The Juggernaut lives up to his name as a being of immense physical prowess and stature. A large man imbued with mystical powers, he has virtually unstoppable momentum as well as superstrength and durability. In 2020, the regular member of the Brotherhood of Mutants and occasional good guy, busts his way through to his 55th birthday in comics.

The prolific creative team of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby introduced Juggernaut in X-Men #12 (July 1965). He was introduced as Cain Marko who becomes stepbrothers with Charles Xavier when his father and Charles’ mom get married. His father, Kurt, shows Charles favoritism which builds resentment in Cain, who in turn bullies his stepbrother.

The two served in the army in Korea where Cain finds a temple dedicated to the mystical entity Cyttorak. Inside he finds a ruby with an inscription promising that whoever touches it will be given powers and turn into a human juggernaut. When the temple caves in during the transformation, he is presumed dead – that is until he resurfaces during an assault on the X-Men. Juggernaut breaches the mansion’s defenses and confronts Charles while the X-Men regroup and the Fantastic Four is called to help. The Human Torch basically hypnotizes Juggernaut with pulses of flames so that Angel can remove his helmet and Charles can pacify him telepathically.

Wanting revenge, Juggernaut returns for another fight and is met by Cyclops, Marvel Girl, and Doctor Strange. They find a jewel of Cyttorak and banish him to Cyttorak’s home dimension in the Crimson Cosmos. Finding his way back, Juggernaut returns with mystical abilities and confronts Doctor Strange but is sent to another universe.

He gets back to Earth but has aged quite a bit and loses yet another confrontation with the X-Men, this time against Beast, and goes back to that dimension. There, another entity is able to reverse his aging and takes away his mystical abilities. Juggernaut is pulled back to Earth at the Hulkbuster base, then the Hulk helps him escape the base, but turns on him when Juggernaut attacks a person. He and Black Tom Cassidy become friends and take on the new X-Men. When Tom plummets off Cassidy Keep, Juggernaut jumps into the sea after him.

Later Juggernaut, Black Tom, and Siryn steal a shipment of vibranium and after a fight with Spider-Woman and the X-Men, Juggernaut is the only one to evade capture. Once Juggernaut frees them from prison, Black Tom sends Juggernaut to capture Madame Web. In the process, Juggernaut destroys several city blocks before Spider-Man guides him into setting concrete. After digging himself out, Juggernaut is chosen by Mephisto to fight the cosmic entity, the Beyonder. In the late ‘80s, he fights the Thunder God Thor and the New Warriors in Acts of Vengeance.

During the ‘90s, Juggernaut continued fighting the X-Men and appeared in titles with X-Force, Doctor Strange, Deadpool, Venom, and he briefly partnered with Red Skull. In ’97 he starred in a solo story and the “Eighth Day” storyline when the Exemplars were introduced. The Juggernaut and seven humans were given powers and corrupted by mystical entities, acting as their avatars on Earth. He resists Cyttorak’s influence and gets captured by the other Exemplars, but is saved by the Avengers.

Juggernaut switches to the side of the good guys, joining the X-Men. He becomes friends with a young mutant named Sammy Paré, but when the boy learns that Black Tom Cassidy is planning to attack the X-Men, he is killed. Juggernaut retaliates by attacking Cassidy and his allies which leaves him the Mojoverse.

He returned once again, this time to join New Excalibur. Juggernaut’s origin is fleshed out in this series, revealing that he is the most recent in a series of Cyttorak’s avatars. In World War Hulk his power starts to dwindle until he strengthens his link to Cyttorak by returning to being a villain.

In The Gauntlet storyline, Spider-Man finds Juggernaut unconscious and the government takes him to a secure facility. The new Captain Universe breaks in to kill Juggernaut because he wants revenge on Cain for ruining his life while trying to get Madame Web. The power of Captain Universe leaves the man known as William Nguyen and enters Juggernaut. Now as Captain Universe, Juggernaut repairs damage he had caused to New York City during the conflict that ruined Nguyen’s life.

In the Heroic Age story Luke Cage becomes the leader of the Thunderbolts and reluctantly considers Juggernaut for the team. Professor X convinces Luke to give Juggernaut the chance for redemption. For his part, Juggernaut agrees to work with Luke, in part because he is suffused with nanomachines that affect him.

In Fear Itself Serpent: God of Fear sends Hammers of the Worthy to Earth and one lands near Juggernaut. He takes the hammer and becomes Kuurth: Breaker of Stone. After destroying the Raft and instigating a prison break, he fights the X-Men, prompting members of the team to go to Cyttorak’s dimension to let it know that the Serpent is controlling Juggernaut. Colossus gets Cyttorak’s power and defeats Kuurth, sending the power out of Juggernaut.

After Fear Itself Juggernaut is without the power of Cyttorak and Kuurth, though he retains his mammoth size. He is taken to the borders of Sharzhad with the Thunderbolts where Satana and Man-Thing open a door to the Crimson Cosmos. Juggernaut puts his hand through the opening and regains his power as an unstoppable force. He breaks through the force field surrounding the country and the Thunderbolts are able to stop a deadly threat. He loses the borrowed power and turns to a life of peace and quiet.

Cyttorak makes the Crimson Gem reappear and call for a new candidate to take its power. Juggernaut and Colossus both feel the call to the Gem’s location. But instead of fighting for the power, Juggernaut and Colossus both want to destroy the Gem and stop a new being from gaining its power. The Living Monolith claims the power of the Gem and when Colossus tries to convince him to hand over the power so that he can kill Cyttorak, the Living Monolith instead gives the power back to Juggernaut. Now more powerful than he’d ever been, Juggernaut goes on a rampage. Colossus takes him down, sending Juggernaut over a cliff and into the ocean.

He resurfaces to find who killed Charles Xavier and is apprehended by SHIELD but is then summoned by Dr. Voodoo to the X-Mansion. Juggernaut immediately starts fighting the X-Men but they are able to remove his helmet and Dr. Voodoo summons Cyttorak minions who carry him back to Cyttorak’s realm.

Juggernaut is set to lead his own comic series later in 2020. Who knows what barriers he’ll have to break along the way.