Bolivar Trask

Bolivar Trask
Bolivar Trask in Professor Xavier and the X-Men #16 (February 1997). Art by Nick Gnazzo.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Uncanny X-Men #14 (November 1965)
Created by	Stan Lee (writer) Jack Kirby (artist)
In-story information
Full name	Bolivar Trask
Species	Human
Place of origin	New York City
Team affiliations	Sentinels Purifiers Control
Abilities	Genius-level intellect

Bolivar Trask is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is a military scientist whose company Trask Industries is well known as the creator of the Sentinels. He is also the father of Larry Trask and Madame Sanctity.

Bolivar Trask appears in the 2014 film X-Men: Days of Future Past , portrayed by Peter Dinklage.

Publication history

Bolivar Trask was created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-writer Jack Kirby, and first appeared in The X-Men #14 (November 1965).

Fictional character biography

Bolivar Trask was an anthropologist who saw the rise of mutants as a threat to humanity. Bolivar was the father of Larry Trask, ironically revealed to be a precognitive mutant. Bolivar had realized this, and gave his son a medallion which suppresses his power. ^[1] Bolivar is also the father of Tanya, a mutant who vanishes after her abilities cause her to travel through time. She is rescued by Rachel Summers in the far future and joins the Askani as Madame Sanctity.^{[ volume & issue needed ]}

Bolivar decides that humanity has to fight back against the mutants and develops robotic guardians for humanity, known as the Sentinels. ^[2] Larry was shielded from the Sentinels' ability to detect mutants due to the medallion Bolivar had given his son. Bolivar publishes articles on the threat of mutants. One of these articles showed an illustration of mutant overlords keeping humans as slaves. This illustration would become a symbol for human/mutant relations and several years later Quentin Quire and his Omega Gang would base their appearance on this picture.^{[ volume & issue needed ]}

Professor Charles Xavier invites Trask for a public debate on human/mutant relations. Xavier argues that mutants are just like humans and not evil, but that does not convince Trask revealing the Sentinels. But Trask and his scientists had apparently created a too adaptive, open-ended tactical/strategic programming, and as a result the Sentinels turn against him, claiming that they were superior to humans. The Sentinels left with Trask and brought him to his first creation, Master Mold, who orders him to construct more Sentinels. ^[3]

To stop the Sentinels, Xavier summons the X-Men. The X-Men fight the Sentinels, but Beast is captured. To reveal the X-Men's secrets, the Sentinels tell Trask to use a device to read Beast's mind. Trask discovers that the X-Men were mutants protecting humanity and realizes that he had been wrong. He helps the X-Men defeat the Sentinels by sacrificing himself to destroy the Sentinel's base. ^[4]

In X-Force , Bastion resurrects Bolivar Trask using a Technarch to be part of a team of mutant killers. He was apparently given credit for the deaths of all mutants and, being the inventor of the Sentinels, had the highest record of mutant kills: 16 million. ^[5] However, Trask kills himself after escaping Bastion's control. ^[6]

Other versions

Age of Apocalypse

An alternate universe variant of Bolivar Trask from from Earth-295 appears in Age of Apocalypse . This version is married to Moira Kinross and worked with her to create the Sentinels and combat Apocalypse. ^[7]

Civil War: House of M

An alternate universe variant of Bolivar Trask from Earth-58163 appears in Civil War: House of M . This version is the Vice President of the United States and created the Sentinels to combat Magneto, who later kills him. ^{[8] [9]}

X-Men Noir

An alternate universe variant of Bolivar Trask from Earth-90214 appears in X-Men Noir . This version is a scientist and science fiction writer. ^[10]

Ultimate Marvel

An alternate universe variant of Bolivar Trask appears in Ultimate X-Men . This version created the Sentinels to combat Magneto. ^{[11] [12]}

In other media

Television

• Bolivar Trask appears in X-Men: The Animated Series , voiced by Brett Halsey.^{[ citation needed ]} This version collaborated with Henry Peter Gyrich and Cameron Hodge to create the Sentinels. After Master Mold endangers Robert Kelly's life in the first season finale, Trask intends to sacrifice himself to destroy his creation but survives.
  • Trask appears in X-Men '97 , voiced by Gavin Hammon. ^{[13] [14]}
• Bolivar Trask appears in X-Men: Evolution , voiced by John Novak.^{[ citation needed ]} This version is a colonel, former member of S.H.I.E.L.D., and a noted anthropologist and cyberneticist who studies genetic mutation. Concluding that mutants will replace humans as the dominant species on Earth if left unchecked and seeking to avert this, he designed the Sentinels to apprehend mutants. In the episode "Day of Reckoning" Pt. 1, he kidnaps Wolverine as a test subject for his Sentinel prototype, but Magneto hijacks it to fight the X-Men and publicly reveal mutants' existence before the Sentinel is destroyed by the X-Men. Afterwards, Trask is arrested and incarcerated. In the episode "Uprising", Trask was released from prison and continues his Sentinel project under Nick Fury's supervision to prepare Earth for Apocalypse's threat. Trask creates three upgraded Sentinels, which successfully bring down the force fields protecting Apocalypse's bases before they are destroyed by the Horsemen of Apocalypse.
• Bolivar Trask appears in Wolverine and the X-Men , voiced by Phil LaMarr.^{[ citation needed ]} This version is a middle-aged African-American scientist working for Senator Robert Kelly alongside Sybil Zane. While developing the Sentinel program, Trask uses Wolverine's biology to create upgraded Sentinels that would go on to inspire the Sentinel Prowlers in a possible dystopian future.

