I believe in redemption. I like it when villains find a brighter side or a better path. I like it when villains forego their criminal ways and join the ranks of the good guys. I’ve felt that way since I was a young lad and Magneto first started fighting alongside the X-Men. I’ve enjoyed it when I’ve come across earlier stories featuring reforming villains such as the Avengers and “Cap’s Kooky Quartet.” And I’ve enjoyed more recent series that have focused on this theme as well. All those who thought that Kurt Busiek’s Thunderbolts was about villains were wrong. It wasn’t about villains. It was about redemption. More specifically, it was about former villains seeking redemption. As such, it spoke deeply to me and some of those characters- Songbird and Atlas in particular- became personal favorites
I know that not everybody feels the way I do. For some, it may be that they don’t actually believe in redemption. They don’t believe that a bad guy can become good, any more than a leopard can change its spots. For some, it may just be that the find the villains more interesting. I recall other fans mentioning that they always liked the Sandman as a villain more than as an Avenger.
For a long time, I just didn’t understand that
sentiment. Why would anyone want to see
someone- even a fictional someone- revert to a life of crime after becoming a
hero? But more recently, I think I’ve
started to understand that point of view. And if I have, it’s because I’ve found my exception.
It’s Cain Marko- the Juggernaut. And despite my personal and professional
beliefs in the possibility of redemption, the Juggernaut should be a
villain.
The Juggernaut first appeared in X-Men 12 and 13 in
1965. He was one of the pre-eminent
X-Men villains from the beginning for a number of reasons. One, he was introduced in a two-part story,
one of the few multiple part stories in the series so far. That put the Juggernaut in select company,
with the likes of Magneto and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Two, he was Charles Xavier’s
step-brother. That meant that we the
readers knew that Juggernaut was Cain Marko. And, thanks to flashbacks, we knew what he was like as a boy. That gave the readers an extra connection to
Juggernaut and Juggernaut an extra connection to the X-Men. He may not have been one of them but he was
related to their leader. Three, he truly
was unstoppable. The Blob may have been
immovable. Magneto may have been more
menacing. But the Juggernaut was truly
unstoppable. The X-Men weren’t exactly
the strongest team in the world, and they were certainly no match for someone
like the Juggernaut. The X-Men couldn’t
beat him. They certainly couldn’t fight
him. They had to outthink him. They had to outwit him. And they had to work
together in order to get it done.
When I met Juggernaut, many years later, the situation was quite different. The X-Men had been expanded to include more powerful members like Colossus, Phoenix and Storm. The personal connection that Juggernaut had to the team wasn’t as strong either- not with Professor X absent from the team, and not compared to other personal connections such as relationship between Rogue and the new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. The Juggernaut wasn’t the biggest foe anymore. He wasn’t the most intimate enemy anymore. He was just a big, dumb lug who used to be unstoppable.
As happens with many characters, Juggernaut’s reputation was
tarnished in order to make others look better. Juggernaut is supposed to be unstoppable. But what does that make someone like Nimrod
who was able to beat even the Juggernaut? It makes Nimrod truly unbeatable, doesn’t it? Naturally, Nimrod becomes the real
threat. And each time this happens, the
Juggernaut becomes less and less of a menace to either the X-Men or the world
at large.
It was at this point that Chris Claremont wrote one of my
all-time favorite Juggernaut stories. Dazzler had recently joined the X-Men and although she had defeated some
pretty big heavy-weights in her own title, she was still being treated like a
light-weight by the team she had just joined. Then, she happened to spot the Juggernaut just chilling in his civilian
clothes. Dazzler was well aware that the
Juggernaut’s reputation wasn’t what it once was. She figured she could take him down all by
herself and prove to the team that she was someone worth reckoning with. Unfortunately for Dazzler, it didn’t work out
that way. The Juggernaut didn’t want to
fight. He actually wanted an
autograph. But when finally pushed into
it, the Juggernaut proved to be as unstoppable as his name suggests. Dazzler was in over her head and defeated
quite badly. But the Juggernaut didn’t
gloat. He didn’t crow about his evil
plans. Instead, he showed true
remorse. He hadn’t even wanted to fight
in the first place let alone kill one of his idols as he thought had
happened. Again, the Juggernaut was
shown to be not that a great menace. But
this time, it wasn’t because he was weak. It was because he was misunderstood.
That issue, Uncanny X-Men #217 remains one of my personal
favorites. It’s the issue that first got
me thinking that the Juggernaut might be able to reform. He could be one of the good guys if he could
only stop retreating to the life of crime that he knew so well. He could be a hero if they would only give
him a chance.
In 1995, it looked like that just might happen. Marvel bought out Malibu. In order to shore up the Ultraverse, Marvel lent some of their characters to the other line. Black Knight joined Ultraforce. And Juggernaut joined the All-New Exiles. It wasn’t exactly the best title I’ve ever read, but I did like the depiction of Juggernaut. He was unstoppable in a fight- a loose cannon- but fiercely loyal to his friends. Here, he had his chance to start over and he was trying, both generally and genuinely, to do what was right.
Of course, it didn’t last for long. Marvel closed the Ultraverse down and
returned Juggernaut to their own universe. He came back to the same old roles- the former unstoppable foe defeated
by the new big bad in order to make the new big bad look even bigger and
badder. I didn’t mind. Juggernaut hadn’t been much of a threat for
as long as I’d been reading comics. Plus, after losing to Onslaught, Juggernaut allied himself with the
X-Men. They offered him protection and he offered them aid. It seemed like Juggernaut was finally ready
to fully join the good guys, something I’d wanted for almost a decade.
