Foreseeing mutants as a terrible threat to humanity’s survival, Dr. Bolivar Trask invents robotic Sentinels, machines that fight and target mutants for imprisonment or worse.
Epiphany
Dr. Bolivar Trask is among the first learned men to realize the rise of mutants due to his own mutant offspring Tanya and Lawrence. After blocking Larry’s power and memories, Bolivar, fearful other mutants would expose Larry, becomes obsessed with imprisoning them.
Sentinel Inventor
Dr. Bolivar Trask is skilled in anthropology, cybernetics and robotics. His inventions include the original (Mark I) Sentinels and Master Mold. Bolivar’s abilities since receiving the techno-organic virus are unrevealed, but include the power to conceal his inhuman appearance. The extent of Trask’s autonomy is unrevealed.
Connections
When his own children turn out to be mutants, Trask goes to extreme lengths to lock up other mutants, seeing them as a threat to humanity. But when he sees the heroic X-Men fighting his robotic creations, he regrets his choices, destroys his inventions, and takes his life. Though it doesn’t stop others from continuing his work or letting him rest. The human-Sentinel hybrid Sebastian Gilberti, AKA Bastion, brings him back to life and in controlling him, uses Trask in his aim to end the mutant threat.
Scientific Report
With United States government support, Bolivar developed the first Sentinels, robots made to serve humanity’s needs and incarcerate mutants. Bolivar revealed the Sentinels’ existence to the world during a televised debate with Professor Charles Xavier, AKA Professor X (secretly a mutant), but the Sentinels then refused to accept Bolivar’s orders, having transferred their loyalties to Master Mold, the primary Sentinel. Master Mold tried to force Bolivar to help him manufacture new Sentinels independently, but seeing the mutant heroes of the X-Men oppose the Sentinels, Bolivar repented his beliefs and destroyed the Sentinel creation cubicles, killing himself and destroying Master Mold. Bolivar was found by Lawrence, who blamed the X-Men for his father’s death, ensuring a cycle of repeated attempts to perfect the Sentinels.
More than a decade after Bolivar’s death, Bastion exhumed his body and used the techno-organic Magus to infuse its transmode virus into the corpse, reanimating it. Under Bastion's control, Trask served on his Human Council. Trask joined Steven Lang in setting up the Mutant Response Division to police mutant activity. However, Trask had moments of lucidity where he questioned Bastion’s methods and struggled against his mental control. He wasn’t free until telepath Monet St. Croix, AKA M, entered his mind and he was able to regain control, only to kill himself again.
