The X-Men villains in existence as his strength is backed by demonic magic and his ferocity is utterly unmatched–but his power doesn’t always have to be used for evil, and the Juggernaut’s ultimate redemption reveals that he always had the potential to be Marvel’s strongest hero all along.
Cain Marko became the Juggernaut after he stumbled upon the hidden Temple of Cyttorak and held the elder god’s mystical gem in his hands, pledging himself to the demon king and henceforth becoming his agent of chaos on Earth. With the power of Cyttorak, Marko became a hulking beast who was physically unstoppable and could only be taken down with psychic attacks. Upon his first few appearances–and actually, for a pretty long while within Marvel Comics continuity–the Juggernaut used his powers exclusively for evil. Whether it was terrorizing his step-brother, Charles Xavier, and the X-Men or teaming up with Black Tom to pull off elaborate heists, Juggernaut was up to no good every time he was seen on-–which is why it was so shocking when he was depicted as a heroic pacifist during one of the darkest eras of X-Men history.
In X-Calibre #1 by Warren Ellis and Ken Lashley, readers are introduced to a mutant named Switchback who traveled from the war-torn United States to the furthest, coldest reaches of the world in order to meet the one person who could lead her to salvation: the Juggernaut. This book takes place during the Age of Apocalypse where history has been almost completely rewritten following the timeline-splitting death of Charles Xavier. In this branched reality, Xavier was killed by his time traveling son, Legion, which allowed Apocalypse to rise to power unchallenged. Apocalypse then took over the entirety of North America and planned to do the same with the rest of the world. However, there was one place that was said to be only a myth, a place that Apocalypse could never touch as no one would dare show him the way: Avalon. Avalon is a paradise hidden within an icy tundra, and the man who stood at its gate was the Juggernaut. While this version of the character was a hulking monster just like his Earth-616 counterpart, this one was a pacifist who only sought to lead humans and mutants in need to a place where they’d be truly safe–showing no interest in villainy or violence of any kind.
Juggernaut’s Redemption in Age of Apocalypse Confirms His Heroism on Krakoa
While Age of Apocalypse takes place within a different timeline, it is just a skewed reality from Earth-616 and not an entirely different universe–similar to What If…? storylines. Therefore, the way a character acts in Age of Apocalypse is how they could also potentially act in the main continuity. If a hero like Cyclops is a villain in AoA, then that means he has the potential to be one on Earth-616–and the opposite is true for Juggernaut. As previously established, the Juggernaut spent most of his Marvel Comics career being a villain, but in the current age of X-Men comics, Juggernaut has found redemption and has become something of a mutant police officer on Krakoa as a part of Nightcrawler’s Legionaries. While that change in character may have seemed undeserved for the Juggernaut, as he’s committed some major atrocities in the past, this Age of Apocalypse comic proves that he actually is capable of being a hero, so his new role is more believable than fans may have originally thought.
After Juggernaut redeemed himself in a whole other timeline, the door was open for him to do the same in the prime reality of Earth-616–turning him from one of X-Men’s greatest villains, to one of Marvel’s strongest heroes.
