The Juggernaut In Animation - A Retrospective

[Stu]

As determined by yourselves, here is the Juggernaut Retrospective! As always, images appear courtesy of Marvel Animation Age (http://marvel.toonzone.net) and updates will be added daily. Enjoy! Iron Man will be up later in the week!

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The Juggernaut has proven to be one of the most popular and entertaining rouges in the vast gallery of X-Men villains since his debut in Uncanny X-Men #12. As the half-brother to Charles Xavier, The Juggernaut’s main motivation is that he hates Xavier because he received more attention from his Father than he did, and Cain’s own Father abused him, rather than Charles.

Juggernaut’s animated exploits begin with Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends in an episode entitled A Firestar Is Born. We get a brief retelling of how he came to become The Juggernaut and as soon as he reclaims his powers, he goes straight after Charles. Luckily for Xavier, both Iceman and Firestar returned to his school for gifted youngsters on this day as they were both members of The X-Men, which left Spider-Man to battle The Juggernaut on his lonesome, which brought back fond memories of an old, brilliant story in Amazing Spider-Man “To Stop A Juggernaut” in which Spidey must… well…you can probably figure out what he had to do from the title.

http://marvel.toonzone.net/spideyfriends/episode/firestarborn/04.jpg

Juggernaut proves to be one of the shows best villains as he actually came across as threatening unlike most of the villains in the show. Networks in the 1980’s didn’t like villains to be too villainous, and there was no violence allowed so it became difficult to develop the bad guys, but they didn’t do too badly with Juggernaut – his voice was a little lacklustre. When the villain roared it clearly wasn’t William Marshall providing his voice – they simply used clips from The Incredible Hulk cartoon, with Bob Holt providing the character’s mighty roar. You’ve probably read this dozens of times by now but no one ever quite roared like the late great Bob Holt. As far as I’m concerned, you’re never to going to hear a better roar and you’ll probably never find a better Hulk voice.

This version of The Juggernaut is probably most famous for how quickly and embarrassingly he beat Wolverine. Arsenal does a better job of explaining than I could over at our Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends site so head on over there for an amusing summery of the events.

http://marvel.toonzone.net/spideyfriends/episode/firestarborn/32.jpg

The design is very faithful to the original comic book designed by Jack Kirby, aside from not having full-length pants, and this episode features much, much better animation than the average Spider-Friends episode. The odd lumpy shot of Spider-Man aside, this episode looked great!

A Firestar Is Born isn’t the only great looking appearance of The Juggernaut in the 80’s, oh no, The Juggernaut is featured as one of The Brotherhood Of Evil Mutants led by none other than The Master Of Magnetism, Magneto.

Aside from looking much better than Spider-Friends episode there’s not a lot to this version of Juggernaut. He’s still Charles step-brother of course, as indicated by this line

Juggernaut: What's wrong Charlie? No warm welcome for your dear step-brother?
Professor Charles Xavier: You've always been welcome in my home Kane. It's your choice of friends I question.

http://marvel.toonzone.net/xmen/pryde/36.jpg

They did a better job casting Juggernaut this time, but beyond that he’s nothing to write home about – he’s just the strong one in a group of Magneto’s thugs. Considering they had the establish The X-Men, The Brotherhood and have Kitty annoy the hell out of us in 22 minutes, it’s no wonder the characters are a little of the thin side.

Up Next: X-Men: The Animated Series

[Caswin]

Forget the other X-Men. Juggernaut needed a retrospective and I'm glad to see it. (And Dr. Magneto needs more attention.)

AIR DUCT FIGHT!!
http://marvel.toonzone.net/xmen/pryde/70.jpg

[Arsenal]

I remember the "To stop a Juggernaut" comic. That's one of my favorite Spidey stories. I miss Juggernaut as a A-lister villain.

My favorite Juggernaut moment in animation is from "Pryde of the X-Men." When Juggernaut is introduced, he literally mows over the mansion's defenses. It's a cool moment, and the animation is gorgeous.

[Stu]

I remember the "To stop a Juggernaut" comic. That's one of my favorite Spidey stories. I miss Juggernaut as a A-lister villain.

