Marvel’s Juggernaut Just Fought the X-Men to Save the World

Nothing can stop the Juggernaut — not even the X-Men. Ever since he first barrelled into the Marvel Universe in 1965’s X-Men #12, Cain Marko has been driven by a hatred for his stepbrother: X-Men founder Charles Xavier. Empowered by a mystic gem as the earthly avatar of Cyttorak the Destroyer, the unstoppable Juggernaut has used the great power of the Crimson Gem of Cyttorak to wreak destruction as an enemy of the Earth’s mightiest heroes: The X-Men. The Avengers. The Hulk. Spider-Man.

After a few stints as a helmeted hero in the pages of All New Exiles, X-Men Forever, and Uncanny X-Men, mountain-of-a-man Marko often returned to villainy. But ever since he was invited to join Nightcrawler’s Legionaries on the peaceful mutant nation Krakoa — “I prefer to believe no one is beyond redemption,” the once priest told his former enemy in Legion of X #1 — Cain Marko has fought alongside, rather than against, Xavier’s X-Men (despite not being a mutant himself).

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Juggernaut rejoined the X-Men during mutantkind’s Krakoan Age, which came to an end in last summer’s X-Men #35. In Jed MacKay and Ryan Stegman’s relaunched X-Men, the Juggernaut threw in with Cyclops and Magneto’s Alaska-based X-Men, who traveled to New York to battle Cradios, one of the eight Scions of Cyttorak, in last month’s Amazing Spider-Man #66.

The X-Men’s powerhouse stepped in after Spider-Man — who Sorcerer Supreme Doctor Doom chose to act as his champion of the Covenant tasked with defeating the Scions of Cyttorak to prevent Earth’s destruction — temporarily relinquished that responsibility. A selfless Spider-Man used the last four of his eight life-restoring Reeds of Raggadorr to resurrect four civilians killed by the Scion Callix — including his Aunt May — but when Callix was overtaken by a destructive and corrupting influence called the Blight, Spider-Man teamed up with the X-Men to battle Blight-Callix once more as Earth’s champion of the Covenant.

The Blight then killed Spider-Man and turned the X-Men against Juggernaut, who was unaffected by its influence because he’s Cyttorak’s champion on Earth. With the Blight’s “soul rot” infection spreading across New York, and soon the world, Juggernaut was left to stand alone against the X-Men in this week’s Amazing Spider-Man #68.DEATHS from writer Christos Cage and artist Mark Buckingham.

The Blight-possessed X-Men — Cyclops, Psylocke, Kid Omega, Magik, and Tempest — tried and failed to immobilize and contain their teammate. Juggernaut neutralized Magik before she could stab him with her magic-disrupting Soul Sword, and resisted as Omega used his telekinetic powers to pry loose the helmet protecting his only vulnerable spot: his mind. The X-Men discovered that Cain wore a second, smaller helmet beneath his armor, only for Psylocke to pierce his mind with her psychic knife.

Psylocke’s attack sent Juggernaut’s astral form to the Crimson Cosmos, the domain of Cyttorak, which is under attack by the Blight. As Cyttorak’s avatar, Juggernaut grew weaker with every good deed, but nonetheless resisted Cyttorak’s command to kill the X-Men and end the Blight.

“Your avatar should be unstoppable. But I got my butt whupped on the regular by folks like the X-Men. ‘Cause they had friends… and I was like you,” Juggernaut told Cyttorak. “Big, stupid, and pointless! Y’know the only time anything I did mattered? When I had friends.” Now that he has friends, the Juggernaut isn’t going to let Cyttorak — or anyone — stop him. After returning from his place of power, Juggernaut KO’ed Kid Omega and Tempest before taking the full force of a Cyclops optic blast.

“I know I say it a lot. But today it’s extra true. Nothing stops the Juggernaut,” he said, punching Cyke out. He then contacted Magneto and Beast back in Alaska to research cures for the Blight, telling them that nothing is getting past Cyttorak’s protections. Just then, Magik plunged her Soul Sword into Juggernaut’s back, stopping him in his tracks.

And yet Juggernaut still didn’t stop. Swarmed by the X-Men, Juggernaut told Cyttorak, “Give me whatever power you can. Or don’t. I’ll keep fighting. But I won’t kill them. You might see enemies here. All I see are people who didn’t give up on me when they had every reason to. So I’ll be damned if I give up on them. You wanna take my powers away — go ahead. I’ll go down as Cain Marko. I’ll go down fighting for my friends.”

With Spider-Man dead and the Juggernaut going down swinging, the issue ended on a cliffhanger. But solicitations revealed what’s coming next: there’s no stopping the Spider-Naut!