BIOGRAPHY - Page 4
Cain would have forever remained floating in the side-realm, which contained nothing but pink mist, if not for a lucky coincidence. Just at the same time as Siena Blaze was fighting Reaper 
on Earth-616, one universe away in the Ultraverse Amber Hunt was trying to escape from her pursuers, Shuriken and Strike. The two powerful women activated their deadly powers simultaneously, creating a hole in the fabric of reality. The two parties and Juggernaut all somehow ended up on the Godwheel, an unimaginably massive space habitat in the Ultraverse. Repeating the effect, the group managed to open a second hole back to Ultra-Earth. Unfortunately, their arrival coincided with a huge explosion that destroyed a major part of New York City. Them being perceived as terrorists forced the six super-beings to live a life on the run and stay together against their will, referring to themselves as the Exiles.
Among the group, Cain found a true soulmate in Amber Hunt, who, just like him, was a rather powerful and misguided individual, who would lash out at others in her anger. Strangely, though, Cain and Amber managed to bring out the best in each other and, for the first time in years, Cain considered going straight and becoming an honest man. However, their happiness was not to last. Sometime later, the Exiles faced off with the Tradesman, entities they fought on the Godwheel. The aliens insisted on one life being repaid with one life and, in face of the overwhelming odds, the Reaper used his scythe on the Juggernaut, who was apparently atomized. After the aliens had left, he revealed to his shocked teammates that his scythe had stored some of the dimensional energies to send someone back to their native universe. Actually, he had meant to use it for his own way back later on but, in the meantime, he had started to like it in the Ultraverse, and so he picked Cain instead. [All-New Exiles #Infinity, 1-5]
Cain’s return was incomplete, as he didn’t make it fully back and was still stuck outside of the regular flow of reality. Only Psylocke was able to sense him, due to the connection between the Crimson Cosmos of Cyttorak and the power of the Crimson Dawn she had recently acquired. Using her as an anchor, the Juggernaut smashed his way through the dimensional walls. Finally back on Earth, he cared about only one thing – Onslaught. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #333, X-Men (2nd series) #53]
Determined to uncover the mystery foe’s identity, he headed back to the Xavier Institute to let the person he trusted most explore his jumbled memory – Jean Grey. When he approached her, 
he took off his helmet to prove his being serious by presenting himself vulnerable. Jean agreed to the experiment and took Cain to the so-called Z’Nox chamber beneath the mansion, a place totally shielded from telepathic energy going in or out. Thus isolated, she entered the Juggernaut’s brain and made the startling discovery that Onslaught was none other than Xavier himself. Realizing that Cain was in grave danger, Jean told him to run away as fast as he could; but it was too late. Onslaught sensed him as soon as he left the shielded chamber and, after ripping the Gem of Cyttorak out of Cain’s chest, he banished him to the Crimson Cosmos once again. Thus, Cain was not present to witness Onslaught eventually being defeated by the assembled might of the X-Men, the Avengers and the Fantastic Four. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #334, X-Men (2nd series) #54]
The unattended gem was sensed by both Dr. Strange and Gomurr, another sorcerer who, centuries ago, had banished the Cyttorak deity from the face of Earth. Gomurr opted to venture into the Crimson Cosmos alone to bring Cain back. Once inside the gem, he faced off against Spite, a demoness who had apparently been sent by her brother, D’Spayre, into the Cosmos centuries in the past. Spite fought Gomurr over the Juggernaut and finally won, imprisoning Gomurr in magical shackles, while she continued to manipulate Cain Marko to her liking. She brought him to Cyttorak for him to become the Earthen vessel of Cyttorak, which is when the Juggernaut realized that he had been tricked. Thanks to the timely arrival of Tar, a rival of Gomurr and a fellow magician, Gomurr was freed and they put aside their disagreements to help the Juggernaut by magically empowering him to a degree that allowed him defeat Cyttorak and send them from the realm. Her master being defeated also allowed Spite to escape from the Crimson Cosmos. [X-Men Unlimited (1st series) #12]