It's one of my favourites too. Brilliant pace, a nice dilemma for our hero and great artwork from John Romita. Jr.

I hear that they've actually made Juggernaut a hero in the comic books now. What a waste of one of the few villains who could actually stand up to the X-Men on his lonesome.

My favorite Juggernaut moment in animation is from "Pryde of the X-Men." When Juggernaut is introduced, he literally mows over the mansion's defenses. It's a cool moment, and the animation is gorgeous.

It was an impressive scene, easily the best he had in this episode. He looked fantastic too...

[90'sCartoonMan]

This version of The Juggernaut is probably most famous for how quickly and embarrassingly he beat Wolverine. Arsenal does a better job of explaining than I could over at our Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends site so head on over there for an amusing summery of the events.

Wolverine generally has terrible showings against Juggernaut, doesn't he? Out of the 4(?) times Juggernaut has been animated, Wolverine has tried taking him on (often as a line of defense keeping Juggie from Xavier) and gotten his claws handed to him.

[Stu]

X-Men: The Animated Series was a different beast all together. I don’t think there’s ever been a cartoon quite like it since. It hasn’t aged especially well but in it’s day, it was an exceptional show. I would’ve loved to see anyone else other than AKOM tackle it, but alas, Marvel probably couldn’t afford anything better at the time.

X-Men wasn’t just your average superhero show – it was a show about a mutants who fought for their place in the world and their constant struggle for acceptance, they rarely fought supervillains as such – usually just mutants and sometimes humans whose ideals opposed their own and caused harm to others. The Juggernaut is a notable exception though – this time it was personal. The episode in question – The Unstoppable Juggernaut sees The X-Men return to Genosha to find their mansion destroyed and The Professor missing. Upon discovering a huge footprint amongst the rubble and getting his scent, Wolverine attempts to find the guy responsible and give him what for and wrongly assumes Colossus is the one who destroyed the Mansion. It’s later revealed to be The Juggernaut, who began robbing banks after he couldn’t find Xavier.

http://marvel.toonzone.net/xmen/episode/unstoppablejug/21.jpg

This version of Juggernaut is much entertaining than the versions before it, and after it – truly the best animated representation of ol’ Jugs that we’ve had. The design was pretty much the Kirby costume from the comics and the casting was exceptional – Rick Bennett was brilliant in the role. When this show got it's casting right it did it perfect. They did especially well with the villains - Magneto, Juggernaut and Mr. Sinister all proved to have brilliant voices. The familiar physic blasts from Jean Grey defeated Juggernaut in the end.

His next appearance would team him up with his pal from the X-Men comic book lore, Black Tom Cassidy as they were recruited by Eric The Red to find Princess Lilandra. I realise that most people love The Phoenix Saga stories but I found them to be a little tedious – I like my X-Men fighting for a world that hates that fears them – not intergalactic races, men who were pink and space pirates so Juggernaut proved to be a welcome presence. He also proved to be a great jobber from Gladiator, as he simply picked Juggernaut up and threw him miles out into the ocean. (Look for a cameo of Juggernaut returning to American underwater in the Fantastic Four episode Nightmare In Green.)

http://marvel.toonzone.net/xmen/episode/phoenix3/05.jpg

His final appearance in the show would be his best – a welcome single episode storyline in which The X-Men race to save The Juggernaut’s life as his powers are stolen by a nerd who manages to recover the ancient Crimson Gem of Cyttorak slowly killing Cain Marko in the process. As Wolverine and Cyclops find the new Juggernaut, Xavier tries to make mental contact with a comatose Marko and we see more of their childhood and finally learn just why Juggernaut hates Xavier as much as he does. Juggernaut’s Father married Xavier’s Mother for her wealth and he felt Cain was interferring in his great plans to steal her fortune so he sent him to boarding school and generally abused him, which Marko of course blamed on Xavier. The traumatic side of the episode is nicely balanced out with some comedy as the geek who stole Juggernaut’s powers clearly has no idea how to handle them and causes humourous destruction whereever he goes. Believe it or not, the episode has a happy ending too – having saved The Juggernaut’s life, Cain simply leaves telling Wolverine that he’s not in the mood to fight, a silent thank you for saving his life.

