During his time as a member of the X-Men, former adversary Cain Marko, AKA the Juggernaut, acted like a knock-off version of Colossus and even admitted he enjoyed it. Having originally joined the X-Men as an undercover agent for the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, Cain surprisingly changed his mind and remained loyal to his former enemies. When the X-Men crossed paths with the Exiles, their mission of fighting an evil version of Alex Summers saw Cain do his own version of the Fastball Special, the popular Wolverine-Colossus move that suggests despite their longstanding rivalry, Colossus may actually be the superior hero.
The Exiles are a group of mutant heroes from other Earths tasked with traveling to parallel dimensions to help ensure specific events in history occur or great disasters are prevented. The overseeing entity called the Timebroker explains that Alex Summers’ awareness of himself throughout the multiverse eventually caused enough trouble that he was eliminated with only a handful of Havoks left throughout the infinite worlds. The Exiles are tasked with traveling to the mainstream Marvel universe to save this Havok’s life to which they are unsuccessful, despite their best efforts. A near-death injury allows the consciousness of a malevolent Havok from another Earth to possess this universe’s body, the reawakened Havok maliciously attacking his former friends, students, and the Exiles.
In Exiles #29-30 “Unnatural Instincts” storyline by Chuck Austen and Clayton Henry, the Juggernaut sees the damage the evil Havok wreaks up on the Exiles. Learning of Nocturne’s plan to temporarily possess Havok’s body to stall his warpath, Cain decides to expedite the plan with his own version of a Fastball Special, something he admits he’d always wanted to try. Despite Nocturne’s objections, she flies and collides with Havok, the contact only allowing the original Havok a few moments of control before his doppelganger assumes control again. Later during their final battle with Havok, Nocturne figures out a better plan and requests another Fastball to which Cain declares, “I’m starting to love this job.”
The Juggernaut and Colossus have a wall-breaking rivalry since Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum’s X-Men #102, where despite Colossus’ impressive strength, he was outclassed by the Juggernaut. They appeared more evenly matched during 2011’s Fear Itself event when Colossus agreed to become Cyttorak’s new Juggernaut to combat Cain’s new form empowered by the mystical power of Kuurth. Juggernaut’s proposal to do his own version of the Fastball Special suggests that he admires Colossus and enjoys filling his role as the X-Men’s powerhouse. When the move is called for again, it’s clear Juggernaut was truly enjoying his time as a hero instead of pretending that he did.
Despite the fact that the Exiles have faced the Juggernaut as an adversary in the past, this change of pace saw them working together to prevent something worse from endangering this world and the multiverse at large. They are successful at banishing the evil Havok and allowing the mainstream Alex Summers regain control of his body. Although the Juggernaut has returned to his villainous ways since then, his desire to emulate Colossus is a victory to Piotr that will not be forgotten.