For a while, Cain lay low in Mexico, where he was approached by Spite again and eventually drawn into her feud with her brother, D’Spayre. Eventually, he saw through both demons’ deceptions and did no longer allow himself to be influenced, driving the siblings away. [Juggernaut One-Shot]
After long months, Cain got back in touch with Black Tom Cassidy, only to learn that, in the meantime, he had been critically injured again by Generation X’s Penance, after attacking and kidnapping the other students of his hated cousin, Banshee. Once more trying to earn the needed money for Tom’s treatments, the Juggernaut let himself be hired by a group called New World Order to stop Apocalypse’s latest Horseman - the Hulk. The mission came to an end when the Hulk overcame Apocalypse’s brainwashing. Though Cain had anything to do with it, he nevertheless collected his payment anyway. [Incredible Hulk (2nd series) #456-457]
Afterwards, he tried more legal approaches, first selling some of his belongings [Peter Parker, Spider-Man (1st series) #84], and then by claiming his share of the Xavier fortune, now that Charles Xavier was incarcerated for his crimes as Onslaught. However, when he learned that the the troops of Operation: Zero Tolerance had raided the mansion taken everything of value, leaving the X-Men in their worst shape ever, he decided this plan was no longer viable. [X-Men (2nd series) #70]
Before long, he found other methods to finance Black Tom's treatments.
Many months later, charlatans tried to steal the Juggernaut’s power by using a fake gem, with the resemblance of the Gem of Cyttorak. Never having been the brightest one, Cain was easily tricked into believing the new gem could double his powers. Actually, once he arrived at the place of the strange cult, they drained his powers away from him. The Juggernaut was severely weakened, if not dying, and if not for three of the X-Men stealing the fake gem and handing it to Black Tom, he might have died right then. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #361]
However, reabsorbing the energies that the fake gem had stolen, Cain also was infected with an evil spirit residing inside it. It possessed the Juggernaut and, more powerful than ever, used him to smash his way through the barriers between dimensions to get back to the place it came from and conquer it. Black Tom and the aliens living there summoned the X-Men to their aid, as the Juggernaut had grown bigger and more powerful each step of the way. Only after Xavier and Wolverine entered Cain’s mind and helped him to overpower the evil influence did the threat end. Afterward, the Juggernaut shrank to regular size and returned home. [X-Men (2nd series) #88, Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #369]
Barely back, Cain Marko found himself again manipulated by outside forces, this time an incident known as the Wager of Octessence. Over a millennium ago, eight beings of magical power gathered together and argued who among them the most powerful was, among them Cyttorak. It was decided that each of them were to make a totem that held a fraction of its creator’s vast powers and the artifacts would turn the first human who touched it into an Exemplar, the living embodiment of that power. Cyttorak’s totem was the gem hidden in the temple in Korea and Cain was the first to become an Exemplar. Now, all other artifacts had been found as well, starting the Octessence, an event during which each Exemplar would lead one eighth of Earth‘s population into battle, until only one of them remained. The Exemplars met on the North Pole, where they started building a God-Machine that would have removed the willpower from all humans across the globe to make them loyal servants of the eight armies. However, having had years to adjust to the transformation, the Juggernaut’s will was not as overwhelmed by the entity he represented, enabling him to fight back and stop the Ceremony of the Octessence from occurring. [Thor (2nd series) #17, Peter Parker, Spider-Man (2nd series) #11, Juggernaut: Eighth Day]
For his betrayal, the other Exemplars wanted to punish the Juggernaut but the Avengers intervened. At first hopelessly outmatched, the heroes managed to get through to some of the newly-born villains and, disagreeing with each other, the Exemplars let go of their plan and departed, each going their separate ways. The Juggernaut turned himself in but, once the Avengers were out of sight, he easily escaped from the police transport to prison. [Avengers (3rd series) #24-25]