When creating Spider-Man: Brand New Day, it feels like director Destin Daniel Cretton and Tom Holland got to play with a superhero sandbox larger than usual. Don't get me wrong, this is still Peter Parker's story. However, we knew beforehand that iconic characters from the extended Marvel Cinematic Universe were set to have a key role in the wall-crawler's latest film. Anti-heroes like Hulk and the Punisher were revealed in promotional trailers and material, yet there were still many surprises that Disney and Sony were holding back.
The wall-crawler's latest live-action adventure introduced audiences to two key Marvel characters, one of whom hadn't appeared in live-action before. But before we go any further, this is an official warning: There will be MAJOR spoilers for Spider-Man: Brand New Day ahead. If you don't want any BIG surprises ruined, then it's better to watch the movie and return later for a breakdown of what truly happened.
Still here? Then chances are you have been introduced to the live-action version of Sara Grey. But who exactly is she in the MCU, and how does her character differ from her comic-book counterpart?
Who is Sara Grey, explained
In Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Sara Grey is Jean Grey's older sister, who also happens to have telekinetic and telepathic powers much like her sibling. The movie doesn't dive too deep into their origin story and settles for giving us small tidbits about their lives. Sara and Jean didn't grow up with their biological parents, and they went from foster home to foster home instead.
Sara and Jean were eventually adopted and raised by an unnamed woman. Unfortunately, as soon as their adoptive mom found that the two siblings had superpowers, she completely vanished and left them alone. So, that begs the question: Where did the sisters' abilities really come from? Well, the MCU has been slowly but steadily introducing audiences to more and more mutants—people who are naturally born with powers.
While a radioactive spider had to bite Peter for him to become Spider-Man, mutants simply have the X-gene in their blood, and that is enough to make them "special" (although the rest of the world certainly does not see it that way). In the comic book world, mutants are often hunted simply for existing. If you were born a mutant, you were immediately an outcast who would probably need to fight for their life at one point or another, and this idea is brought to life in Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
The Department of Damage Control has been around in the MCU for quite some time, appearing in projects like Spider-Man: Homecoming and No Way Home. However, it wasn't until the release of Ms. Marvel and Wonder Man that we learned about the true purpose of this organization, which is to hunt any "gifted" person who may pose a danger to themselves or others (which is just a fancy way of saying they are hunting mutants).
Just as Sara was teaching Jean how to use and control her powers, the Department of Damage Control arrived at the scene and took the former captive. In a last-ditch effort, Sara used her powers to control Jean and get her as far away as possible, basically guaranteeing that the DoDC wouldn't arrest her as well. But although Sara's plan worked, she just bought her little sister a bit more time.
Eventually, audiences learned that the DoDC was running experiments on Sara in an attempt to replicate her powers in another human. Unfortunately, the relentless nature of the organization's experiments killed Sara, which explains why Jean acts as an "antagonistic" force throughout the third act of Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
Sara Grey is not a mutant in the comic book world, although she also perished there
Sara Grey does exist in the comic book world, where she is also Jean's older biological sister. However, there's one key difference worth noting, and it is that Sara isn't a mutant in the source material. Sara is just a powerless human being who grew up, got married, and had children.
Sara was an advocate for mutant equality and constantly supported Jean (even though the latter erased the former's memories in an attempt to hide her true nature). But it doesn't matter whether she has powers or not; it appears she's always destined to meet a grim fate in every universe. In the comic book world, Sara is eventually consumed (and therefore killed) by Phalanx—a collective intelligence spanning multiple cybernetic bodies.
Sara's death is very different on the big screen compared to the source material, and yet Jean suffered all the same in both stories. On the bright side, Peter managed to save Jean on the big screen, and it will be interesting to see how she'll keep her sister's legacy alive moving forward.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is now playing in theaters.
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