Juggernaut is one of the X-Men’s most famous villains, and one alternate universe take on Cain Marko did his origin better than any others by tying it more closely to crucial X-Men history. By making the link between Cain and Professor X more important, this story not only improves Juggernaut, but also fixes problems with Xavier along the way.
Introduced all the way back in 1965’s X-Men #12 by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Alex Toth and Vince Colletta, Cain Marko is the stepbrother of Professor Charles Xavier. After discovering the mystical Crimson Gem of Cytorrak, Cain is transformed into the unstoppable Juggernaut, becoming a reoccurring villain for the X-Men. If there’s one issue with Cain as a villain, it’s that he doesn’t fill any one role perfectly. He does fight the X-Men, but often more by circumstance than anything else. Similarly, while he has a grudge against Professor X, he isn’t ever a major threat to Xavier in the way other characters like Magneto are.
In One Reality, Juggernaut is Xavier’s Worst Villain
The 2009–10 miniseries X-Men Noir: Mark of Cain by Fred Van Lente and Dennis Calero fixes this problem perfectly by making Cain the one who originally paralyzed Charles Xavier. In the series’ third issue, it’s revealed that Cain knocked Charles down a staircase while bullying him as a child, leaving Xavier paralyzed. In the mainstream Earth-616 continuity, Charles is paralyzed by Lucifer, an alien plotting to invade Earth, as first shown in Roy Thomas, Werner Roth and Dick Ayers’ X-Men #20. Giving this role to Cain instead makes him much more central to Xavier’s life and gives their shared backstory a gravitas it’s often lacking. It also sidesteps the absurdity of the Lucifer origin from X-Men #20, which is firmed rooted in a certain Silver Age silliness.
The mundanity of Cain and Xavier’s fight in Mark of Cain is equally refreshing. While it’s narratively thrilling to have Xavier lose the use of his legs in a battle with a supervillain, having it be an accident feels more realistic. Characters can have disabilities that aren’t directly related to some greater story, and this story makes Xavier a much more realistic figure. It also helps avoid the ableist trope of Xavier’s disability being some great tragic loss, as if his legs were “sacrificed” for some greater good.
Mark of Cain also isn’t the only adaptation that’s chosen to tie Xavier’s paralysis to a greater foe. Most well known is Charles’ paralysis in the film X-Men: First Class, which happens when Magneto reflects a bullet into Xavier’s spine. Similarly, in X-Men: The Animated Series, Xavier is paralyzed after fighting the Shadow King in Cairo. This mirrors how Xavier is paralyzed a second time in the comics by the Shadow King in Uncanny X-Men #280 by Fabian Nicieza, Steven Butler, Andy Kubert, Scott Williams, Michael Blair, Josef Rubenstein, and Joe Rosas. In fact, Professor X has regained the ability to walk without a wheelchair multiple times in the comics. However, in each case, it’s only a matter of time before he inevitably loses the ability to walk once again, thanks to the ultimate comics villain: the status quo. While Charles currently has the ability to walk thanks to his resurrection on Krakoa, who’s to say how long this will last; and with the Juggernaut also a resident of the X-Men‘s island nation, who knows what might happen between the two brothers in the future.
