 2025 has 32 sales and 2026 has 28 through capture, with only three sales in 2026 Q3. Quarterly medians preserve the broad timing while avoiding many one-sale or empty months. Ninety-day event windows are primary because 30-day windows frequently contain fewer than five observations; 30-day sensitivity remains available in analysis. The July 27 spoiler and July 31 release are only four days apart, so their windows substantially overlap and cannot be treated as independent effects.
03 / THE LONG VIEW
The book’s biggest market move predates Brand New Day.
The lifetime view reproduces GPA’s 25 annual averages across 673 recorded sales. The annual average peaked at $1,668 in 2021 and fell to $1,475 in 2022, $1,098 in 2023, $1,018 in 2024 and $981 in 2025. Partial 2026 averages $992. That longer decline is essential context for judging a movie-rumor cycle measured around roughly $1,000.
Annual averages reproduce GPA’s rounded summaries and differ from the medians above. The capture year is partial.
Why 9.4?
This study uses CGC 9.4 Universal because the supplied GPA category contains 673 lifetime recorded sales, giving the analysis substantially more observations than a thinner high-grade category. The user also identified 9.4 as the fourth most populous grade in the CGC census; that census ranking is contextual and is not independently encoded in the GPA capture.
30-day sensitivity
The 30-day windows are sparse. Around the March 2025 casting report the median changes only +0.8% ($991, 2 sales; $998.50, 6). Around the February 2026 rumor escalation it is +2.9% ($984.50, 4; $1,013, 4). The July spoiler and release comparisons have only one pre-event sale and two post-event sales, so percentage changes would overstate precision.
RESEARCH NOTES
Traceable data.
Defined comparisons.
Recorded transactions, documented exclusions, and sourced events.
Capture audit
GPAnalysis ↗ · 673 captured rows · 673 eligible rows · 99 plotted rows. Capture scope: lifetime. All 25 listed annual summaries (2002–2026) reconcile to their individual rows, totaling 673 recorded sales. The detailed chart covers January 2024 through September 28, 2026. The latest captured sale is August 17, 2026, so there are no September transactions in this capture and the post-release sample remains very short.
Method selection
Trading is too sparse for a reliable monthly sequence around the Brand New Day cycle: 2025 has 32 sales and 2026 has 28 through capture, with only three sales in 2026 Q3. Quarterly medians preserve the broad timing while avoiding many one-sale or empty months. Ninety-day event windows are primary because 30-day windows frequently contain fewer than five observations; 30-day sensitivity remains available in analysis. The July 27 spoiler and July 31 release are only four days apart, so their windows substantially overlap and cannot be treated as independent effects.
Identity and capture
The supplied GPA capture identifies X-Men #101, CGC 9.4 Universal and records all listed annual rows from 2002 through 2026. All 673 individual rows reconcile to the annual counts; no rows were excluded. Repeated certificate numbers remain separate recorded transactions. The capture date is September 28, 2026, but the latest transaction shown is August 17.
Defined windows
The baseline pools September 1, 2024 through February 28, 2025, the six complete months immediately before the March casting report. Release month is July 2026; it contains one recorded sale. The after-release window runs August 1 through September 28 and contains two sales. The latest window pools all 28 captured 2026 transactions. These differing windows answer different descriptive questions and are shown with counts.
Calculation and limits
Quarterly medians are used for the detailed line because monthly observations are frequently sparse. Event comparisons use days −90 through −1 and +1 through +90, excluding the event day because sale times are unavailable. The saved analysis also retains 30-day sensitivity. Five observations is an editorial warning threshold, not a significance test. Nominal GPA-displayed dollars are used without inflation, fee, currency or broad-market adjustment. Timing does not prove causation, and the July 27 spoiler and July 31 release windows are effectively the same follow-up sample.
Historical event sources
- Deadline via Yahoo Entertainment: Sadie Sink cast; Jean Grey theory enters mainstream coverage2025-03-12 · Deadline reported Sink joining the film in a significant undisclosed role and described Jean Grey as the prevailing theory. This is casting news plus public speculation, not confirmation of the character.
- ComicBook.com: Jean Grey rumors intensify ahead of release2026-02-28 · Contemporaneous coverage says Marvel had not confirmed Sink's role and character claims came from rumor/leak sources. Used as an escalation marker, not verified casting.
- India Today: Premiere coverage spoils Sink as Jean Grey2026-07-27 · Release-week reporting and premiere discussion pushed the Jean Grey identity from rumor toward spoiler territory. The release follows four days later, so these windows overlap almost completely.
- Entertainment Weekly: Spider-Man: Brand New Day U.S. theatrical release2026-07-31 · The released film confirms Sadie Sink as Jean Grey. Only two recorded GPA sales occur after release through the September 28 capture, so the follow-up is too sparse for a durable post-release conclusion.
Prices are nominal GPA-displayed dollars, not inflation-adjusted. Fees, currency normalization, and individual listings have not been independently audited. Counts are recorded transactions, not unique physical copies or total-market volume. Timing alone does not establish cause; no broad-market control is applied. Certified Comic Shop Research · 2026-09-28.