[miketime]

What If…? # 94 Feb 1997
"The Kingdom Of Caine." page 6
Inks over Pencil on Marvel Comics board
Pencils: Jim Calafiore
Inks: Mark McKenna

In New York City, the Juggernaut is seen standing over the remains of the Mighty Avengers. They’re all dead. Just like the rest of the world.

Juggernaut turns around to see three partially-damaged Sentinels standing above him. He’s angry due to what they’ve done to the world & he’s a bit happy since he hasn’t seen one in months. He has fun with the robots and succeeds in killing one. As he grabs a second one, the Sentinel announces the odds of surviving this fight with the Juggernaut as 0.000463%. Juggernaut proves those odds by smashing it to bits. The third tries to fly off for survival, but Juggernaut jumps onto its leg.

He beams in pride, but inside, he feels a bit empty. If those are the last ones, then he’s truly alone. All he can do is wander and occasionally run through buildings. There are no people, animals or even Sentinels left to interact with. He wants so desperately to die, but his own invulnerability won’t let that happen.

Years pass and Juggernaut has yet to age. He comes to the Grand Canyon, where the Sentinel’s factory used to be. He now wonders if he should have let them be. Perhaps if there were enough created, they could have killed him and ended his misery. Wandering through, he encounters Magneto.

Magneto attacks Juggernaut unprovoked, which angers him. Magneto explains that during the creation of the Sentinels, he was off world and watched what was happening on Earth. He tried to save everyone but he was too late and holds Juggernaut responsible.

When the Sentinels first appeared, they attacked the Avengers and Fantastic Four by surprise and killed both teams. Then they turned against their creators and changed their programming. In order to kill all mutants, they converted their power cells into a toxic radiation that kills all humans and mutants. The Juggernaut, protected by the enchantment of Cyttorak, is immune. But none of this would have happened if the X-Men were there to stop the Sentinels before they could run amock. Every reality that had the X-Men survive their encounter with the Juggernaut didn’t suffer this cataclysm.

Magneto collapses and dies before Juggernaut, telling him that his own petty jealousy is what’s to blame for all of this. Juggernaut screams in anguish and goes on a rampage falling through the floor. He’s surprised to find Ice man nearby covered in ice, his own voice stuttering from his inability to control his powers. Ever since Juggernaut murdered the rest of the X-Men, he hasn’t been the same.

Iceman tells Juggernaut that there are other survivors. He begs Iceman to let him see them. He won’t hurt them. He just wants somebody to talk to. Iceman can’t answer as his powers have expanded so that he’s covered himself in a big block of ice. Juggernaut breaks through it and sees a big metal door in his way. He tears it off, enters and finds a small community of people looking at him with mixed reactions.

Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, & Toad advance. When Juggernaut pleads with them that he means no harm, they ask if he’s making some kind of sick joke.

Toad explains; That was the master’s idea. When Lord Magneto returned from the Stranger’s planet, his abilities allowed him to survive in the poisoned atmosphere for a brief time. They gathered the few survivors aboard there damaged spaceship and came here. We banded together under Magneto’s guidance and sealed ourselves off from the outside world. He made us strong… and gave us hope that we would persevere against the overwhelming odds…

A bit of delicious irony, isn’t it? Magneto achieved what Charles Xavier only dreamed of – a society where mutants and humans coexisted in peace and cooperation! But now you’ve destroyed that too… like everything else you’ve ever touched! I have no pity for you, Cain. There’s enough blood on your hands to fill an ocean! Have you no shame or remorse? How can you even stand to live with yourself?!

Juggernaut tries to apologize for all the death he’s caused, but Quicksilver gets to the point that Juggernaut has completely missed. By breaking through to this lower level and smashing apart all the doors, he’s doomed them all to endure the poisonous atmosphere and die like everyone else!

Juggernaut turns around and walks of with his head down, knowing that he’s about to be the last living being on Earth and his own irrational, boorish behavior is what’s to blame.

His spirit is crushed. And his heart is heavy with a burden of guilt that even a juggernaut finds too heavy to bear, yet impossible to unload. A once boastful cry, is now a horrific prophecy of damnation. ‘No one can stop the Unstoppable Juggernaut.’