Juggernaut Is Becoming a Marvel Franchise, With His Own Family to Rival the Hulk’s

The Juggernaut’s prominence in Marvel Comics is growing exponentially, not just in terms of his personal character growth, but as a figure with franchise potential akin to the Hulk. Indeed, the Juggernaut is no longer just some ‘villain-of-the-week’ who pops up here and there to cause trouble for the X-Men – in fact, he’s not even just ‘one character’ anymore at all. More ‘Juggernauts’ are being established in Marvel Comics right as Cain Marko himself is on the precipice of becoming an A-list hero.

Cain Marko’s personal journey as the Juggernaut has dramatically changed in recent canon compared to how it stood for decades prior. Marko originally gained the power of the Juggernaut after finding the Crimson Gem of Cyttorak and becoming the avatar of the demon-god, with the sole purpose of spreading chaos across the Earth. However, Marko severed ties with Cyttorak while retaining the power of the Juggernaut at the start of the Krakoan Era. Since then, the Juggernaut has been a hero of Krakoa, which recently culminated in his official inclusion on the flagship X-Men roster.

The Juggernaut is officially an X-Man, and will be featured on the main team in the mutants’ upcoming ‘From the Ashes’ era. Just as the Hulk broke the mold of his original ‘Mr. Hyde’-like depiction, to become a founding member of the Avengers, Juggernaut has put his life as a villain behind him to fight for mutantkind on the X-Men. However, that’s only the beginning of Juggernaut’s similarities to the Hulk, because just as there are many ‘Hulks’ in Marvel canon, there are now also many ‘Juggernauts’.

2 New Juggernauts Have Entered the Marvel Universe: Justin Jin & the Survivor

Marvel Voices #100 by Anthony Oliveira and Minkyu Jung & Death of Doctor Strange: The Avengers #1 by Alex Paknadel and Ryan Bodenheim

In Marvel Voices #100, readers are introduced to Justin Jin aka Kid Juggernaut. Justin’s origin lies with the Juggernaut that came before Cain Marko, a man named Jin Taiko. Taiko was Justin’s grandfather, and despite the fact that Marko usurped him as Cyttorak’s avatar, the power of the Juggernaut remained in the Jin family bloodline. The ‘gem’ passed from Taiko to his son, who then passed it down to Justin. Now, Justin Jin is the new Juggernaut by birthright, and it’s only a matter of time before his path crosses with Cain Marko.

In Death of Doctor Strange: The Avengers #1, readers are introduced to another ‘Juggernaut’, though one that is decidedly unique. Known only as the Survivor, this Juggernaut isn’t someone with Cyttorak’s power bestowed upon them, but rather someone who was born in the Crimson Dimension and fathered by Cyttorak himself. The Survivor is able to manipulate the infamous Crimson Bands, and with them, she can manifest an army of ‘hollow’ Juggernaut soldiers (and even wear the armor herself). The Survivor has yet to meet Cain Marko, but like Justin, it’s only a matter of time.

J2 by Tom DeFalco and Ron Lim

Zane Yama aka J2 is the son of Cain Marko from Earth-982, who (like Justin) inherited his Juggernaut powers from his father. While Justin Jin and the Survivor currently exist on the same world as Cain Marko, J2 is in an entirely different corner of the multiverse – but that can easily be remedied. Both Mile Morales and Spider-Gwen were once from another universe, but they crossed into Earth-616 when the time was right. And now, with the Juggernaut growing in prominence alongside the rise of other ‘Juggernauts’ in Marvel Comics, it’s time J2 made a comeback.

The Juggernaut is an A-list hero on the official X-Men team, Justin Jin just accepted his role as the new Kid Juggernaut, the Survivor made her action-packed debut in an Avengers comic, and J2 is living his life in another universe just waiting to be pulled into Earth-616. Just as the Hulk has She-Hulk, Skaar, and Amadeus Cho in his ‘Hulk Family’ following his Avengers redemption, so too does the Juggernaut have his own growing ‘family’ in Marvel Comics, meaning the narrative seeds have been planted to turn the Juggernaut into a thriving franchise.