Posted in: Comics | Tagged: marvel, x-men, X-ual Healing - The Weekly X-Men Recap Column

How Cain Marko Got His Groove Back in Juggernaut #4 [XH]

Published Mon, 14 Dec 2020 14:30:30 -0600

Hello folks, and welcome to X-ual Healing, Bleeding Cool's long-running weekly X-Men recap column. We're so close to the end of the hell-year known as 2020 that I can taste it. Just a few more weeks and it will be 2021, and you know what that means: I need to ramp up clickbait production so I can schedule a bunch of articles in advance and take Christmas Day off. Anyone got any leads? Email me or post 'em in the comments. It's for a good cause: me getting literally one day off the entire year. And that means you all get the day off from me, too! A fair trade, I'd say. I can make a 300-word SEO keyword-rich article out of literally anything, so nothing's off-limits. Now, it's time for some recapping, as Marvel published Juggernaut #4, Marauders #16, and SWORD #1 this week.

Sworn to sell comics for Marvel executives who feared and hated the fact that Fox owned their movie rights, The Uncanny X-Men suffered great indignities. Still, thanks to a corporate merger, a line-wide relaunch, and Jonathan Hickman's giant ego, the X-Men can finally get back to doing what they do best: being objectively the best franchise in all of comics for lovers of soap opera drama.

[MULTINAV]

JUGGERNAUT #4 (OF 5)
OCT200650
(W) Fabian Nicieza (A) Ron Garney (CA) Geoff Shaw
KNOCK DOWN, DRAG OUT!
For once, Juggernaut is worried about something other than himself. It's not easy, it's not what he's used to… but D-Cell is counting on him. Try and stop him from helping.
Rated T+
In Shops: Dec 09, 2020
SRP: $3.99

Juggernaut #4 Recap

The Juggernaut leaps out of a Damage Control helicopter over North Dakota. He is not wearing a facemask even though North Dakota is a COVID-19 hotspot. Way to set an example, big guy. He lands with enough force to penetrate an abandoned underground bunker formerly owned and operated by Factor 3.

Juggernaut is attacked by Primus, who captures Juggernaut and drops him off in Arnim Zola's lab, where Zola has a new robot body. Zola spills the beans on his plans: the reason he sent Quicksand to try to kidnap D-Cel last issue is because she's a mutant, Zola needs mutants for his experiments, and Krakoa has made mutants hard to come by.

In a flashback to illustrate, in Zola's words, how Juggernaut can understand "the lengths one goes to acquire power," we see Cain Mark infiltrate a O.N.E. storage facility and steal the remaining shards of the destroyed Gem of Cyttorak. Cyttorak once again bonds with Marko by making glowing lines on his suit and giving him the Juggernaut powers.

Back in the now, D-Cel wants to leave the chopper and help her friend Juggernaut. Damage Control says no. So she leaps out of the chopper and uses her powers to slow her fall and land softly. She infiltrates the facility and, still denying she is a mutant, attacks Zola and Primus, only to be captured herself.

Juggernaut gets helluva pissed off watching this, prompting a flashback to "months ago" where Cyttorak tells him to go out and be a bad guy, but Juggernaut is all like, "you're not my boss any more." In the present, he escapes his bonds, kicks Primus and Zola's asses, and rescues D-Cel.

Zola claims he too is being controlled by The Dungeon, a for-profit supervillain prison. They're the ones who want D-Cel. Juggernaut will go after them next issue.

I love the pairing of Juggernaut and D-Cel. I also love how the book is formatted such that it gets through a complete and satisfying story in each issue while they all fit together as part of a large narrative. But I'm sad there's only one issue left. I have no idea how this book is selling, and I realize Marvel doesn't really know how to publish comics on a long-term basis anymore, but I'd love to see more stories featuring these two. Well, assuming one or both aren't killed off next issue. You never know.