Juggernaut

Juggernaut, born Cain Marko, is an American man who possesses immense magical strength and body size granted by the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak. He is the stepbrother of Professor X, leader of the X-Men, whom he greatly resents for his privilege and success.

Biography

Origin

Cain Marko is the son of nuclear physicist Kurt Marko, whose colleague Brian Xavier died in an atomic-bomb test at Alamogordo, New Mexico. Rumors circulated that Kurt had deliberately killed Brian himself. Kurt married Brian's widow Sharon Xavier, and Cain moved in with them and Sharon's son Charles. Cain quickly began to bully his younger stepbrother. Sharon died not long into the marriage once it became clear that Kurt had only married her to get Brian's wealth for himself. Cain soon confronted his father in his laboratory about Brian's death, and Charles intervened to do the same. The angered Cain knocked over some volatile chemicals, causing a large explosion. Kurt threw himself in its way, and though gravely injured, managed to carry the boys to safety. With his last breaths, he told Charles that he hadn't killed Brian, but he had neglected to save him from the blast. He begged his forgiveness and warned him to beware of Cain when he found out about his power. The stepbrothers continued to live together, as Charles inherited his parents' fortune with Kurt's death.

Shortly after Kurt's death, Charles developed various mutative mental powers. His ability to read minds allowed him to excel, if dishonestly, at academics and athletics. The malicious Cain grew jealous of Charles's rampant success. After Charles got accepted to college, Cain offered to drive him to the campus, and Charles optimistically took it as an olive branch. Instead, Cain drove erratically to terrorize his stepbrother, but failed to see a detour in the road and accidentally set the car on a collision course. Charles mentally influenced Cain to jump out safely in time, but Charles was caught in the crash. It certainly would have been fatal, but he managed to guard himself with a barrier of mental energy such that it only injured him. The two later served together in the Korean War, and while overseas Cain found himself in an ancient shrine to Cyttorak. Charles tried to stop him, but Cain went further into the temple and grabbed a large red gem. He was overcome by a magical force that declared him the possessor of the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak, which would make him a "human juggernaut." Marko grew to a hulking, powerful monstrosity, but the powerful magic caused the cave to collapse around him. Charles escaped in the nick of time, knowing that the magic of Cyttorak would enable Cain to track him down some day. The magic also granted Cain—the Juggernaut—a suit of powerful red armor, including a psionic helmet that gave him protection from Charles's mental penetrations.

1965

Juggernaut did indeed escape the cave, and by 1965 had donned powerful metal armor to complement his huge, powerful form. He tracked down Xavier and his X-Men team of heroic mutants to Westchester, New York, and assaulted their school-base. He went to attack Professor X, and Xavier's mental powers could not penetrate his psionic helmet. Cyclops burned a deep hole in the ground and Juggernaut fell in, buying the X-Men some time. Xavier went to his Mento-Helmet, a device to charge the power of his mental energy and hopefully make him strong enough to take down Juggernaut. To keep himself from overloading, Xavier released excess brainwaves out into the city. He inadvertently made a connection with the Human Torch, who cautiously dismissed his messages. While the X-Men threw everything they had at Juggernaut, Professor X realized that Torch's help could be critical to victory. He contacted him directly, and Torch agreed to come help. As Xavier's mind finished charging, Torch arrived to fight alongside the X-Men. Under Xavier's telepathic instructions, Beast managed to loosen Juggernaut's psionic helmet. Angel and Torch flew circles around him, and Angel slipped the helmet off the enraged Juggernaut's head. Xavier assaulted Juggernaut's mind, knocking him unconscious and leaving him pliable for delivery to the authorities.