Spider-Man once found an unlikely ally in X-Men foe Juggernaut and got to see the classic villain get one of the biggest power boosts of all time.
Peter Parker has made more than a few powerful enemies in his career as Spider-Man, even well beyond those of his own impressively colorful rogues gallery. The wall-crawler has long been able to hold his own against any of these foes, or at the very least outsmart them, but things get dicey whenever it comes time to stand alongside them. In the case of Cain Marko, Spider-Man has done all three, but it was the last of these options which proved to be the most difficult. Thankfully, their short-lived team-up also saw the Juggernaut get his biggest powerup ever as the least likely Captain Universe of all time.
Peter Parker was reeling from losing his career and reputation thanks to an ill-advised attempt to save J. Jonah Jameson, and the events of Amazing Spider-Man #627 by Roger Stern and Lee Weeks didn’t make things any better. What should have been a normal evening was interrupted by Peter’s Spider-Sense going painfully into overdrive thanks to a mysterious glow in the sky above. Not long after, a mysterious meteor tore through the sky and crashed down somewhere in Central Park, prompting Spider-Man to investigate and discover a beaten and bloodied Juggernaut unconscious in the crater he made upon impact. Once the proper authorities arrived, the Juggernaut was taken in to be contained in a secure location. Still concerned with whatever stopped the unstoppable, Spider-Man continued to look into the matter by visiting Cain Marko in his cell, and it was there Peter met the man responsible for the Juggernaut’s condition – Captain Universe.
Plenty of people in the Marvel Universe have taken up the mantle of Captain Universe, from the original Ray Coffin who fought alongside the Micronauts to even Eddie Brock during the final battle against Knull. The Enigma Force, the antithesis to Knull and his living darkness, had long spread its power across multiple hosts, and when it decided to instead impart that power to a single entity Captain Universe was born. While most of those to bear that mantle have been unwavering forces for good, William Nguyen was a far more complex version of the hero.
William was an unfortunate victim of one of the Juggernaut’s rampages who lost his job, his girlfriend, and his home before deciding to take his own life. Miraculously, William was rescued from himself by the Enigma Force, and no sooner had he realized what had happened than he turned his attention to the man responsible for leaving his life in shambles. Now imbued with powers he could only have dreamed of, William would rather destroy the Juggernaut than rescue the city from the earthquakes threatening to destroy it. Of course, the Enigma Force has always had a mind of its own, and before William can deal Marko the killing blow, his powers leach away from his body and into a stronger host. Upon diving into the Earth itself, Juggernaut uncovers a series of faults that he inadvertently caused previously, and with the Enigma Force as his guide, the classic villain was able to repair the damage he had done to the city.
In a moment truly befitting a hero, Juggernaut both apologized for his own actions and forgave Nguyen for his. Cain Marko could have easily ended the life of the man who had tried to end his, but instead, he found peace in sparing it. Spider-Man’s notion that all of them were given their power by accident had left a greater impact on the Juggernaut than anyone could have expected, and his turn as Captain Universe only reinforced for Cain that he could do better. Considering the Juggernaut’s heroic endeavors have continued to the present day, it’s safe to say that this experience changed him far more than was apparent at the time, and for who Cain Marko is today that is something that every fan can appreciate.
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