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'X-Men's Jean Grey Is Just Like 'GoT's Bran Stark

by Caitlyn Callegari

Before Game of Thrones, there was X-Men. And, while I admittedly never read a comic book iteration of the series (Come at me, bro), I did accompany my dad to any and all of the early-2000s film premieres. So, when I heard that my girl Sansa, AKA Sophie Turner, was cast as Jean Grey in the new film, a lightbulb went off. It made so much sense to me. Not only does the actor look so much like former Jean Grey portrayer Famke Janssen, but Turner's GoT roots have prepared her for the X-Men world full of weird powers and abilities, namely super cool tricks of the mind, like telepathy.

And while Sansa herself doesn't possess mind powers, her long lost little bro Bran most certainly does. Coincidence? I think not. Funnily enough, both Jean Grey and Bran Stark experience their powers in similarly taxing way. And, by "taxing" I mean all-around concerning and scary for everyone involved, but still pretty damn cool. And although Turner as Jean Grey is so fitting, you can't ignore the fact that Jean and Bran are actually the two characters with the biggest connection of all. Here's how:

Both Came Into Their Powers As Children

In fact, both were 10 years old at the start of it all. If you want to brush up on Jean Grey's origin story, the video above gives a great deal of insight. That said, Bran's story is still pretty fresh in all of our minds. He fell, (almost) everyone in his family died, he hitched a ride with Hodor, yadda yadda...

But The Whole Powers Thing? Yeah, Didn't Happen In A Nice Way

Bran's powers appeared after being pushed off a tower. Jean's appeared after watching her friend get hit by a car and killed. Though, in the scheme of things, Bran might have had it worse. At least Jean's loss was accidental.

Most Obviously, Both Have Freaky Things Happen To Their Eyes While Getting Their Powers On

See? *Bites nails* *Puts a pair of sunglasses on both of them before things get weird*

Their Telepathic Powers Are Strange But Seriously Impressive

According to Marvel, Jean's telepathic powers mean that she can "read minds, project her thoughts into the minds of others, initiate astral travel, and mentally stun opponents with pure psionic force." Whereas Bran's telepathy differs slightly, but holds a similar purpose. Per the GoT Wiki, more specifically, Bran "possesses the magical ability to enter the minds of animals and people." Basically, both of them can go places without actually going places and they know way, way too much.

But, that only dips a toe into the waters of the other amazing (yet different) things they can do in addition to that one similarly held ability. Which begs the question — Are the X-Men all Starks, or are the Starks all X-Men?

Images: HBO (1); Giphy (4); Comicstorian (1), GameThrones4 (1)/YouTube