Issue Date: June 1985
Story Title: Juggernaut's Back In Town
Staff: Chris Claremont (writer), John Romita Jr. (penciler), Dan Green and Steve Leialoha (inkers), Glynis Oliver (colorist), Tom Orzechowski (letterer), Ann Nocenti (editor), Jim Shooter (editor in chief)
Brief Description:
The Juggernaut is back in New York and it falls on the X-Men to neutralize him ... again. While they observe what Cain Marko is up to, they are all attacked by Nimrod. The robot and Juggernaut fight with the X-Men stuck in the middle, but they side against Nimrod when the robot starts attacking them as well. Nimrod quickly takes out Nightcrawler, Colossus, Wolverine and the Juggernaut. Eventually, Rogue absorbs the powers of Kitty, Colossus and Nightcrawler and the sensors of the robot get confused. She then manages to teleport away with one of it‘s arms and does further damage with Piotr’s strength, till Nimrod decides to retreat. To the media it looked like the X-Men and the Juggernaut working together against a law enforcer. Meanwhile in Africa, Storm helps a woman who is about to be raped by a party of safari hunters.
Full Synopsis:
A large part of Manhattan is being evacuated since the Juggernaut has been seen in town, with the media covering past battles of the behemoth against the X-Men and Spider-Man. Ironically Cain Marko walks past the many police officers in civilian guise and is not recognized.
At Xavier's, in the early morning, the X-Men are just waking up and react differently to the news the hear in the radio : Nightcrawler doesn't want to get involved and pulls his blanket over the head, Kitty wants some more sleep and phases into her alarm clock, thus disrupting it, Colossus is happy to settle the score with the Juggernaut, Rachel reflects on Franklin Richards and on her family when the news reporter mentions the Fantastic Four, and Rogue is taking a shower and doesn't care since the X-Men have earned a day off.
Wolverine is jogging barefooted through the snow, and as he returns he ponders on Nightcrawler's feelings of inadequacy as leader of the X-Men. In his opinion, Kitty would also qualify for the job, however she is still too unexperienced. Having heard the news about the Juggernaut too, he decides it's time to wake Kurt up and to go fight the good fight once again.
In Kenya, a group of safari hunters are stopping for some rest and fresh drinks in a post where one of them, Andreas, tries to rape the post manager, only to be stopped by Ororo. She manages to dispatch the whole group in less than five minutes with her bo staff and a knife. After the hunters have left, the post manager thanks Ororo on her knees, believing her to be the returning weather-goddess of legends; but the goddess became a woman, and Ororo doubts she can help anybody, stripped of her weather controlling mutant power. She is just looking for her own destiny.
Back in New York, we find out why the Juggernaut came back to Manhattan : he is just there to take care of his finances at the National United Bank. The X-Men have positioned themselves all around the building, Kitty and Rachel even being inside the bank as Marko doesn’t know them. In telepathic discussion, the X-Men decide to leave the Juggernaut alone if he doesn’t commit any crimes. Only Colossus would like to have his rematch.
All of a sudden, Nimrod brutally enters the bank, targeting both the Juggernaut and the X-Men, who according to his memory banks are all known criminals. Juggenaut and Nimrod start to fight, and Kitty phases herself and Rachel into the vault below the floor. From there Rachel tries to mentally calm the crowd, while Shadowcat phases upwards again to help evecuate the bank customers.
Nimrod knocks Juggernaut through the outer wall of the bank, across the street into a construction site. Marko is slightly impressed, as the robot demostrates the capabilities of his inbuilt disintigrator, but again wants to fight, only this time Nimrod topples dozens of girders on him. The Juggernaut emerges unharmed.
The X-Men arrive wondering what to do, the Juggernaut is a known villain, but he did not provoke the fight with this unknown superpowered being. Nightcrawler decides that it’s best to just observe. Nimrod registers the mutants‘ presence and as his tracking system extrapolates Nightcrawler‘s next teleportation destination, he blasts both Kurt and Piotr unconscious. With the mysterious being’s intention now fully clear, the X-Men join the fight. Wolverine asks Rogue for a fastball special and is hurled towards the robot, but it is shielded with a hard forcefield, that makes Logan bounce back. He too passes out, so hard was the impact.
Nimrod focuses his attention again on the Juggernaut and one of his blows manages to make Cain Marko lose his helmet. He is then pretty vulnerable to an tight beam of ultra high frequency sonics and is taken out of the fight. Behind his back, Shadowcat checks on her teammates, but the action shows on Nimrod’s sensors and he fires a plasma bolt in her direction, yet it passes through her phased body. Kitty tries her best trick and reaches inside the armour, hoping to disrupt it‘s electricity. This way she learns that there is not a man inside a suit, so it has to be a robot; she also finds an energy field that stuns her and sends her flying.
Rachel realizes that the team needs a breather and from a safe distance she telekinetically topples the entire construction site on Nimrod, which provides them at least some seconds. Meanwhile Rogue catches Kitty, who is still too weak to speak, so she lolls her head against Rogue‘s face, deliberately triggering her absorbtion power to pass on her knowledge about their opponent. Rogue carries out Kitty’s plan and phases through the rubble to where her fallen teammates are lying, to borrow both the powers of Nightcrawler and Colossus. She then attacks Nimrod, who is digging himself out of the rubble unharmed. Yet the robot is now confused as it registers multiple mutant signatures at once. Rogue tries to teleport away with part of Nimrod’s body, and the robot is severly damaged for the first time. She continues to attack with Colossus‘ strength, and although Nimrod starts to repair itself, it retreats and leaves in a blinding light.
The Juggernaut comes around, asking Rogue if she wants to pick up where Nimrod left off, but she tells him to leave before anybody else shows up. Yet there is already a small crowd and to them it now seems as if the X-Men and the Juggernaut were working together. The X-Men go home though the Morlock tunnels.
Later, in Moscow, a Colonel Vashin talks with one of his majors about the battle. The media reported the outlaws Juggernaut and X-Men having been opposed by an unknown superbeing called Nimrod, which is now perceived as a hero. Vashin is actually sceptic, the X-Men saved the United States and the entire planet various times, why does the US government turn on them now ? Could it be that Magneto is right, that every human government will fear and try to destroy mutantkind, no matter their actions ?
Characters:
Colossus, Nightcrawler, Rogue, Shadowcat, Rachel Summers, Wolverine (all X-Men)
Storm (former X-Man)
Juggernaut
Nimrod
Andrea and Andreas von Strucker
Colonel Vashin, KGB
Sasha, russian major
Notes:
This issue marks the first appearance of Fenris, Andrea and Andreas von Strucker. They are the children of Hydra leader Baron von Strucker. Andreas is named this issue, Andrea in #196, their last name and their mutant powers are revealed in #200.
Xavier is mentioned to be on Muir Island with some of the New Mutants, as can be seen in New Mutants #26-28.
This Issue has been reprinted in:
Essential X-Men Vol. 5 (Trade Paperback)
Classic X-Men #98
Issue Summary written by: Nicolas Giard
