One of Marvel's Worst Movie Villains is Actually the X-Men’s Greatest Success Story

With the X-Men coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a lot of fans have been going back to the Fox movies, especially the first three. X-Men and X2: X-Men United are quite good as far as it goes, but once you get to X-Men 3: The Last Stand, things fall off a cliff. This movie tried to introduce way too many characters at once, including a fan favorite villain who has always played a huge role in the history of the team: Juggernaut. Vinnie Jones played the character, and it was honestly the worst movie X-villain ever. The movie ignored everything worthwhile about the character, and made him into a generic big strong guy, who has become known for a meme (you know the one).

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The worst part about all this is that Juggernaut in the comics is one of the most important X-villains of them all and has actually had quite a reversal over the character’s 61-year existence. Cain Marko has been a beloved villain for ages, his status as Xavier’s evil step-brother making him extremely important to the team’s lore. He’s had best of all time battles with both Hulk and Spider-Man, and the 21st century has seen the character grow and change in numerous ways. Right now the character is an X-Man in good standing, having left the ranks of the X-Men’s best villains to become their greatest success story. The way the character has grown and changed over the years is a testament to this, showing that he’s the best X-villain turned to X-Man ever.

Juggernaut’s Journey to Heroism Had Been Long and Winding

Juggernaut was introduced in X-Men (Vol. 1) #12. Cain Marko’s abusive father married Xavier’s mother and brought his son with him. Cain was a target of his dad’s rage, and he took that out on the smaller Charles, who he was jealous of. Eventually, while in the military, Marko found a temple to the elder god Cytorrak, and became his avatar on Earth, targeting his step brother and the X-Men. Juggernaut and the team would battle numerous times over the years, as the villain joined teams like the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, and worked as a mercenary with Black Tom Cassidy.

Juggernaut’s hatred for Xavier lessened over the years, as Cain realized the abuse of his father was the problem, and not Xavier, who he thought lorded his intellect over the slower step-sibling. The blood feud between the two lessened and Cain mostly started fighting people like Spider-Man (including one of the greatest Spider-Man stories ever, The Amazing Spider-Man #229-230), the Hulk, Thor, and the Avengers. In the ’00s, maligned X-writer Chuck Austen brought him onto the team, starting with Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 1) #410. Austen’s run is heavily disliked, but Cain Marko, and his relationship with Sammy the fish boy, is generally beloved by the fandom. It was the first major change to the character, and it led to readers looking at him in a new way.

Fans gained a love of the Juggernaut during this period, and when he returned to villainy, it didn’t really feel right. Cain lost the power of Cytorrak for a time to Colossus, but he had grown as a person since then. After he regained the power, he actively fought against the darkness that it brought to his soul. Part of his old villainy was that he gave in to this divine influence, but he had learned to fight it. He lost much of his power, but was able to get it back by taking Cytorrak-created artifacts and absorbing their power (in the excellent Juggernaut (Vol. 3) #1-5). He tried to join the nation of Krakoa and was first refused, but was eventually allowed in Legion of X.

The Krakoa Era changed the X-Men, and it was another major turning point for the character. It led to him becoming an important part of “Fall of X” and his berth on Cyclops’s team in X-Men (Vol. 7). The X-Men have often had villains join their number over the years, but most of them don’t really change completely. Magneto is still a murderer and a supremacist, despite being the group. Mystique has been always shady. For every success like Rogue, there’s a Sabretooth or Lady Mastermind. However, Juggernaut has embraced heroism in a way that none of them have. He’s completely devoted himself to the cause of the X-Men. He doesn’t kill, and he doesn’t cause trouble in the ranks, other than the standard superhero banter. He’s fixed his relationship with his brother. He’s become a model X-Man in a way no one would have expected.

Juggernaut Has Become the Epitome of Redemption

Popular villains becoming heroes is a tried and true trope, especially for the X-Men, and Juggernaut has proven to be their key success story. This was a character that was created to be a villain, with specific ties to Xavier, and he has been molded into something completely different. Rogue and Magneto have both walked the same path, but Rogue was basically created to join the X-Men, and Magneto is still mostly the same basic person, he’s just decided that the X-Men are a better way to achieve his goals. There’s still always the chance that he will leave the team and go back to villainy if he feels it’s necessary for mutants.

However, since Cain Marko joined the X-Men and became friends with a young mutant, he’s grown his past his simplistic, villainous origins and has become a true hero. The former villain was given a heart, and it changed him completely. He’s learned to believe in mutant rights and freedom, and it would honestly be a waste to make him a villain now. He’s become a much better character than ever, the perfect X-Man. He’s come a long way since Vinnie Jones and telling Kitty Pryde his name.

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