Juggernaut

I like Juggernaut.

There, I said it.

*whew*

What's more, I like him as a hero. It's a nifty concept, really. Guy who for the passed forty-odd years of his existence in comics has been a villain (however reluctant that may be at times) decides to seek redemption. Thanks to Marvel's sliding time scale policy, these four decades of rampaging destruction are crushed to something more like ... never mind pre F4 events really don't fit with that time scale, and Xavier/Cain/Magneto kinda occupy that time period. Moving on. It's the idea of this guy being a hero after being the bad guy for so long, that really gets to me. The quest for redemption.

It's not like it's all that unwarranted. He tried to stop Onslaught, and helped the X-Men realize who he really was. He helped the Avengers (Iron Man, Thor, Xavier, and Spider-Man to be exact) stop the Exemplars from destroying the world. He joined the SCA to track down and stop supervillains.

Even before that, when he was a "bad guy" he had started to lose a lot of his punch. When Dazzler joined the team, he acted like an obsessed fanboy. Even when she was wailing on him with her powers he refused to really fight her. Instead, he thought he'd killed her when he knocked her unconscious to make her stop attacking him. He even built her a grave (which, ironically, almost killed her in truth. But, still it's the thought that counts). Sure, in the beginning, he was all about killing Xavier and the X-Men. But, soon afterwards, his appearances became more about him being a petty thug and the heroes trying to stop him. He wasn't really about taking over the world, or even killing people. He just wanted to make money.

And he kept getting cast as a hero. Reluctant though it could be.

And, we learned things throughout his appearances that endeared him to me. Ya he was a bully and real terror to Xavier, but his father was abusive and sent him to military school so he wouldn't have to deal with him. He comes home to find that he's been effectively replaced by another family. His brother experimented with his powers on Cain's mind. Cytorrak wanted Xavier, not Cain. He has a ... special... undefined friendship with Black Tom Cassidy and likes bubblegum pop (Dazzler always comes off as Britany Spears to me... even during her disco phase). And, he loves kids.

And, that's the real kicker.

He's this big invulnerable super-strong behemoth of a man who has literally ripped people in half. He's killed, maimed, robbed, and threatened everything under the sun at one point or another in his career. Yet, he listens to Dazzler, and he likes little kids. "Because there aint been time to screw 'em up yet".

He's hopeful. He honestly believes that kids are good and pure and the future in all the warm soft and pink fuzzy floppy-eared bunny goodness that that statement invokes.

So, ya, I'm a Juggernaut fan. I'm a Heroic Juggernaut fan. Thank you.