40 Years of X-Men Lore Were Almost Radically Altered By Replacing This Original Member With Their Sibling

Jean Grey‘s inclusion on the X-Men during Chris Claremont’s classic run almost had her replaced by her forgotten sister, Sara. Debuting in 1980, Sara Grey was Jean’s human sister who was hinted at having latent mutant powers that hadn’t surfaced yet. Before those powers can manifest, she’s killed by anti-mutant fanatics for being a spokesperson for mutant rights in support of her sister.

Sara Grey’s overall time in X-Men comics is relatively brief and of little consequence. However, Chris Claremont confirmed in an interview with the podcast Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men that he originally had bigger plans for Sara to replace Jean on the team. At the end of the classic Dark Phoenix Saga, Jean sacrifices herself, only to be later brought back. Retcons would reveal that Jean did not commit the actions of the Dark Phoenix, and that the Phoenix Force had impersonated her while placing her in suspended animation. However, Claremont wanted the Phoenix seen in the Dark Phoenix Saga to be the actual Jean Grey, and for her death to be definitive and permanent.

Chris Claremont first revealed this information in 2012 at Colombia’s Comic New York: A Symposium event. But in the podcast interview, he expounds on exactly what kind of impact this alteration could have had on the fate of the overall X-Men franchise.

Sara Grey Almost Joined the X-Men

While speaking of the resurrection of Jean Grey, Chris Claremont admits he was candid about vocalizing to Marvel’s then-Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter at the time that the decision “totally invalidates everything we did in [X-Men #137] and subsequently, and essentially tells the readership that nobody dies in comics.” He believed resurrecting Jean would deem the rest of the team as afterthoughts as there would be too much of a focus on her dynamic with Cyclops. That’s why he felt like bringing in Jean’s older sister would make for the best, most interesting alternative to bringing the former Marvel Girl back from the grave.

Claremont believed that Sara had potential when it came to her history as a Grey and in terms of her power as a potential mutant unlocking her latent X-gene. With Sara being unattached, she can work alongside Angel, Beast, and Iceman as players on equal footing, as opposed to the afterthoughts Claremont feared they would become. Claremont says that, while Shooter was interested in how Sara could be utilized within the X-dynamic, he had already signed off on resurrecting Jean and didn’t want to go back on his word.

Sara Grey Would Have Changed the X-Men Franchise Forever

Judging from Claremont’s assertions, many of the common criticisms regarding the X-Men franchise from readers stem from resurrecting Jean Grey, arguably X-Men’s oldest mistake. He’d go on to say that Jean’s resurrection “destroys” Cyclops as a character, turning him into a man who immediately walks out on his wife and child. Looking at where the franchise has evolved since then, it’s a fair argument to make that the resurrection of Jean Grey did irreparable damage to characters on top of rendering the stories that came before it moot and making future tales feel stagnant.

If Jean’s resurrection did indeed pivot the series in a negative direction, then a world where Sara’s inclusion pivots the franchise in a positive direction is an interesting one that’s worth pondering. Sara exploring herself as a mutant around seasoned vets may have truly offered a unique, fresh character perspective that would have given the supporting characters room to grow. It’s up for debate whether Jean Grey‘s sister Sara joining the X-Men would have saved the franchise and fixed all its problems, but it’s hard to deny the intriguing potential behind promoting a minor character who’s barely been used into a protagonist.

Source: Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men