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Exclusive: Gazillion’s Ryan Collins On Juggernaut Hitting Marvel Heroes 2015

By Nick Tylwalk

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When the Juggernaut arrives somewhere, he never does it quietly. You’re talking about a guy who’s strong and nearly indestructible and loves nothing less than letting the whole world know about it.

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So you wouldn’t expect anything less from him as a playable character in Marvel Heroes 2015, and Gazillion has made sure that Cain Marko has a very unique feel. Juggernaut went live on November 1 as the first of a new wave of playable villains, and not only does he have noted voice actor Fred Tatasciore handling his dialogue, he’s even got his very own game mechanic, appropriately called Momentum.

Gazillion Creative Designer and Community Manager Ryan Collins was kind enough to answer some of our questions about how Juggernaut was designed and what you can expect when you attempt to harness his power in the game.

Bam Smack Pow: With a vast library of Marvel villains from which to choose, what made you pick Juggernaut to lead off this upcoming wave of playable bad guys?

Ryan Collins: There are a lot of reasons to go with Juggy first, him being one of my all time favorites notwithstanding! We wanted to lead out of the gate with a classic and iconic villain, and although our upcoming two, Magneto and Venom, are as iconic as they come, we also wanted to give Juggernaut a chance to really shine. We’ve had the Momentum design for Juggernaut internally for quite a long time and it’s something that makes him one of the most fun playable characters in the entire game, but we weren’t sure if he could really get his time in the sun between two huge icons like Magneto and Venom. In addition, we haven’t really done a big bruiser in quite a while, so it was nice to go back and revisit that with all that we’ve learned from our other heroes

BSP: Can you explain how Momentum works in a little more detail? Might it make Juggernaut easier to play for beginners since he doesn’t have to manage a resource?

RC: Momentum is both really simple and kind of complicated – which is what makes it so fun. First and foremost, you build Momentum by moving. As Juggernaut moves, his Momentum bar goes up and subsequently, so does his movement speed. As his movement speed increases, he even changes his running animation so that leans into it more and more — it’s pretty impressive at full speed. And that’s all well and good, but how do you USE it? Juggernaut’s kit relies on gaining and spending it in ways that no other hero does. He spends Momentum for different effects depending on the power, extra damage or a DoT layer, etc. Very few of his powers actually spend or require Momentum, allowing you to use them just as you would a Basic Power on another hero. Don’t have enough Momentum in a tough fight? You don’t just gain it by running; Juggernaut also has powers that either slow the decay of it (it decays if you’re standing still) or gives you a nice boost of Momentum so you can keep swinging.

I’m not sure that Juggernaut would be the best choice for a beginner since he really excels at smartly managing Momentum. Most heroes have a very binary sense of how their resource works (like Spirit) and it’s much easier to learn that flow. That being said, when you ‘figure it out’, his gameplay is incredibly rewarding and different.

BSP: He’s obviously not the first large, physically imposing character in the game, but did the artists and animators get to flex their muscles a little more with Juggernaut?

RC: Absolutely. He fights very different than our other big guys — he’s slow and strong, but he can also always be in motion if that’s how you want to play him. He’s on Test Center now and the overwhelming feedback was how exciting he was to play and a lot of that is visual. He feels like you’re a wrestler bouncing off the ropes at all times, and he even has a Hogan-style Elbow Drop to match!

BSP: How did Fred Tatasciore get the nod for Cain Marko’s voice, and can players expect him to have some creative ways to let everyone know how unstoppable he is?

RC: Fred’s been our Juggernaut since his days as a boss fight and there was no way we’d change that! We love Fred — he brings so much energy to our characters, I’m actually heading to Los Angeles next week to meet him and record some new motion comics and pick up lines. Our Juggernaut definitely makes some iconic references to both the comics and different aspects of fandom. I would describe him as a jerk with a twisted sense of humor in our game, and you better believe he lets everybody know how unstoppable he is (and invulnerable, too).

Check out the Juggernaut trailer below to see how he looks in action. And as a reward for reading all the way to the end, enter the code “UNSTOPPABLENICK” before noon Pacific time on Friday, November 7, for a special bonus. Consider it our way of saying thanks.

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