WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Juggernaut #3 by Fabian Nicieza, Ron Garney, Matt Milla, and VC's Joe Sabino, on sale now.
After spending months on the sidelines, the Juggernaut has smashed back into the Marvel Universe in style in his own titular miniseries and in the pages of Savage Avengers. From saving children from falling buildings to becoming an online celebrity while fighting the Hulk, and dive-bombing an Asgardian dragon, Cain Marko has been as unstoppable as ever, even though he hasn't had the iconic helmet and Gem of Cyttorak that grants him his powers.
After an encounter with a demonic form of the X-Men's Magik left him lost in Limbo, Juggernaut had to barter his old armor and his powers for a way back to the Marvel Universe. And now, Juggernaut #3 finally provided some answers to how Cain got his powers back in the first place, along with a potential new weakness.
A few months ago, Cain climbed a desolate mountain in North Korea, where the Forge of Cyttorak, a tower of stone with a five-story wheel looking out over the edge, stood. After entering the forge, Cain finds a blacksmith and tells him that he was the Juggernaut and that he would be again, thanks to the suit of bright red armor hanging from chains above them. The blacksmith tells Cain that he has spent decades hunting down mystic artifacts that could bring the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak into their dimension and keep them stable. If it wasn't already from the location of the Forge, it soon becomes clear that the blacksmith has been toiling away on his own, and getting rid of any others who stick around too long. He says that all of this has been so Cyttorak would make him into his next host, and he swings a sledgehammer at Cain, crying that no one will stop him.
Cain dodges the blacksmith's strikes, dodging underneath one that breaks the pulleys free from their lock, sending the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak crashing down on Cain Marko. The bands bend and twist themselves, sending flashes of bright red energy flying off of Cain's body, fully engulfing him in the Juggernaut's mighty power once again.
While that flashback sequence explains how Cain Marko regained the Juggernaut's powers, another moment in the issue hints at its potential weakness. While Cain Marko is in court, the proceedings are interrupted by the emergence of an enraged Quicksand outside. Having taken a massive form and, for some reason, spewing threats in broken German, Quicksand demands that Cain hand over his new friend, D-Cel. Sensing something off about his old supervillain acquaintance, Juggernaut sheds his jacket, and red energy glows out from Cain's chest.
The Crimson Bands of Cyttorak envelope Cain Marko once more, forming his armor around him as he runs headfirst into battle. D-Cel is quick to start filming, informing her viewers that while Cain still won't tell her how he got his new armor, it still makes him unstoppable and invulnerable. However, it seems that not wearing the armor is the one new weakness the Juggernaut now has.
The Crimson Bands of Cyttorak have been used as a binding spell in the Marvel Universe for a long time, most often employed by Doctor Strange. In the Forge of Cyttorak, either through itself being somehow connected to the demon god, or solely through the blacksmith's actions, these bands were made permanently tangible in the Marvel Universe, where they would normally only manifest for a few seconds at a time before disappearing back to their own dimension.
And now, the enchantment of Cyttorak only seems to extend as far as those bands reach, and anything that could jeopardize Cain's ability to summon them could prove to be a fatal flaw in his new design. While Cain Marko still casts an imposing figure on his own, the Juggernaut may just still a little bit less unstoppable than he was.
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