Juggernaut finds himself getting weaker and takes a beating from The Wrecking Crew until the rest of Excalibur show up.
I love Juggernaut (although not as big a fan of him since he’s been converted from a force of nature to a force for justice) and love Wrecking Crew, so this extended battle worked for me.
To discover the cause of his powers declining, Cain’s heads the Temple of Cyttorak. The demon Cyttorak reveals that Charles Xavier, not Cain Marko, was Cyttorak’s first choice to be Juggernaut. This retcon actually makes sense when you look at the characters’ histories. It’s a very cool sequence. But Cyttorak concedes that Cain’s chaotic nature made him a better choice. At the same time, Cain’s recent attempts to “go straight” have made him a less desirable Juggernaut. (I agree—see above!)
After that, Cyttorak conditions restoring Juggy’s powers on his fighting another candidate who wants the power.
Meanwhile, the team has followed Cain—noting a swath of destruction as he began engaging in his old behavior of just plowing through anything between him and his goal.
Loving this!
During their pursuit, the team engages in truly childing squabbles over nonsense. In particular, Captain Britain and Wisdom fight over who should truly lead the team.
It’s Black Knight who is the voice of reason and tells them all to grow up.
Wow. This is the first time I’ve liked Black Knight since…Ever?
Turns out that Cyttorak was making them all act like babies—but frankly, this isn’t entirely out of the ordinary for ego-driven costumed heroes.
Excalibur enters the temple while Juggernaut is fighting for his powers. Cyttorak’s rules require Cain to slay his foe and become a “bad guy” again. Cain pauses—refusing to kill his opponent.
Cyttorak then shows his team events from his past, where Cain earned the Juggernaut mantle by killing off an entire village. This is a new addition to his origin, but it makes sense. Cain still doesn’t kill his foe. Nocturne, who’s had a simmering romance with Cain, tries to find a tender moment but…
…Juggernaut is a jerk. We are led to believe he leaves the gem behind.
Flash forward a few days and Wisdom has a talk with Cain about how they both did bad stuff, but both can be redeemed. But Wisdom says he’s watching Cain closely. Wisdom also says the he’ll never get along with Captain Britain. Once again, I’m liking a character (Wisdom) for the first time!
And we see that Cain secretly has the gem. (Which means he DID kill the unidentified candidate for the power, right?)
Also at the end, we get a seed for the future: Black Knight says his ebony blade is the wrong sword and needs to find out how it got switched out.
This was the best Excalibur story I’ve ever read. Admittedly, I tend to dislike all iterations of this series, but this story is truly a home run. It got me to root for Black Knight and Britain, it began restoring Juggernaut to his rightful alignment…Excellent all around.