Imagine the problems that could be solved if Cain Marko went to therapy.
Last time one X-Men: The Animated
Series, there was some non-Shi’ar alien shenanigans. An alien species known
as the Colony landed on their space whale on Earth. These bug-lizard-cyborgs reproduce
parasitically and came to Earth to assimilate humanity. To do this, they made
contact with and used Rogue’s ex-boyfriend/first accidental energy drain victim
Cody to contact Rogue and make her lower her guard. She was infected with their
spores and began transforming into a member of the Colony. Logan had found
their ship independently and the X-Men headed out to try to save him. He was
infected earlier and began transforming into a Colony member too, fleeing the
fight and the others are captured. Logan’s healing powers let him expel the
parasites and he shares his immunity with Rogue as well. They free the others,
but the Colony take off and try to reinfect Rogue. Professor Xavier, who’d been
watching via Cerebro, made mental contact with the space whale, the Acani, and freed
it from the Colony’s control. Acani drops the X-Men off, Rogue tries to get
Cody to come with them, but he’s already been completely assimilated into the Colony.
The Acani takes the Colony back into space and Rogue morns her lost love yet
again. Enough recap. Let’s get to it, shall we?
We start with a quick recap of
Juggernaut’s previous appearances, ending with Gladiator hurling him into the
ocean outside of Castle Cassidy. After crashing to the bottom, we see an aura
engulf the Juggernaut, protecting him from the water and pressure. He gets up
and starts walking towards shore.
The episode proper begins with an
archeologist, Eugene Torbett Widerspahn, excited cheering in an ancient ruin.
He’d dug up an ancient tablet, exclaiming that he was right and everyone else
is wrong. We learn that this the temple of Cyttorak, and that the tablet is the
Tablet of Cyttorak. Oh this doesn’t bode well for Cain Marko. We’re shown Juggernaut
walking along the sea floor as Eugene describes the powers that were fabled to
be given to the followers of Cyttorak, immortality, near invincibility, and
overwhelming power. Eugene begins to read the tablet but then remembers he needs
the Ruby of Cyttorak to make it work and hurries to find it.
Juggernaut, meanwhile, had just
reached New York. He climbed up from the sea floor to reach Brooklyn Bridge. He
causes some damage to cars stuck on the bridge before stealing a cab, sheering
off the top so he could fit in it. The cabby screams at the filthy Mutant to
return his cab, to which Marko screams he’s not a Mutant, but he knows where
one lives. Cops chase him as he drvies off but he quickly loss them by dropping
a streetlight in front of them.
At the Mansion, Charles has learned
his brother is on the way. He calls Beast for help. Beast is a bit worried
about this as members of the team are away so they’ll need an inventive
strategy to stop him. Juggernaut breaks onto the grounds, the defenses slow him
down but only a little. Charles makes a call out for the X-Men, and we learn
how screwed he is this time. Rogue and Storm were in town shopping, so that’s a
ten-minute flight at minimum. Cyclops and Wolverine, meanwhile, were on Muir Island!
So that’s a couple HOUR flight right there. They were visiting Morph, though,
so can’t blame them for that. He was in a wheelchair with Dr. McTaggart and
waved them off as they took off. Jubilee is with her folks, and Gambit has his
coat off as he’s helping fix a bus for some school kids. Juggernaut breaks into
the lower levels of the mansion, calling out for “Charlie.” Charles leads him
into the Danger Room and uses the holograms and robots to slow his brother down
and try to force him to talk it out. He breaks most of the robots, including a
robo-Hulk, and says Charles knows why Cain is so dead set on killing him.
He starts smashing up the rest of the Danger Room and causes a minor cave in. Meanwhile,
Eugene reads from the Tablet of Cyttorak while holding the Ruby. “Whosever possesses
the sacred gem, shall prepare himself to receive the power of the Crimson Bands
of Cyttorak. Read these words and go from this place a human Juggernaut!” As Eugene
finishes the incantation, Juggernaut is stripped of his powers and reverted
into his human form. Which was convenient for Charles, as he was about to cave
Charles’ chest in. Beast helps get Charles out of the Danger Room as it
collapses and buries Cain. Beast asks what happened and Charles says he’s not sure,
but Cain was absolutely terrified.
Rogue and Storm arrive, and Charles
tells them to dig out Cain. Rogue initially says no, but Charles is adamant that
they save his brother, ordering them to go in there and dig him out. Rogue
finds him, and Cain is human and in his military fatigues. They get him to the
medical bay and Beast does an examination. He says that Cain’s strength is fading
fast and without his healing powers as Juggernaut, he’ll be dead in a few
hours. Charles says that they’ll have to restore them. Storm, Rogue, and Beast
aren’t super happy with this idea, but Charles tells them the classic “he hates
me but he’s my brother!” speech. He tells them to contact Cyclops and Wolverine
and to check out the Cyttorak Ruins.
Cyclops and Wolverine both aren’t
happy with this either, but the ‘he’s the professor’s brother’ speech also sways
them. We see Eugune return to his home in a nearby village and see him
comically break things as he’s not used to the Juggernaut’s strength. He breaks
his car, couch, sink, fridge and floor in quick succession. Meanwhile, with no
other ideas, Charles’ mind scans Cain to try to figure out a way to help him. Cain
resists, because of course. We see a flashback to when the step-brothers met as
boys, where Charles was excited to have someone to horseback ride with but Cain
was obviously a dick even when he was like 10. He knocks Charles to the ground
and promises that he’ll step on Charles with every chance he gets. He’s pulled
off of Charles by his father, Dr. Kurt Marko. Kurt acts kind to Charles,
helping him up and saying he’s going to talk with Cain. Once alone, he screams
at Cain for messing with Charles, saying that if his mother divorces Kurt they’ll
be out all that money. He says he’ll need to get rid of Cain before he messes
up his plan. Future Charles is confused at hearing his stepfather had a ‘plan.’
