Warning: Spoilers ahead for Nightcrawlers #3Even in an alternate timeline, Juggernaut can’t escape his role as a deadly weapon and his latest codename confirms it. In Nightcrawlers #3, longtime villain and occasional antihero Juggernaut’s place in the Sins of Sinister universe proves to readers that even the distant future can’t change the fate of mutantkind’s go-to muscle.
As a part of the larger Sins of Sinister line-wide event, Nightcrawlers #3 by Si Spurrier and Phillip Sevy centers around Mother Righteous, an alternate cloned version of Mister Sinister on her own mission to correct Sinister’s mistakes that led to their nightmarish future. As a part of her plan, she calls on Juggernaut, now known as “The Lonely Bullet,” to help accomplish her goal. It’s revealed that he’s been torpedoing around space waiting to be called on since he was last seen being used to kill Thanos in Sins of Sinister #1 by Kieron Gillen and Lucas Werneck. In the 1,000 years since then, he has been speeding through the cosmos, waiting to be of use again. The wait is over in this issue as he is used as a bullet to deliver a headshot to an enormous Ghost Rider version of Galactus, killing the Devourer of Worlds and allowing Mother Righteous to move on to the next stage of her plan. His new name may be accurate, but also highlights what makes Juggernaut such a tragic character.
Juggernaut’s Latest Codename Recognizes a Tragic Character History
Juggernaut has had a variety of roles throughout his character history, but they all share a striking resemblance. From one of the first enemies of the X-Men to reluctant ally to even occasional teammate, Juggernaut is surprisingly important in the X-Men lore. It’s no surprise then that he has a place in the Sins of Sinister story. When Nightcrawlers #3 takes place, 1,000 years have passed since Mister Sinister took control of the mutant population by manipulating the Krakoan Resurrection Protocols. Mother Righteous is on her own mission, and when she calls on Juggernaut to come from his solitude in space to aid in her quest to take control of the galaxy, he does so by no choice of his own. As the Lonely Bullet, the latest version of Juggernaut is the epitome of what he hasn’t been able to escape since his Silver Age debut—that of someone constantly acting as a weapon in the service of others.
As one of the earliest villains of the X-Men, it’s perhaps even darker then that most of Juggernaut’s character history has been little more than hired muscle in the service of other characters. As the resentful human step-brother of Professor Xavier, Juggernaut originally gets his powers from the Crimson Gem of Cyttorak, an ancient deity that gives him his superhuman strength and invulnerability. It’s a stark contrast to his mutant counterparts that Juggernaut owes his very power to another being and establishes a grim theme. From working alongside fellow X-Men antagonist Black Tom Cassidy as a reoccurring supervillain in the pages of Chris Claremont’s Uncanny X-Men run to a reformed criminal in Jeff Parker’s Thunderbolts series, Juggernaut is rarely shown outside the context of working for other, more calculating interests. Being the team weapon is a fate Juggernaut has never been able to truly escape.
With the upcoming Hellfire Gala set to announce the upcoming year’s X-Men team lineup, fans have an opportunity to vote in Juggernaut as an official member of the team. If he does win the fan vote, perhaps Juggernaut will finally be able to escape his place as the designated “bullet” of the Marvel Universe.
Nightcrawlers #3 is now available from Marvel Comics!