http://marvel.toonzone.net/xmen/episode/jugreturns/30.jpg

These episodes have been infamously parioed on the internet by MyWay, redubbing the scene in which Lilandra fights Juggernaut as he constantly chooses to remind the Queen that he’s The Juggernaut B:tch! There’s also a slightly less popular sequel J2: Juggment Day, which features scenes from The Juggernaut Returns. I’d link to them, but the language is far too crude to be posted. I personally prefer the first one. The highlight is when Gladiator says he is going to crush Juggernaut… Juggernaut’s reaction is simply brilliant. I’d post what he says but again… the language is fowl. Both clips can be found on You Tube, for those interested.

Up Next: X-Men: Evolution.

[Kazuya Prower]

X-Men The Animated Series has the best Juggernaut ever. I like it how they gave him his own theme music... dun, dun, DUN!

[Stu]

X-Men: Evolution took the X-Men concept and adapted it to suit the networks needs – mainly take their characters, make the majority of them teenagers and place them in high school to make them more relatable to their target audience. Many of the X-Men comic book nerds balked at this and refused to watch the show – their loss. By the end of it’s run, X-Men: Evolution was one of Marvel’s best ever shows after what was a very rocky start.

Most of season one featured both of the X-Men and The Brotherhood recruiting new mutants who were struggling to accept/control their powers. The majority of these episode were pretty tedious, so in Survival Of The Fittest, it was a refreshing change to see something, anything different. Here, The X-Men and The Brotherhood are pitted against each other in a series of athletic contests in the woods whilst Mystique frees Juggernaut so he can steal Cerebro from Professor Xavier. It was refreshing to see a villain who wasn’t a member of The Brotherhood – in this season, the BH was really, really annoying. They were revamped in season two and they all became a hell of a lot more interesting - come to think of it, a Brotherhood would make for a very good retrospective, there’s another one to add to the list.

http://marvel.toonzone.net/xmenevo/episode/survival/19.jpg

Juggernaut proved to be better than most villains in the season – if I were to go out on a limb I’d say he was the best. He once again kicks Wolverine’s ass when they go one on one in what proved to be a very entertaining fight. In the end, The X-Men and The Brotherhood put their differences aside and defeated The Juggernaut together – again, it was something different and it proved to be one of the more entertaining episodes of the season.

Once again, we got a very good voice for Juggernaut. I have issues with some of their casting, but Paul Dobson proved to be great for ol’ helmet head. If Dobson sounds familiar to you that would be because he currently provides the voice of The Thing for Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes. Unfortunately, his design isn’t all that great. The one thing that I usually can’t fault X-Men: Evolution on is its designs – the vast majority of the time, I think they are ravishing. Evo’s designs for Wolverine, Cyclops and Magneto are the best I’ve ever seen for the characters. The problem with Juggernaut is that he is simply too skinny for my liking. The majority of the characters were skinny teenagers but Juggernaut is supposed to be absolutely huge – he simply didn’t look tough enough for my liking. I did like the helmet through – it actually looks like a helmet, rather than just an extension of his costume.

http://marvel.toonzone.net/xmenevo/bios/villains/juggernaut/13.jpg

His next appearance, The Stuff Of Heroes would be a hell of a lot better than this – I rank it as my second favourite episode after On Angel’s Wings. Season three really did turn the show on its head and the increase in quality was exponential. With mutants now public knowledge, the world at large became increasingly weary of them, and with the mansion blow up and the Professor missing, The X-Men were on their own in the wild and worse yet, The Juggernaut escaped and went on a rampage. Realising that they were needed now more than ever, the X-Men braved it and went to defeat Juggernaut on their own, with no adults around to help them. Then, it what was easily the show’s finest fight scene, The X-Men defeated The Juggernaut when Cyclops took off his visor and unleashed all his power on Juggernaut, and Rogue absorbed his power and Iceman froze him into the dam. It was absolutely stunning sequence and still stands as the best sequence in Cyclops’ lengthy animated history. Just wait until I get started on that Cyclops retrospective, I could go on for days about how brilliant I think Evo’s version of Scott Summers is.

