If legendary X-Men creator Chris Claremont had his way back in 1985, Jean Grey would have been replaced by her sister Sara. Jean Grey was one of the original X-Men, but in truth she only really came into her own after the X-Men were relaunched in 1975. Writer Chris Claremont soon came up with the idea of transforming Jean into a cosmic being, Phoenix, who he described as a Thor analogue. The Phoenix Saga became one of the most iconic and important comic book stories of all time, and it ultimately led to Jean's downfall in what can loosely be described as the spiritual sequel, the Dark Phoenix Saga.

Claremont's original plan for the Dark Phoenix Saga was very different. He intended this to be the middle chapter of a three-part story, with Jean ultimately stripped of her powers as punishment for her crimes as Dark Phoenix. Editor-in-chief Jim Shooter was on board with this idea - right up until the moment he saw just how far Jean went as Dark Phoenix. He read scenes in which Jean Grey literally consumed an entire star-system, committing an act of genocide, and he felt there was no coming back from this. And so the story was rewritten, and Jean sacrificed herself. Shooter insisted Jean should stay dead, and Claremont accepted this decision, hooking Cyclops up with Madelyne Pryor and having him move on from the X-Men. And then, in 1985, Claremont heard the shocking news: Shooter had relented, and Jean was coming back.

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Speaking at 'Comic New York: A Symposium' in Colombia back in 2012, Claremont recounted how he was approached by his editor Ann Nocenti. She revealed the original X-Men were coming back as a new X-Factor team, with Jean returning from the dead. Claremont was furious, and he immediately began trying to think of alternative ideas to counter-pitch. Claremont suggested Jean's role should be taken by her sister Sara, who had most notably appeared in 1981's Bizarre Adventures #27, when she was briefly mutated by the Sub-Mariner villain Attuma. Although Sara had been restored to human form by Phoenix, Claremont proposed the idea her latent X-gene had been triggered by the event.

Sara Grey

Claremont came up with a pretty interesting powerset for Sara, too; he suggested she should essentially be a mutant version of Cerebro, able to track fellow mutants. This would have actually fit rather well with the original X-Factor concept, which saw the original X-Men pretend to be mutant hunters in order to secretly rescue their fellows. It was also a smart thematic nod to other members of the extended Grey family, because this linked in with the abilities demonstrated by Rachel Grey, the daughter of Cyclops and Phoenix from an alternate timeline. Jim Shooter was intrigued by the idea, but ultimately he'd made up his mind: Jean Grey was coming back, whether Claremont liked it or not.

It's fascinating to imagine what the X-Men would have been like without a resurrected Jean Grey. Although the X-Men had frequently died and returned before, Jean cemented the trope as a core part of the franchise when she was brought back from the dead. Meanwhile, part of the retcon that allowed her to come back was the establishment of the Phoenix Force as a separate entity, one that has become critical to Marvel Comics over the decades. The X-Men comics - and, indeed, the entire Marvel Universe - would have been very different had Claremont had his way.

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