Juggernaut
First appearance: Uncanny X-Men #12

Born Cain Marko, the Juggernaut has since become a frequent thorn in the side of the X-Men, led by his step-brother Charles, and has encountered Spider-Man on more than a few memorable occasions. Empowered by the ruby of Cyttorak, a human Marko became a living Juggernaut, an unstoppable and nigh-invulnerable force.

Years ago following the death of Kurt Marko's colleague Dr. Brian Xavier, the senior Marko married Xavier's widow Sharon, and together they raised their young children, both boys. As step-brothers, Charles and Cain did not get along well together. Cain felt that Charles received special treatment over himself, and that he had become more of a son to his father than he had, while Charles actually resented Kurt Marko, and thought he'd only married the ailing Shannon to get the Xavier family fortune. Kurt would redeem himself in Charles eyes, when an accident in his lab went awry, and Kurt died saving Charles and Cain's lives. With his father dead, Cain was sent to military school, where he trained for many grueling years, blaming Charles for his situation all the while. Military school has a positive effect on Cain though, and he ended up enrolling in the armed forces, where he was sent to Asia to serve during the Korean war. (This has likely been negated however. It seems that characters that serve in wars, like Tony Stark, Jim Rhodes and Flash Thompson in Vietnam, and Reed Richards, Ben Grimm and Curt Connors in World War II, is that whichever war is most recent, they were there.)

Charles ended up in the military as well, and served with Cain, whose bull-headedness made him an excellent soldier. That would lead to trouble for Cain, when an exploration of an ancient temple led to a cave-in that almost took his life. Believing Cain to have died, Charles left and returned to America, unaware that Cain's life had been saved, for the temple he had found was a holding chamber for the ancient Cyttorak ruby, which granted Cain strange powers and transformed him into a human Juggernaut. The ruby had been placed there as part of a wager between mystic entities to empower humans as a means of testing their powers, and as such, Cain had become the first of these Exemplars. Having no knowledge of the power he now harnessed though, Cain though that at last he could now show up Charles, who by this point had settled at his Westchester mansion where he trained young mutants called "X-Men". The Juggernaut attacked and fought the X-Men, who were only narrowly able to stop him by removed his impenetrable helmet and performing a mind-wipe on him. The process left Juggernaut comatose, and he went into Charles care at the mansion, while he tried to revert the effects of the Cyttorak ruby.

Charles was unsuccessful, and in time the Juggernaut awoke, and resumed his rampage and attacks against Charles and his X-Men. The Juggernaut also found work for himself as a hired thug and mercenary, and fell into the company of "Black" Tom Cassidy, a mutant and the cousin of X-Man Banshee. The partnership between "Black" Tom and the Juggernaut would later develop into a strong friendship, and Juggernaut would risk his life for Toms on numerous occasions. The Juggernaut also got along well with Tom's niece Theresa, who like her estranged father Banshee, had mutant sonic powers. While still harboring a grudge against his step-brother, the Juggernaut began to move more and more towards his work as a heavy, and he ran across the Incredible Hulk, Spider-Woman and Thor as a result. Perhaps though, the greatest fight to have happened during his hired work, was when the Juggernaut was paid to bring down the precognitive Madame Web, whose protector was the Amazing Spider-Man. While clearly no match for the Juggernaut, Spider-Man valiantly to save Madame Web's life, and the Juggernaut was encased in concrete at battles end.

The Juggernaut stayed out of the X-Men's lives for a time, continuing to work with "Black" Tom as a mercenary, though they would encounter each other over time, though the Juggernaut had moved past his grand schemes of revenge in the interim. The Juggernaut also reencountered Spider-Man, who, along with the young mutants of X-Force, stopped the Juggernaut's attempted destruction of several New York monuments. It would be a long while until Spidey and the Juggernaut reencountered each other again, because shortly after this the creature known as Onslaught appeared and the Juggernaut became a favorite sparring partner of him. It was revealed later that Onslaught was actually Charles Xavier, whose mind had merged with Magneto's after a mind-wiping a short time before, and Charles took out his repressed hatred towards his step-brother in full force. It was only by allying himself with the X-Men that the Juggernaut managed to escape Onslaught's wraith. The Juggernaut eventually settled down in a small town, where he would fight the demon D'Spayre and his sister Spite, but he later returned to New York and fought Spider-Man once again and later joined the group called the New World Order in the hopes of striking it rich. The Juggernaut could not catch a break though, and he drifted along, until other beings much like himself emerged and waged war on him as an Exemplar.

The true origins of the ruby of Cyttorak were revealed at last, and eight other Juggernaut-like beings showed up to engage in a battle that had been fated for centuries. It turned out that eight mystic beings left totems on Earth for humans to find, so that they would receive a fraction of the being's power. When all eight beings were powered they would fight to see which of the mystic powers were stronger, but such a fight would leave the Earth in ruin. Spider-Man, Iron Man, Thor and Charles Xavier worked to save the Juggernaut who didn't want any part of this, and the Exemplars were defeated. They soon regrouped, and the Juggernaut went to the Avengers for help. The Avengers and the Juggernaut were able to stop the Exemplars and the seven beings were sent to the far regions of the world, never to resume their destructive ways, and the Juggernaut, humbled by the heroism around him, gave himself up to the police.

While in prison, the Juggernaut was visited by a time-traveler named Prosh, would took the Juggernaut mentally to key moments of his life, leading the brute to reexamine his choices over the years. The Juggernaut saw his life all over again, and he realized that he was doomed to a life of failure unless he did something about it. Still, despite these revelations, the Juggernaut was not above two more outings with "Black" Tom, one against Generation X, and another against Cyclops. The Juggernaut also appeared to be mourning the events of 9-11, alongside such other "super-villains" as Magneto, Dr. Doom and the Kingpin.

Powers and Abilities: The Juggernaut's mystically-based powers allow him super strength, invincibility, an ability to go without air, food and water for extended periods, and invulnerability. His one weakness it that without his enchanted helmet he is susceptible to mental attacks.

REFERENCES: Uncanny X-Men #12-13, Uncanny X-Men #32-33, Uncanny X-Men #46, Dr. Strange #182, Amazing Adventures #16, The Incredible Hulk (volume two) #172, She-Hulk #30, Uncanny X-Men #101-103, Classic X-Men #11, Uncanny X-Men #122, Spider-Woman #37-38, Amazing Spider-Man #229-230, Uncanny X-Men #183, Marvel Team-Up #150, Uncanny X-Men #194, Secret Wars II #7, Uncanny X-Men #217-218, Excalibur #3, Thor #411-412, Thor #428-429, X-Force #2-5, Peter Parker: Spider-Man #16, Dr. Strange #44, Deadpool (volume two) #1-4, Thunderstrike #2, Uncanny X-Men #322, X-Men (volume two) #42, Wolverine (volume two) #93, Uncanny X-Men #333-334, X-Men (volume two) #53-54, Juggernaut #1, The Incredible Hulk (volume two) #456-457, Peter Parker: Spider-Man #84, X-Men (volume two) #70, X-Men (volume two) #88, Uncanny X-Men #369, Thor (volume two) #17, Peter Parker: Spider-Man (volume two) #11, Juggernaut: The Eighth Day, Avengers (volume two) #24-25, Generation X #60-61, X-Men Forever #1-6, X-Men Icons: Cyclops #1, Defenders (volume two) #10, Amazing Spider-Man (volume two) #36

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