Dark Phoenix Asks: What If Sansa Stark Were A Targaryen?

By Valerie Tejeda


Jean Grey has habitually been one of the most intriguing characters in the Marvel universe, mainly because she has a stupid quantity of power. A Class Five (or, Omega-level) mutant, she’s able to do some pretty powerful stuff with the telepathic and telekinesis abilities she was place on Earth with.


In Dark Phoenix, in theaters right now, Jean evolves into the titular Phoenix immediately after being struck by a cosmic force in space that transforms her into one of the most powerful mutants ever — with unstable abilities plus a newfound darkness bubbling indoors of her. Bringing Jean Grey to life on the big screen for a second time (she first appeared as Jean in 2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse) is Sophie Turner, who also played the Queen in the North, Sansa Stark, on Game of Thrones.


In Dark Phoenix, we find Jean struggling to control her powers which are dangerous and growing to the point of mass destruction. The X-Men have to create the tough call to stop the monster she’s becoming or stand beside her. Major Game of Thrones vibes, right? With that being mentioned, is Dark Phoenix basically Sansa Stark as a Targaryen?


Yes, they are both young girls with red hair. However there’s more interesting similarities between the two characters that even Sophie found throughout an interview with IGN back in 2015 soon after she was first cast in the role.


"I think maybe one of the reasons that they chose me for [Jean] is because they saw the dark side of Sansa. I certainly visualize a lot of parallels in there," she mentioned. "[Jean] struggles with her power and not being accepted in the human world. I think in terms of [Game of Thrones], that's sort of the way Sansa felt in that she really wanted to be a regular princess/queen and live a usual life — and she doesn't, because all this havoc happens. I think Jean, in a way, feels that."


Any time we first meet Sansa in Season 1 of Game of Thrones she’s a highborn Northerner who is wide-eyed, dreamy, and naive to a fault. Seen as a relatively susceptible little girl, she has absolutely no idea the level of strength that is indoor of her. Once we first visualize Jean in X-Men: Apocalypse there’s a similar vibe: Quiet, reserved, without clue of what she can really do. Both have boys who take them under their wings, some with good intentions and then some with not-so-good intentions. For Sansa, it’s Little Finger. For Jean, it’s Charles Xavier. Both males attempt to mold the young females into who they would like them to be. Both females also experienced childhood trauma that changed who they were and changed how they trust, something Turner commented about again in a recent interview with HBO.


"They [Sansa and Jean] eventually use all of those terrible things that happened to them and so they become incredibly strong girls she mentioned. "Jean has had Charles Xavier as her mentor figure and teacher, and in this movie, there really is no trust left. And Sansa on the other hand, any time she’s in Winterfell, Jon and Dany are there and she doesn’t aspire to take orders from them. She wants to sort of run her own shit, also, however she [Sansa] is far more self-assured and powerful than Jean is."


While in their journeys, both Sansa and Jean are forced to calculate who they are pretty much on their own, however the thing is: Sansa, who could’ve gone down a darker path, does not, while Jean does — reminding us of another GoT character, Daenerys Targaryen.


"If the world’s were to collide, I think Jean would probably be a Targaryen," Turner mentioned in HBO’s The Interview. "She’s the Phoenix. She rises from the ashes just like Daenerys does at the end of Season 1. It’s all about fire, baby!"


On Game of Thrones, Daenerys Targaryen's state of mind and the idea of "taming her" was of constant discussion. Based on her bloodline, she was bent towards possible madness — it's like the saying goes: "Every time a new Targaryen is place on Earth, the gods flip a coin" — and she had three dragons that could do a lot of damage if she went down a dark path. (Side note: We are all not destined to turn out as our families do; this is just how they played it on Thrones.)


Many of the boys in Daenerys's life (Tyrion, Varys, Viserys) aimed to repress her power and control her (same as Jean and Sansa) and — spoiler alert — that didn’t go over very well. In the end, Dany sets fire to King's Landing and becomes so dangerous that Jon Snow has no choice however to kill her.


Nevertheless it was clear on Game of Thrones that Daenerys went down a dark path because she lost everything: her companions, her support, her residence, two of her dragons, her love, and her rightful claim to the Throne (thanks to Jon). And we Thrones fans have heard that other well known saying: "A Targaryen alone in the world is a terrible thing." It’s safe to mention if Dany wouldn’t have lost those things, she probably wouldn’t have laid waste to King’s Landing soon after those bells chimed.


Sansa, on the other hand, gained support soon after she got house to Winterfell. She continued to get smarter and more self-assured and earned the respect of each person around her before being named Queen in the North. Yet it certainly makes you wonder: If the Starks would have never won Winterfell back, and if Sansa never returned house with the support of the Northerners, could she have gone down a similar path as Daenerys? Add the curse of the Targaryen bloodline in the mix and is that what the Phoenix is? Sansa with dragons — place on Earth from fire and blood — and without Winterfell?


Dark Phoenix attempts to absolve Jean in a way that Game of Thrones simply did not have the time to do with Daenerys. Sure, the show tries to explain what went wrong, nevertheless we don't get a satisfying conclusion. Meanwhile, Jean's redemption comes at a high cost — without any real emotional payoff. Both characters meet a flawed, imperfect end, although only one takes the choice into her own fiery hands.