Latest / Vigilante Vibes Podcast / Ep. 254. Who is Juggernaut in Marvel Comics?!

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Ep. 254. Who is Juggernaut in Marvel Comics?! · Vigilante Vibes Podcast

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  Hello Marvel fans, comic geeks, and all nerds in between.
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  My name is Megan with vigilante vibes, and I'm here to do
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  another character breakdown for you.
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  And this is a big one. Literally, figuratively.
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  Any way you want to take that? So we're going to talk about
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  Kane Marco, who is the Juggernaut.
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  I feel like everyone knows the Juggernaut, but they don't know
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  Cain Marco, if that makes sense. Like they know of Juggernaut,
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  but what's his back story? It's actually way sadder than
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  you'd think, which is par for the course for a lot of mutants.
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  So Cain Marco first appeared in Marvel Comics X-Men #12 in May
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  of 1965 and was created by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Alex Toth.
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  Cain Marco's life did not start easy by any means of the word.
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  He was the son of Doctor Kurt Marco and Marjorie Marco, but
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  their marriage fell apart not long after he was born, leaving
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  Cain with his father. As a kid, things were already
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  rough. During a Halloween parade in the
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  Junction, New York, he got jumped by local bullies and had
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  to be rescued, an experience that stuck with him and fueled
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  deep resentment towards anyone who mocked or pitied him.
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  His mother died when he was just three, and from there it was all
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  downhill. Kurt raised him with a heavy
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  hand, bouncing him from strict boarding schools until he was
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  just. He just kept getting expelled.
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  Eventually, Kane was sent to live with him in New Mexico,
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  where Kurt was involved in the shady Black Womb project.
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  Kane noticed the creepy experiments, kids suspended in
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  tanks, but he honestly didn't care much.
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  Like he walked into his dad's lab, peeped out the situation,
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  and then just brushed it off and went to watch TV instead.
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  So he was. I feel like there was already a
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  good bit of desensitizing of him this early on.
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  Things got way worse after Kurt's colleague, Doctor Brian
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  Xavier, died in a nuclear accident.
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  Kurt married Brian's widow, Sharon, and Kane moved into the
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  Xavier mansion. That's where the real damage set
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  in. Kurt openly favored Sharon's
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  son, Charles Xavier, while constantly putting down Kane.
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  Which sounds, you know, not surprising given how awful he
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  was as a parent. The mix of favoritism, bullying,
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  and abuse pushed Kane's anger into OverDrive.
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  He took it out on Charles even as he secretly endured beatings
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  from his father. When Charles telepathy first
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  kicked in, he accidentally sensed Kane's pain, but Kane did
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  not see it as empathy, he saw it as a violation.
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  Which it it it is, to be honest, that moment locked in his
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  hatred. Not long after, Sharon died too,
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  and whatever was left of the family basically shattered.
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  Then came the breaking point. During a fight in Kurt's lab,
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  Kane accused him of causing Brian Xavier's accidental death.
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  Kurt snapped, grabbed him, and shoved him down hard, but
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  Charles overheard everything. Realizing that Cain lost it, he
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  smashed a lab, set off a chain reaction of chemicals, and
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  triggered an explosion. Kurt managed to pull both boys
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  out, but died from smoke inhalation.
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  Ah, nuts. With his last breath, he
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  admitted he could have saved Brian and told Charles to hide
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  his powers from Cain. Cain heard that and took it as
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  proof that Charles had been inside his head all along.
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  From that moment on, Charles wasn't just a rival, he was the
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  enemy. And many of you know I I have
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  such a beef with Charles Xavier because I think of him as a
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  villain. You may or may not agree, and
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  that doesn't have any impact on me whatsoever, but I think he's
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  a villain and I do love a character who sees him the same
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  way. Kane stayed in the mansion,
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  stewing in that hatred, watching Charles excel at everything,
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  school, sports, and especially his growing psychic abilities.