Later, Cain tells Charles he’s being sent to Boarding school which seems to bum
Charles. Kurt says that this’ll be less of a burden on Charles’ mom, who was
extremely ill. Charles telepathy starts going off and he learns that his mother’s
illness is worse than his stepdad let on. Kurt has the maid take him to his
room. When alone, Cain asks how long he’ll be at that School and Kurt tells him
he’ll be there until he can learn to be nice to the geek. He’s sure Mrs. Xavier
won’t be around much longer. Cain seems to relish this memory of his father maneuvering
Mrs. Xavier to steal Charles’ family money. Charles breaks the connection and must
process the fact that despite his mother loving Kurt, that Kur had just been
using her.
Eugene, meanwhile, got dressed up
and headed out to the club. I’m shocked there was a Men’s Big and Tall out here
but what are ya going to do. He tries to show off with his new power, but he
just keeps embarrassing himself. Cyclops and Wolverine arrive and try to ask
him to give up his powers nicely. He refuses. There’s a quick scuffle where he
throws them around, but they knock the ruby from him, grab it, and run. Eugene
tries to stop them but they throw him off and into a studio filming a Power
Rangers series it seems.
Hearing they have the Ruby; Charles
tries another mind probe. This time he remembers Cain returning from Boarding
School and the two of them playing polo. He tries to ask about why Cain didn’t
visit them during the summer. Cain says that he had better things to do. Charles
telepathy kicked in again and he saw Cain remembering sitting in his room and
crying about his father liking Charles more than him. Charles tries to comfort
Cain, revealing that he can read minds. Cain knocks him from his horse and
starts calling him a Mutie. Charles apologizes to Cain, saying that he didn’t
have control of his powers back then. Cain can’t believe Charles is still on
his martyr complex, saying that he’s an idiot and that Cain spent years making
sure everyone hated him, including a girl named Sondra that he’d had a crush on
in high school. Charles breaks the connection and is clearly in pain knowing
that Cain hates him so deeply.
Later, Storm joins him and Charles
dumps some of his trauma on her. He knows that Cain Marko is a sadistic bully
and that he deserves no sympathy. He knows that Cain is a monster and tells her
not to ask him to forgive Cain. Storm says she’d never do that, but does ask
him to understand Cain and to not let their grudge make him worse. The X-Men gather,
and Charles connects to Cain’s mind again. The man keeps mentally diving in
perhaps the most hostile location for him, props to Charles. He tells his
brother that they got the Ruby for him. Cain demands to know what’s in it for Charles
to help him, and Charles says just the satisfaction of having saved him. Cain
swears to always be Charles’ that he will always hate him and be a living
nightmare to him. Charles says that that is his burden to bear. This seems to
piss Cain off more, he grabs Charles and says that he doesn’t care and why can’t
Charles get that through his skull. Charels that maybe someday he will care. He
vanishes and Cain recites the incantation, transforming back into the
Juggernaut. Eugene, who was wrecking that club, reverts back to normal. He drops
the tables he was holding and everyone runs off. He pulls a broken table off
the woman he’d tried to flirt with earlier, who thanks him with a hug, and he passes
out. At the Mansion, Cain announces that no one will ever take his power from
him again and hurls the Ruby of Cyttorak into orbit. I’d have kept it with me
but whatever. The others expect a fight, but Juggernaut tells them to buzz off,
he’ll be back when he feels like a fight. Cyclops asks if they should follow
him, but Charles says to let him go as this might just be his brother’s bizarre
way of saying thank you.
This was a fun look back on the
lives of Charles Xavier and Cain Marko. The only other show I saw that ever
acknowledged their fraternal status was X-Men: Evolution, and they
always kept it vague, only saying that Cain’s hatred of Charles stemmed from a
failed relationship with their father (in that universe they’re half-brothers that
share a father). As far as I’m aware, this is the exact relationship that they
have in the comics, stepbrothers who grew to resent each other due to Kurt
Marko being a colossal dick. Though, I believe he’s even worse in the comics,
with the implication he’d actually killed Charles’ father to maneuver himself into
the Xavier family wealth. And I like that they stuck to this, that the blame
for Cain’s relationship with his dad sucking is because Kurt objectively sucks
as a man and parent. But like many a neglected and emotionally abused child
before him, it’s easier for Cain to hold onto the hate he feels for Charles than
it is to analyze his feelings with any depth. And I ultimately liked that Cain
was willing to call a truce for now as an indirect thank you for saving him.
Theirs is a relationship that will never be much more than it is, but Cain is a
big enough man to give a good turn when he receives one. And Eugene was fun, a
man that took on the powers of Cyttorak just to try to seem cool and fumbling
about it the whole time. I don’t think this would have worked in comics, as
Cyttorak is a more active being on 616 Comics Earth. I just don’t see a god of
chaos and destruction jumping vessels mid-destruction, that’s not his usual
bag. And it indirectly shows how important practice is when it comes to superhuman
powers. Cain Marko as Juggernaut can dish out however much force he wants, where
I don’t think Eugene Widersahn ever figured out how to grip something without breaking
it. Hope he had fun with his limited time with superpowers. Next time Omega Red’s
back and looking to cause some damage.
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Bluesky: @basicssuperhero.bsky.social
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