Film

Peter Dinklage as Bolivar Trask in X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014).

Bolivar Trask appears in X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), portrayed by Peter Dinklage. ^{[15] [16]} This version was primarily active in the 1970s, learned of mutants' existence from Charles Xavier's dissertation from Oxford University, and sought to harness mutant powers to create the Sentinel program and bring about world peace by uniting humanity against a common enemy. Due to his inhumane and fatal experiments on mutants, Mystique assassinated him in 1973. However, this made him a martyr for the Anti-Mutant Movement and convinced the government to fund his Sentinel program, eventually leading to the Sentinels driving mutants and humanity to the verge of extinction by 2023. The surviving X-Men send Logan's mind back in time to 1973 in the hopes of convincing Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr's past selves to stop Mystique from assassinating Trask and prevent the Sentinels from being created. Eventually, Xavier convinces Mystique to spare Trask, averting the dystopian future and prompting the government to shut down the Sentinel program while Trask is arrested for selling military secrets to foreign nations.

Video games

• The Ultimate Marvel incarnation of Bolivar Trask appears in Ultimate Spider-Man , voiced by John Billingsley.^{[ citation needed ]} In an attempt to recreate the Venom suit, Trask hires Silver Sable and the Wild Pack to capture Eddie Brock and Spider-Man. However, the pair break free, Brock merges with Venom, and Sable sells out Trask once her contract with him expires. Brock and Venom seek revenge on Trask, but Spider-Man defeats them. Before he is arrested, Trask gives Spider-Man files that reveal the truth about the latter and Brock's fathers' deaths. While in prison, Trask is confronted by Brock and Venom, who kill him off-screen.
• Bolivar Trask appears in X-Men Origins: Wolverine , voiced by Bumper Robinson. ^[14] This version is an African-American scientist who researches the mutant gene on behalf of Sebastian Shaw's Systemized Cybernetics Lab. Additionally, work logs reveal Trask initially took part in creating the Sentinel program for its scientific value until he witnessed a violent incident involving a mutant test subject, came to believe that all mutants are freaks of nature, and sought to exterminate them to protect humanity. After losing a hand to Wolverine, Trask eventually replaces it with a prosthetic.

Miscellaneous

Bolivar Trask's hatred of mutants is discussed in the non-fiction book From Krakow to Krypton: Jews and Comic Books. ^[17]

References

1. The Uncanny X-Men #59 (1969). Marvel Comics.
2. Comtois, Pierre (2015). Marvel Comics in the 1960s: An Issue By Issue Field Guide to a Pop Culture Phenomenon. TwoMorrows Publishing. pp. 107–108. ISBN   978-1-60549-016-8.
3. The Uncanny X-Men #15 (1965). Marvel Comics.
4. The Uncanny X-Men #16 (January 1966)
5. X-Force vol. 3 #3 (2008). Marvel Comics.
6. X-Factor #206. Marvel Comics.
7. Age of Apocalypse #1. Marvel Comics.
8. Civil War: House of M #3 (January 2009)
9. Civil War: House of M #5 (March 2009)
10. X-Men Noir #3
11. Ultimate X-Men #3-4
12. Ultimate X-Men #87. Marvel Comics.
13. Moreau, Jordan (July 22, 2022). "'Marvel Zombies,' 'Spider-Man: Freshman Year,' 'What If?' Season 2 Get First Looks". Variety . Archived from the original on July 22, 2022. Retrieved July 22, 2022.
14. "Bolivar Trask Voices (X-Men)". Behind the Voice Actors. Retrieved December 19, 2019. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
15. Perry, Spencer (October 1, 2013). "Peter Dinklage Talks Bolivar Trask in X-Men: Days of Future Past" . Retrieved October 2, 2013.
16. Weintruab, Steve (February 19, 2014). "X-Men: Days of Future Past Set Visit: 90 Thing to Know About X-Men: Days of Future Past". Collider . Retrieved June 23, 2014.
17. Kaplan, Arie (2008). From Krakow to Krypton: Jews and Comic Books. Jewish Publication Society. p. 113. ISBN   978-0-8276-0843-6.

External links

• Bolivar Trask at Marvel.com