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  And it only made it worse. Their rivalry finally boiled
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  over into a fight, and Charles beat him easily.
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  Not long after, Charles left for Oxford, leaving Cain behind with
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  nothing but resentment. Years later, they ended up in
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  the same U.S. military unit in Korea.
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  Cain deserted during combat, and Charles went after him.
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  That chase LED them into a hidden temple, the Temple of
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  Sidorak. Inside, Cain grabbed a glowing
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  Ruby and read the inscription sealing his fate.
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  The gems said, which mystically appeared to his mind to be
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  English. Whosoever touches this gem shall
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  possess the power of the Crimson Bands of Sidorak.
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  Henceforth, you who read these words shall become forever more
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  a human juggernaut. And that's where the name came
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  from. The gem transformed him into
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  something unstoppable, the Juggernaut.
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  Then The Cave collapsed under enemy bombardment, burying him
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  alive. Charles made it out.
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  Cain didn't, at least not right away, because the thing about
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  Juggernaut, he doesn't need food, air, or really even hope.
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  Cain eventually clawed his way out under a ton of rocks,
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  stronger and more invulnerable. He what I love about him is that
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  he works off pure spite if he needs to, and I emotionally
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  connect with that. He fully embraced the power,
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  killed the previous Juggernaut to fully embrace the powers that
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  came with the mantle, and even wiped out an entire village
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  under Sidorak's influence. At that point, he wasn't just
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  King Marco anymore, he was actually an avatar of a God.
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  As the Juggernaut, Cain had released his soul to the deity
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  Sidorak, becoming his human avatar, and from there,
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  everything he did had one goal, get back to Charles Xavier and
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  settle a lifetime of anger. That's the core of it.
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  This wasn't just about power or destiny.
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  Cain didn't become the Juggernaut because he was
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  chosen. He became the Juggernaut because
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  he was already carrying that kind of weight inside him.
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  With this new goal of getting back at Charles Xavier, he tried
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  plenty of times to achieve that goal.
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  The problem? Every time he tried, the X-Men
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  shut him down over and over. Meanwhile, they were out there
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  fighting for Charles dream of peaceful coexistence while Cain
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  just kept coming at them harder. Eventually, he teamed up with
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  the mutant mercenary Black Tom Cassidy, and the two of them
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  quickly became some of the most wanted criminals on the planet.
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  After years of playing the villain, things got weird.
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  As they tend to do, Cain was suddenly pulled into an
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  alternate universe where he helped form a team called the
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  Exiles. When he finally made it back to
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  his own reality, he ran straight into Onslaught, A massively
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  powerful psionic entity who literally hurled him from Canada
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  all the way to New York. Banged up, Cain crossed paths
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  with the X-Men once again and was taken to Xavier's mansion to
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  recover. When he woke up, he went looking
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  for Charles to warn him about Onslaught, only to find out the
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  truth. Onslaught was Charles.
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  Worse, Onslaught ripped the Ruby of Sidorak right out of Cain's
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  chest and trapped him inside it. Inside the gem, Cain discovered
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  an entire other plane of existence and a twisted aspect
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  of Sidorak. A Mystic named Gamor the Ancient
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  tried to help him, channeling the gems power into Cain.
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  With that boost, Cain destroyed the corrupt entity and broke
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  free, coming back stronger than ever.
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  Gamor warned him that he was basically destined to destroy
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  everything in his path, and Cain ignored that completely and went
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  right back to being a menace. God, you got to love him.
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  Not long after, Kane heard rumors about a second Sidorak
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  gem and went hunting for it, hoping to stack even more power.
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  Instead, he walked straight into a trap set by a colt that
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  drained his energy to fuel their own Ruby.
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  With the help from Black Tom, Cassidy, and even the X-Men,
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  Kane managed to take control of the second gem, but it came with
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  a catch. It was possessed.
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  The spirit took over his body and started smashing through
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  dimensions, trying to hunt down his enemy until beings from
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  other dimensions finally freed Cain from it.
