Bolivar Trask (X-Men Movies)


 *  NOTE: This article is about the incarnation of Bolivar Track from the X-Men film series. The mainstream version can be found here: Bolivar Trask. 

"The mutant threat is the defining issue of our time. We can choose to stem the impending tide of extinction or we can stand by passively and allow it to wash away any remnants of our species."

- Bolivar Trask in the movie.

Bolivar Trask is the main antagonist of the 2014 critically acclaimed Oscar nominated successful superhero film X-Men: Days of Future Past. He is a ruthless scientist and successful businessman, industrialist and weapons maker whose the head and founder of Trask Industries Corporation and creates and army of Sentinels to destroy mutants in order to cleanse the world from them for the good of the humanity itself.

He was portrayed by who also played Simon Bar Sinister, Tyrion Lannister and Captain Gutt.

X-Men: Days of Future Past Prelude
Even from his early years as a research assistant, Bolivar always maintained a particular interest in the origin and evolution of humanity. Following in the footsteps of Mendel, Watson and Crick, Trask made it his goal to unlock the mysteries of human DNA. What he did not anticipate was the discovery of the X-Gene, a genetic finding that would prove to be the most significant of the 20th century.

Trask soon hypothesized the impending extinction of the human race. His early theories were ridiculed by his contemporaries and with no one to fund his research, Trask cared enough about humanity to invest in the founding of Trask Industries in 1967. Since its founding, Trask Industries has been at the forefront of human progress, partnering with domestic and international governments since the Nixon administration. Trask’s early ambition for genetic progress continues to fuel our technological innovations today.

The Wolverine
During the end credits sequence after the events of The Wolverine, an ad of Trask Industries is shown at an airport where Logan (Wolverine) is just about to leave Japan. There, Magneto tells Wolverine that a new threat is rising, commence the Sentinels and Trask. As Wolverine makes a tried attempt to kill Magneto, Proffesor X says what is happening is true, which leads to the extinction of not only Mutants, but humans, as well.

X-Men: Days of Future Past
Trask experimented on mutants for their DNA to create robots called Sentinels whose sole purpose is to track and kill mutants (despite Trask having respect for them). Among those he experimented on and killed were Azazel, Angel, Emma Frost, Banshee, and Riptide (though a viral marketing suggests Azazel and Angel were dead before Trask experimented on them), although Mystique was able to save Havok, Toad, and Ink from this fate after they were apprehended by Trask's military henchman Major William Stryker in Vietnam. Mystique sought to assassinate Trask in revenge for what he did to her comrades. However, this would lead to an apocalyptic future; after killing Trask she was captured by Trask Industries and her DNA used to create a new generation of Sentinels who, like her, had the ability to adapt themselves to counter any mutant they fought, making them invincible. In this timeline Mystique did not survive and suffered the same fate as Trask Industries's other research experiments. After eliminating or capturing all mutants, the Sentinels then proceeded to identify the genes in non-mutant humans that could lead to them having mutant children, and began targeting them as well. In the end, all of humanity were subjugated and only the most banal elements of mankind remained in charge of the planet, with the aid of the Sentinels. For this reason Wolverine was sent back in time to prevent Trask's death.

Trask was denied funding for his Sentinel project, and attempted to sell his technology to communist nations at the Paris Peace Accords to end the Vietnam War. Mystique tried to kill Trask, but Wolverine, Charles, Hank, and Magneto stopped her. However, as a result of a battle from Magneto trying to kill Mystique, the people were horrified by the existence of mutants and Trask's sentinel program was approved; furthermore, Trask obtained Mystique's blood and summarized it was exactly what he needed to make his Sentinels adaptive and truly unstoppable by any mutants. However, the blood would not be enough, and he desired to capture Mystique so he could extract and study her entire DNA profile, including bone marrow and spinal fluid.

After saving President Nixon from being killed by Magneto, Mystique tried to kill Trask a second time, but Charles Xavier convinced her not to, averting the bad future. Because a mutant saved the president, the Sentinel Program was shut down, much to Trask's anger. Later on, according to a newspaper article, Trask was arrested for selling military secrets to foreign powers after his Sentinel program was shut down.

Trivia

 * While in the original comic book version of Trask was never a hero by any means, he did eventually come to realize that Mutants are not a threat to humanity and even heroically sacrificed his own life to stop the Sentinels. Neither of those happen in to the Days of Future Past incarnation.
 * In the film X-Men: Days of Future Past, Bolivar Trask said he named the Sentinels after the guardians of the citadel. In actuality, it was taken that he meant, the real-life military academy in SC, and that its guards were dubbed "Sentinels".