Cain Marko might be the unstoppable Juggernaut, but facing off with a threat that combines two minor Marvel villains might be too much for even him.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Juggernaut #5 by Fabian Nicieza, Ron Garney, Matt Milla, and VC’s Joe Sabino, on sale now.
Juggernaut has been nothing if not unstoppable. Even though that descriptor hasn’t always held quite true, there is very little that can keep Cain Marko down, and so far nothing has been able to do so for very long. Having traveled the world, fought mad blacksmiths, and even given the demon god Cyttorak a piece of his mind along the way, Cain more than deserves the title that he has recently reclaimed.
For all his troubles, Juggernaut has proven himself still just as capable as ever in the face of insurmountable odds. Unfortunately, it’s the things that you don’t worry about that do the worst damage, and Cain Marko has just been grounded by the combination of two of the least threatening villains in the Marvel Universe.
Cain has been working tirelessly to get D-Cel safe passage to Krakoa, as well as convincing her that she does in fact belong there, even though she isn’t a mutant. It’s a touchy subject, so the two avoid it when they can, including while crashing a superhuman prison known as the Dungeon. The two make a devastating entrance to the facility, only to discover that the building is just a front for the teleportation portal that will take them to the Dungeon’s actual location. Juggernaut shrugs off the wave of soldiers who try to stop his entrance and the warden of the facility calls of the assault before introducing himself informing his new guest that they won’t be able to let him leave anytime soon. A swarm of bees made from the combined DNA of Swarm and Toad is released, nearly bringing tears to Cain Marko’s eyes before bringing him to his knees.
Mortimer Toynbee and Fritz von Meyer, better known as Toad and the Swarm respectively, are not what anyone would consider A-list villains. Toad, one of the first members of Magneto’s Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, has always been a bit of a joke character. Not that he isn’t capable of being a threat on his own, but rather that Toad has never really been skilled enough to turn his myriad of amphibious abilities into much more than canon fodder. Swarm, much like Toad, has always had the capacity to be a lethal foe, but has never been able to overcome his own obvious vulnerabilities or reckless disposition. Formerly a Nazi scientist, Fritz fled to South America, where his experiments with irradiated bees left his body torn to pieces and his mind scattered throughout a literal hive of insects. For a villain that is potentially as immortal as he is intangible, Swarm has been overcome by some of Marvel’s greatest heroes, as well as by Doop with a can of insecticide. The track record of the two villains doesn’t seem like a concern for someone as unstoppable as Juggernaut, but all it takes is a little focus and refinement to transform even the dullest blades into lethal weapons.