While Juggernaut is finally getting his due on Marvel’s main X-Men roster, Marvel is also giving fans a similar musclebound hero over in the pages of the revamped X-Force. As Marvel announces the new team – led by Omega-level mutant Forge – fans get to see a drastically redesigned Tank. As a huge and hulking mutant who’s more than just a strong guy, Tank’s powers and abilities make him a fresh addition to the world of X-Men.
As the X-Men line relaunches this July, Marvel has unveiled the new X-Force team led by Forge with members including Betsy Braddock, Rachel Summers, Surge, and Sage. A curious standout on the new roster is Tank, a colossal body-morphing mutant with a brand-new redesign from his one prior appearance in Marvel Comics.
X-Force #1 (2024) | |
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Release Date: | July 31, 2024 |
Writer: | Geoffrey Thorne |
Artists: | Marcus To |
Cover Artist: | Stephen Segovia |
A new path forged! The world is fractured. Forge uses his powers to devise the only fix: an all-new, all-different X-Force! Forge leads a custom-made, handpicked team of mutants in off-the-books missions so dire, so integral to the fate of the Marvel Universe, there’s no time to stop for permission! | |
Stephen Segovia’s cover for X-Force #1 gives the first look at the towering red Tank. This updated version of the character sports a very different look from his 2019 debut in the pages of Ironheart. However, despite this significant change, Juggernaut fans should be very excited for Tank’s new prominence.
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Tank has only made one brief appearance in Marvel Comics, so his inclusion in the next X-Force is an interesting and inspired choice. His original appearance was in Ironheart #6 by Eve L. Ewing, Kevin Libranda, Matt Milla, and Clayton Cowles, taking a villainous role against the young hero in a team-up with Miles Morales’ Spider-Man. Tank first appeared as a small and slender mutant running a strange experiment on Miles that kept him in a Groundhog Day-style time loop. Though he showed interest in and exhibited abilities involving space-time travel through portals, he is also able to manipulate his own molecular structure to become a Juggernaut-style giant.
When Ironheart stopped Tank’s scientific study on the unwilling Spider-Man, Tank lashed out and used his molecular-based powers to shapeshift into a massive muscled form to fight the two heroes. The mutant power to take on this gargantuan size and strength allowed him to go toe-to-toe against the two Champions and hold his own. However, his penchant for space-time portals was ultimately turned against him, resulting in his disappearance. Not mentioned since that issue of Ironheart, Tank’s sudden reappearance as a hulking figure with a red-colored redesign is a fascinating development for the X-Force relaunch.
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X-Men’s New Era Won’t Be Short on Superhuman Muscle
Tank isn’t the only mountainous villain turned hero to join a major team for the line-wide relaunch, as a new-and-improved Juggernaut has officially joined the X-Men. The X-Men’s usual lineups have rarely included characters with the vast size or strength of heroes like the Hulk or the Thing, with mutants like Beast or Colossus coming closest. The reformation of Juggernaut in the Krakoa era allowed Cain Marko to join the team as a non-mutant ally with godly strength and mass. Along with the addition of Tank, the diversity of power-levels and sizes has been increasing with the newly revealed X-teams.
Juggernaut has never just been strong – in fact, he has some of the most complex powers in X-Men lore. His magic momentum comes from an alternate reality, and was originally gifted to him by his demonic patron Cyttorak. This mystic connection created a lot of versatility in how Juggernaut used his powers, and also kept fans guessing on his power level, which fluctuated with Cyttorak’s favor. The result was an incredibly powerful antihero who always had something new to show fans, and could genuinely surprise them with feats like laying out the Hulk. Tank’s bizarre molecular strength is cut from the same cloth, taking the coolest elements of Juggernaut and using them to give X-Force one of the most intriguing new recruits of X-Men’s upcoming 2024 revamp.
X-Force #1 will be available July 31, 2024 from Marvel Comics.
Source: Marvel
X-Force
X-Force is a superhero franchise that started in 1991 when the team debuted in The New Mutants #100. Since their initial debut, the team has been included in various Marvel story-arcs and the characters have appeared in video games, TV shows, and movies. An X-Force movie was in the works but was canceled in 2019 after Disney purchased 20th Century Fox.
