WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Deadpool 2, in theaters now.


For those who aren't familiar with Juggernaut, he's not a mutant, but the human stepbrother of X-Men founder Charles Xavier. Cain's father, Dr. Marko, favored Charles, which caused Cain to bully his stepbrother. That in turn drove Dr. Marko to beat Cain. Years of jealousy and abuse, coupled with the nature of Xavier's powers, caused Cain to view Charles as his enemy. Upon hearing about Charles' mutant ability from his dying father, Cain developed the delusion that Charles had always been invading his thoughts. Eventually, it all became too much for young Cain to handle, so he ran away and became a mercenary before joining the U.S Army. It was during that time that Marko stumbled into the Temple of Cyttorak and found the mystical gem that turned him into the unstoppable avatar of Cyttorak.

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X-Men: The Last Stand presented audiences with a character who bore the right name and was more or less unstoppable, but didn't quite seem like the Juggernaut fans knew. Unlike his comic book counterpart, the film's Juggernaut was clearly stated to be a mutant without an ounce of mystical aid from otherworldly crimson deities. While comic book Juggernaut is only invulnerable duet to a mystical force field, the film's Juggernaut seemed to lack that limitation. You might also notice the film's Juggernaut was pretty much the same size as a human instead of a gargantuan mass of muscle and mystic powers. All things considered, that's actually one of the forgivable flaws of the adaptation.

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What wasn't forgivable, however, was transforming a relatively complex character into a borderline generic villain by stripping him of any depth and connection to the X-Men through his relationship with Xavier. It's the one thing that elevated Juggernaut above all the rest of the antagonists in terms of motivation: He didn't want to take over the world, and he didn't really set out to hurt people, just those who got in his way or threatened his friends and allies.

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In his early years, he was driven by deep-seated, unresolved issues stemming from childhood,  but the film gives us no evidence of a familial connection, unless you count two different but ultimately British accents. Without that crucial relationship between Marko and Xavier, X-Men: The Last Stand failed to give its Juggernaut any depth. In fact, by the final act, it seemed the character had only been introduced to give life to an internet meme from 2005.

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So how does Deadpool 2 fix all these problems? By helping us forget they ever existed with the introduction of a new and improved Juggernaut.

This time, he's bigger and badder and in more ways than one. Yes, he's the right size and the he's invulnerable, for the most part (although the source of his powers is never made clear), but more than that, he actually feels like a formidable threat. The amount of destruction he causes in the film and the effects of his presence (i.e. compelling Cable to seek help from Deadpool and X-Force) are worthy of a character who bears the title, the Unstoppable Juggernaut, unlike his predecessor, who was essentially another pawn in Magneto's army.

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The film has larger themes to explore, so, while we never get an in-depth look at the character, the film passively offers just enough information to let fans know the X-Men franchise is remaining just a little more faithful to the comic book character this time around. For example, as Juggernaut and Russell make their way up to the front doors of the Essex House for Mutant Rehabilitation, we hear Cain telling the young mutant why he wears a helmet. He explains that his brother was always trying to get into his head, before mentioning his brother needs a wheelchair, so for him, it evens out. That's enough of a description to let fans know just who Cain Marko's brother is in this continuity.

There are still so many questions about the character that have to be answered. While nothing is certain, we know a second appearance is very much a possibility. After all, he didn't die in that pool at the end of the film; we can see him climb out as the camera pans away from the twisted mutant orphanage. Whether it's in an X-Force film or possibly Deadpool 3, we hope Juggernaut returns and we hope we get to see more of the supervillain Deadpool 2 just redeemed.


In theaters Friday nationwide, director David Leitch’s Deadpool 2 stars Ryan Reynolds as the titular Deadpool, Morena Baccarin as Vanessa, T.J. Miller as Weasel, Leslie Uggams as Blind Al, Brianna Hildebrand as Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Stefan Kapičić as Colossus, Zazie Beetz as Domino, Julian Dennison as Russell and Josh Brolin as Cable.