JUGGERNAUT

BIOGRAPHY - Page 1

Cain Marko is the son of scientist Dr. Kurt Marko and his wife. When Cain was about three years old, his mother died and Kurt Marko had to raise the boy all by himself. [X-Men Unlimited (1st series) #12] Whether it was him not being up the task, his son being a constant reminder of his wife’s death or himself having had an abusive upbringing, Kurt Marko resorted to violence. Whenever Cain disobeyed him or asked too many questions, he was beaten by his father. Later, when Kurt Marko married the widow of his colleague Dr. Brian Xavier, he didn’t consider Cain’s feelings at all. The boy didn’t want to move into the Xavier mansion, for it would have meant leaving all his friends behind. After beating on his son again, [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #416] Kurt Marko sent him away to boarding school, so that he wouldn’t disturb his marriage into the Xavier fortune.

Feeling alone and unwanted, Cain Marko responded with the only thing he had been taught – violence. In boarding school, he was a troublemaker, bullying the other kids. Eventually, he was expelled and sent back to live with his father, which is when he first met his stepbrother, Charles Xavier. Cain immediately picked on the younger Charles and, with Cain too old by now to simply beat up, Kurt Marko tried his best to keep his son under control. Fearing he would hurt Charles, Marko brought Cain along for some business trips to the scientific research station at the Alamogordo plant. [X-Men (1st series) #12, X-Men Forever (1st series) #4]

[Note: Later stories provided a different view into Kurt Marko's actions. Doctors Xavier, Marko and Ryking were scientists at the Alamogordo research facility along with Nathan Milbury, secretly Mister Sinister. Sinister wanted X-gene carriers and their children close at hand for his Cronus experiments. When Brian Xavier died, Sinister intimidated Marko and Sharon Xavier into marrying so that she didn't move away with Charles, keeping the boy close at hand. Marko once indicated that both their families were in danger from Sinister if he hadn't complied.]

Father and son didn’t get along and Cain tried to blackmail his father for money, hinting at the death of Brian Xavier having been no accident. Kurt Marko yelled at Cain never to accuse him of such a thing, but it was already too late. Charles overheard the conversation and confronted his stepfather. The argument turned into a fight, during which some lab equipment exploded. Though mortally injured himself, Kurt Marko carried the two teenagers to safety. Sharon Xavier-Marko having passed away earlier on, the two unlikely brothers were left with each other. In the following years, Charles developed his telepathic mutant powers and, using them, he excelled in everything. In school, he read the teachers’ minds and at sports he could anticipate the other athletes’ tactics. Cain watched and hated Charles for it, his jealous heart filled with an almost uncontrollable envy. One day, he smashed Xavier’s many trophies and attacked him directly, though Charles’ telepathy once more gave him the needed advantage.

Over the years, Cain and Charles lost track of each other, until they met again in the army, fighting in Korea. Their unit under fire, Cain deserted and Charles chased after him. In a cave, they stumbled upon the ruins of the temple of Cyttorak, a glowing ruby lying on the altar in the temple’s center. Reading the hieroglyphics on the wall, Xavier recognized the warnings of the gem‘s enchantment but Cain would not listen to his hated stepbrother. Instead, he picked up the jewel, instantly transforming himself with the curse of Cyttorak. As the transformation occurred, the already unstable temple began to collapse, due to the seismic events transpiring outside. The Communists that were searching for the two lost soldier-brothers had caught up with them and were shelling their would-be hiding place. Xavier escaped the collapsing building in time and walked away, wondering whether his brother had managed to escape as well. [X-Men (1st series) #12]

However, Cain Marko had not - he was trapped beneath tons of solid rock. Still, that was not enough to stop someone with the power of a human Juggernaut. No longer needing to eat, drink or breathe, he slowly dug himself out over a period of ten years. All the while, driven by one thought - revenge. [X-Men Forever (1st series) #4] Before he could claim his vengeance, however, Cain needed to officially claim the title of Juggernaut. Touching the ruby only gave him power. To fully become the Juggernaut, he had to kill the current avatar of Cyttorak, Jin Taiko. Cyttorak had sought out a new avatar when Taiko's village started worshipping a deity other than him, and Taiko refused to punish his own people for this slight. Marko killed his predecessor in single combat and then fulfilled Cyttorak's wishes by murdering Taiko's entire village. [New Excalibur #15]

After making it back to the United States, the Juggernaut went straight for the mansion in Westchester to attack Xavier. None of the mansion’s security systems were able to halt the unstoppable foe and not even the team of mutants that Xavier had organized in the meantime, the X-Men, were able to slow him down much. When the telepath tried to use his mental powerson his stepbrother, it turned out that the helmet of the Juggernaut’s armor shielded him from such attacks. Only after the X-Men managed to remove the helmet could the misguided Cain Marko be telepathically knocked out. [X-Men (1st series) #12-13]

Unbeknownst to his X-Men, Xavier had his stepbrother locked up in a special chamber of the mansion’s basement, where he tried to find a way to rid him of the Juggernaut powers. During the experiment, though, Charles Xavier was hit by an energy feedback and rendered comatose. At the same time, some of Xavier’s mental might was transferred to Cain Marko, who broke free and escaped. Due to his power being of magical origin, the X-Men asked for help from Dr. Strange, who directed them to travel to the temple in Korea. There, they had to retrieve the so-called prototype gem from the Crimson Cosmos within the gem of Cyttorak that had transformed Cain Marko years ago. First, the team used this second gem to cure Xavier and it proved crucial in defeating the Juggernaut once more. When he saw the ruby that looked similar to the one that had given him his powers, the Juggernaut wanted it for himself. However, when he touched it, he and the prototype gem were both sucked into the Crimson Cosmos. [X-Men (1st series) #32-33]

Xavier, however, didn't want to leave his stepbrother to such fate and built a machine that would slowly pull him back to Earth. When Cain returned to Earth, he was unaware that it was Xavier for whom he had to thank his freedom and as such intended to wreak havoc on his step-brother. However, much had happened during Cain’s absence and Xavier was believed by his students to be dead, though in truth it had actually been the shapeshifter Changeling who had been killed in his place. Thinking the X-Men were trying to trick him, the Juggernaut wanted to beat the truth about Xavier’s whereabouts out of them. Luckily for the X-Men, though, the machine’s effect wore off during the fight and the Juggernaut was sucked back into the Crimson Cosmos a second time. [X-Men (1st series) #46]