It wasn’t to be. After Onslaught was defeated, Juggernaut went back to his villainous
ways. While I may have been disappointed
that he hadn’t reformed, I couldn’t deny that he had become powerful in his
return to the role. After flirting with
redemption, Juggernaut had once again become unstoppable. Well, no villains are really unstoppable in
superhero comics, but about as close as a villain could come. But what really convinced me that Juggernaut
could be a great villain again were the powerful and iconic covers. Juggernaut menaced people. He smashed through things. He looked like he could tear down walls. I may not have gotten what I wanted, but at
least I got a powerful and interesting villain instead.
Yet again, it wasn’t to be. Much to my surprise, someone else had the idea of reforming Juggernaut:
Chuck Austen. I’ll admit that Chuck
Austen isn’t one of my favorite writers. But his handling of Juggernaut was one of the bright spots during his
run. Every once in a while, a writer
will identify strongly with a certain character and in turn infuse that
character with so much personality that the readers identify with him as
well. I’ve seen it happen with Mark Waid
and Wally West, and then with Reed Richards as well. And it happened here with Chuck Austen. For some reason, Austen identified with the
misunderstood half-brother. He crafted
part of his own story onto Juggernaut. Austen had been abused as a child. He gave Juggernaut the same background. And it made Cain a much richer character. Suddenly, we realized why he was such a jerk
to Charles when they were both boys. Suddenly, we realized not only why he had turned to crime but why he was
so often half-hearted about it. He
simply didn’t know how to make any other choices. Under Austen’s guidance, the Juggernaut
became a truly interesting character. He
joined the X-Men. The adult members of
the team never fully trusted him, so he befriended and mentored some of the
children instead. This was the
misunderstood Juggernaut that I had always glimpsed but never fully seen.
When Chuck Austen left the X-Men, Juggernaut also left the
team. I guess the new members didn’t
want to deal with him. However, he
wasn’t done. He was reformed. And while he was still mistrusted, Juggernaut
was a hero. So he joined New Excalibur
as it reformed. In fact, he seemed to be
the most eager person to join. Most of
the others fell into the team or had to be coerced. But not Juggernaut. He wanted to be there. He wanted a chance to prove himself as a
hero.
Unfortunately, all he’s really proved is that he’s better as
a villain. At least, that’s what I
think. There are two reasons why I
prefer Juggernaut as a villain at this point. One, as a hero, he’s degenerating into the generic strong guy. Every team needs its strong guy. The Fantastic Four have the Thing. The X-Men have Colossus. Even X-Factor has a strong guy in, um, Strong
Guy. But there doesn’t seem to be a lot
more going on with Juggernaut than that. At least, not in New Excalibur. He could be a strong guy with a shady past. He could be a strong guy trying to prove
himself. But that’s not really what’s
going on. Instead, he’s just a strong
guy. And frankly, it hasn’t been that
interesting. Cain Marko was much more
interesting as a bad guy who happened to fall into a life of crime than as a
hero who doesn’t know what he’s doing.
And that brings us to the second, more serious,
problem. The Juggernaut isn’t a very
good strong guy. Now, that could be an
interesting angle to take. But it
doesn’t seem as if it’s being done intentionally. The best example comes from New Excalibur
#16. That issue opens with a hostage situation in a major bank. The villains are making their demands when
suddenly, Juggernaut smashes through a wall with several other members of
Excalibur behind him. So far, so good,
except that on the next page one of the villains shoots Juggernaut with a good
so hard that Juggernaut is thrown back out of the building. This is supposed to be the unstoppable
Juggernaut? After being helped up,
Juggernaut goes back into the building to find that Dazzler and Nocturne have
pretty much finished mopping up the bad guys.
Admittedly, this is pretty typical of Chris Claremont’s
work. The guys look weak and the women
look strong. But in the case of
Juggernaut, there’s a certain sub-text that I can’t quite ignore. Juggernaut was strong when he was bad. Now, that he’s good, he’s weak. And frankly, I don’t like that suggestion,
even if it’s an unintentional sub-text. I don’t like the idea that being good makes you weak. It’s not that Juggernaut can’t be weak in
other ways. He is new to this hero biz
and he should be unsure of himself. I’d
be okay with that kind of weakness. After all, he’s always been morally and mentally weak. That’s how the
X-Men have defeated him so many times over the years. But he’s not just morally weak, or mentally
weak. He’s now physically weak as
well. The same Juggernaut who used to be
able to wade through an entire team of X-Men and throw them around like
rag-dolls now gets his lunch handed to him by a bunch of robbers with
guns. He’s that kind of weak.
It was that scene that made me think to myself, “I wish
Juggernaut was a villain again. He was a
lot more powerful and a lot more interesting when he was a villain.” I’m amused that the same writer who first
made me think that Juggernaut could be a great hero is the same writer who made
me more recently decide that Juggernaut should be a villain. Maybe he could be a hero, and be a good one.
But it seems like the Juggernaut is only a hero in books that aren’t written
well and he’s a villain in the ones that are. I can’t speak for everyone, but I’d rather have an interesting and
powerful Juggernaut as a villain in a well-written book than a weak and dull
Juggernaut as a hero in a poorly-written book.
For now, at least, the Juggernaut should be a villain.
The End.
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Originally Published at CaptainComics.us, June 22, 2007
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