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  At some point, Cain learned the truth.
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  Becoming the Juggernaut was never random.
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  Sidorak had basically nudged him into it.
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  Turns out Sidorak was just one of eight gods, each with their
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  own earthbound avatar called the Exemplars.
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  They recruited Cain to help build a machine that would wipe
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  out humanity's free will so their gods could take over.
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  With Charles help, Cain managed to get his head straight long
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  enough to turn on them and shut the whole thing down.
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  Then came another curveball. Things are never stable, ever.
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  A sentient spaceship named Prosch showed up and pulled Cain
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  into a time travel mission to save human evolution.
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  Along the way, Cain had to face a harsh truth.
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  For all his power, he'd wasted it.
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  When the team got back to the present, they took down an alien
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  called the Stranger who was trying to control humanity's
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  natural development. After that, Cain briefly worked
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  as a government bounty hunter for the Commission for
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  Superhuman Activities, but that did not last long.
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  He drifted back to Black Tom Cassidy until things went
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  sideways and Tom's powers spiraled out of control.
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  Cain actually asked the X-Men for help stopping him.
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  During the whole mess, it came out that Cain had lost Sitarak's
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  power and wasn't invulnerable anymore.
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  Thomas stopped, but not before knocking Cain into the water,
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  where a young aquatic mutant, Sammy Pear, saved him.
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  The two formed a surprisingly strong bond, and when Charles
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  offered Cain a place the mansion, he took it.
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  For once, things were starting to look different.
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  After helping on a mission, Cain officially joined the X-Men, but
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  it didn't stay clean for long. When Sammy went back home to
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  Canada, Kane ignored A restraining order to visit him
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  and found out the kid was being abused by his father.
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  Kane snapped, which is fair. It brought back triggering
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  memories, and in the chaos, he accidentally hurt Sammy's mom.
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  Alpha Flight showed up and seeing how terrified Sammy was,
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  Kane gave up and let himself be taken in.
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  Locked in a superhuman prison, Kane was assigned a lawyer,
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  Jennifer Walters, AKA Sheholt. While his case was being worked
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  out, Rhino broke loose and unintentionally freed Cain.
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  Instead of escaping, Cain stayed behind and took Rhino down to
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  save a guard. That moment actually really
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  mattered. It helps his case and earned him
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  some real respect from Walters. The two even started a
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  relationship, but it did not last.
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  Sidorak chose a new avatar and Cain had to step up to stop him.
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  He won with she Hulk's help, but the destruction from that fight
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  made her rethink everything between them.
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  Still, thanks to a heartfelt plea from Sammy's mother, Cain
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  got a reduced sentence and was sent back to the US.
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  He kept working with the X-Men while doing community service
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  and going through anger management.
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  After M Day wiped out most mutants, Cain headed to England
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  and joined a new version of Excalibur, but after a run in
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  with the the Captain universe force left him weakened.
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  He ended U being placed on the Thunderbolts rogram working
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  under Luke Cage. But that was not the last of
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  Cain. He experienced huge events that
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  shape mutant world that we know today.
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  He was granted citizenship of Cracoa.
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  He joined Nightcrawlers legionaries.
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  He was elected as a new member of the X-Men at the third
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  Hellfire gala. He experienced the fall of X.
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  He wrecked havoc on Orcas and eventually ended up on Scott
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  Summers X-Men team in Alaska where he currently is in the
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  comics. Through it all, villain hero
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  Wrecking Ball teammate Kane Marco AKA the Juggernaut never
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  really stopped being the Juggernaut.
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  He just kept figuring out what it meant.
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  So that is who Juggernaut is. Kane Marco.
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  Thank you to the listener who asked me to make this breakdown.
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  Sorry it's been some time. It took some time to research
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  and write this episode, so I hope you enjoyed it.
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  I hope you will like and subscribe, and I hope you have a
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  marvelous day.