And there you have it. Every single last animated appearance of The Juggernaut covered. He also appeared in X-Men 3: The Last Stand as one of the new recruits to Magneto’s Brotherhood. He was played by Vinnie Jones and was great fun. There’s no mention of his relationship with Xavier and he is pretty much just a super strong thug for Magneto but he does take part in one hell of a fight scene with Wolverine in the childhood home of Jean Grey. My favourite part is when he throws Logan through the roof and you see him land in the next room – I thought that looked great. Jones proved to be very good in the role but to be honest, Vinnie Jones playing a thug isn’t much of a stretch but one can’t deny the brilliance of the casting. He had to wear a full on prosthetic suit for the role and it did actually look very cool. To mimic Juggernaut’s costume from the comic would’ve been stupid – it more than likely would’ve looked ridiculous and it no doubt would’ve greatly hindered Jones’ performance. He even gets to shout the infamous “Don’t you know who I am? I’m The Juggernaut b:tch!” line in the movie, which got a huge laugh in the theatre when I went to see the movie. On the region 2 version of the DVD, they have an animated of the scene in which he chases Kitty through the walls, and the voice over is actually taken from the MyWay parody, which got a big laugh from me the first time I saw it.

http://marvel.toonzone.net/xmen/movie/x3/78.jpg

Given how popular he’s always been and how the majority of the people loved his appearance in X-Men 3, one would be foolish to assume that The Juggernaut won’t be back on the small screen again soon. With Wolverine And The X-Men premiering in the fall, it really is just a matter of time.

[Arsenal]

In regards to X-Men: TAS, I liked "Juggernaut Returns" but disliked how he jobbed to Gladiator in the Phoenix Saga. There are several ways to establish Gladiator's strength without making Juggernaut look like a loser.

I could never decide if I liked X-Men Evo's version of Juggernaut or not. (Naut or not... ha, I'm punny.) He seemed like a plot point instead of a character, but he was always a good plot point. Yes, he once again did the job for the neophyte X-Men, but it was in a sequence that did not diminish Juggernaut's power level.

I think Juggernaut could be an A-list villain. No, he's not as smart as Sinister or as driven as Magneto; but he is a force of nature. He is the "matter" to Xavier's "mind." One is the world's most powerful mind, and the other the world's most powerful body.

Juggernaut often "jobs" to heroes because it is difficult to come up with original storylines for "stopping" the unstoppable, so instead he is depowered. But Juggs could be a terrifying villain. Imagine him mowing down lines of X-Men (like Amazo in "The Return") on his way toward Xavier. It could be tense, compelling stuff.

And, yeah, he's a hero in "New Excalibur." The title just finished an interesting storyline where Juggernaut seemed to be as pissed off about his depowering as some of his fans. It was good stuff, but tangential to the animation board.

[Caswin]

Imagine him mowing down lines of X-Men (like Amazo in "The Return") on his way toward Xavier. It could be tense, compelling stuff.Worked pretty well in A Firestar is Born.

[Nygma]

Good retrospective Stu, I agree with most of your points on good ol' Juggernaut.

I also found The Phoenix Saga to be pretty uninspiring stuff. Though I throughly enjoyed the last 2 episodes of The Dark Phoenix Saga.

I love Stuff of Heroes, as its in my top 5 episodes of Evo. My favorite part of the episode was the exchange between Juggernaut and Cyclops.

Juggernaut: You think that fancy little visor can stop me? Nothing stops me! I'M RAW POWER!

Cyclops: You want it raw tough guy? Then take it raw! (Removes visor for maximum optic blast)

Whew, looking forward to that Cyclops retrospective Stu. Also Arsenal, there's a reason why Juggernaut was limited to being a plot point, ITS FREAKIN Kids WB! But you already knew that.

I have a couple questions for Stu, do you think a Mystique retrospective could work, maybe an Apocalypse one?

Do you think The Phoenix Saga could've been better if the villain was from Earth and not outer space? (Minus the space drama) I always found D'Ken to be the biggest problem in that story arc.

Final question I promise, what did you think of John Dimaggio's voice as Juggernaut in X-Men Legends I & II? Personally I loved the voice, and its pretty much my personal favorite Juggernaut voice of them all. But then again that's just my opinion.

[Chris Wood]

Yeesh, I just can't stand those Evolution designs. He looks like Archie on streroids, not a massive mountain of muscle.

[90'sCartoonMan]

Juggernaut wasn't much of a character on Evolution, but he did have two good episodes. I wasn't big on his design, mostly because the top part looked too big for the bottom. Not to knock the helmet, of course. It's kind of weird in other interpretations when Juggernaut can move his head and his helmet around like he does.

Do you think The Phoenix Saga could've been better if the villain was from Earth and not outer space? (Minus the space drama) I always found D'Ken to be the biggest problem in that story arc.

If you remove that key element, I don't see how the rest of it could work.

[Hypestyle]

in Evolution, was he a stepbrother to Xavier?

...in any case.. I have fond memories of most of the versions.. when first seeing the Amazing Friends episode, I had no idea that this was Blacula and Pee Wee's Playhouse King of Cartoons himself.. sadly, William Marshall died a few years ago..

[Beastbot X]

in Evolution, was he a stepbrother to Xavier?

Yup. Though they got rid of the (corny, IMO) "Gem of Cyttorak" thing for his backstory and instead just said he awakened his powers through "Mysticism".

[Stu]

I love Stuff of Heroes, as its in my top 5 episodes of Evo. My favorite part of the episode was the exchange between Juggernaut and Cyclops.

Juggernaut: You think that fancy little visor can stop me? Nothing stops me! I'M RAW POWER!

Cyclops: You want it raw tough guy? Then take it raw! (Removes visor for maximum optic blast)

Whew, looking forward to that Cyclops retrospective Stu. Also Arsenal, there's a reason why Juggernaut was limited to being a plot point, ITS FREAKIN Kids WB! But you already knew that.

That was probably my favourite scene in the entire show. It really helped emphasis the fact that this was more of an X-Men show, rather than a high school cartoon. Brilliant scene. Can't say when the Cyclops retrospective will be complete, but it's on the way.

I have a couple questions for Stu, do you think a Mystique retrospective could work, maybe an Apocalypse one?

Both could probably work. Mystique would probably be the more interesting of the two, given the vast amount of roles she played in X-Men: Evolution.

Do you think The Phoenix Saga could've been better if the villain was from Earth and not outer space? (Minus the space drama) I always found D'Ken to be the biggest problem in that story arc.

I'm of the belief that X-Men stories should be about mutant rights. When they're normal superhero stuff, they aren't as interesting to me. I think if they made Pheonix more of a problem about mutation, then yeah, it could be a lot more interesting. Whilst it wasn't perfect, I thought Phoenix was done a lot better in X-Men 3: The Last Stand.

Final question I promise, what did you think of John Dimaggio's voice as Juggernaut in X-Men Legends I & II? Personally I loved the voice, and its pretty much my personal favorite Juggernaut voice of them all. But then again that's just my opinion.

I liked it. I didn't think it was as good as Rick Bennet, but given how terrible some of the video game casting has been for the Marvel games, I thought they could've done a lot worse. Some of the casting in X-Men Legends was pretty lously, in my opinion, but Juggernaut was well cast.

[Spider-Man]

That was probably my favourite scene in the entire show. It really helped emphasis the fact that this was more of an X-Men show, rather than a high school cartoon. Brilliant scene. Can't say when the Cyclops retrospective will be complete, but it's on the way. I have to agree. When Cyclops did that the show pretty much left the high school stuff behind. Sure they went back to high school but the focus was no longer there. It felt more like the X-Men dealing with their respective coming out as mutants. It was a great seen that also finally showed just how strong and bad-ass Cyclops can be.