Master Mold
Master Mold is a robotic supervillain who features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Master Mold was created by Bolivar Trask to build an army of MK I Sentinels to control the Mutant population. (X-Men v1 #16) The initial unit was constructed in secret on a farm in rural South Dakota. It was built piece-by-piece in a barn over a period of years by Bolivar and his son, Larry Trask. Nearing the completion of their work, the two Trasks intended to enlist the aid of government officials, such as a Special Agent Henry Peter Gyrich, to convince others of the need of their project for official support and funding. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #-1)
Trask ultimately succeeded in his task of finishing his Master Mold and constructing a small army of Sentinels, it is not clear if this was with the help of – or in spite of the lack of aid of – people like Special Agent Gyrich. When the Sentinels first appeared, vast resources had clearly been employed, far beyond the means of a mere anthropologist. However, during the X-Men’s first encounter with the androids, it does not seem that any government office or department was involved. Indeed, at the time, the existence of mutants was deemed theoretical to the general populace, so it is unlikely that the government would have felt the need to expend funds without a clear and present danger. (X-Men v1 #14) Bolivar Trask eventually succeeded in construction of his Master Mold, complete with its manufacturing subroutines. The design of this ability was no doubt the result of mass production’s need to eliminate human error in the manufacturing of the androids, though it was still not completely automated. Rather than allowing machines to build other machines on their own, Bolivar Trask made his own presence necessary for the process. However, even with this safety feature in the procedure, Trask did not anticipate that the artificial intelligence he bestowed upon the Master Mold, and as a result the first Sentinels, would lead to the Master Mold deciding that its mental abilities made it superior to humans and thus no longer beholden to its creator. (X-Men v1 #15) As a result, the Master Mold rebelled and threatened Trask with the destruction of a nearby US city, should Trask not aid in the construction of an army of Sentinels. However, this Master Mold, as well as its Sentinels, was destroyed before the task could be accomplished. As these Sentinels had already captured two of their teammates, the remainder of the X-Men tracked the Sentinels to their base. Still, it was not the X-Men who defeated the androids but Trask himself, who at the last minute destroyed the Sentinels’ power source, which in turn destroyed the entire base and all Sentinels therein. (X-Men v1 #16)
After Trask's death, the government of the United States put the Sentinel operation under the command of a Steven Lang, a Mutant-hating bigot who began reconstructing Sentinels with Trask's notes for his own goals. (X-Men v1 #96)
During a battle against the X-Men, they destroyed the space station where Lang and the Sentinels were. Lang was lobotomized, but his memory-engrams were printed in Master Mold's computers. Thus, Master Mold suddenly believed that it was Lang himself. (X-Men v1 #100)
Surviving the explosion, Master Mold built a new base on a nearby asteroid and then went to Earth to capture Angel and Iceman. Master Mold also, accidentally, captured the Hulk. The three heroes managed to escape their prison and the Hulk severely damaged Master Mold. Master Mold tried to blow away the station to destroy the mutants, but the mutants and the Hulk managed to escape. (Incredible Hulk Annual v1 #7)
The damaged body of Master Mold fell into the sea, off the coast of Alaska. Using its reconstruction facilities, the wreckage from an oil platform, and sunken ships, Master Mold was again complete and detected X-Factor leader, Cyclops, in Anchorage, looking for his missing wife and son. Master Mold attacked him, but Cyclops tricked him into shooting gas storage tanks The resulting explosion destroyed Master Mold's body, again, but its brain module survived. (X-Factor v1 #14)
Somehow, Master Mold reached Muir Island and mindcontrolled Dr. Moira MacTaggert. Master Mold then made her create the Retribution Virus, which stopped Mutants from using their powers and then killed them. However, Dr. MacTaggert's lover, Banshee, noticed something wrong and called Cyclops for help. Cyclops went to Muir Island and Master Mold tried to kill him twice, but failed. (Marvel Comics Presents v1 #18)
House of X
Overview
Personality and attributes
Powers and abilities
The Master Mold can adjust his physical height and mass in order to blend in with it's surroundings. (Incredible Hulk Annual v1 #7)
Master Mold's can utilize their sentinel fabrication functionality to create conversion nano-viruses which steadily transform organic tissue into machinery. (Uncanny X-Men v4 #15) They can just as simply refit their own technology for the purpose of baser technological supplementation of living flesh, effectively turning live human beings into prototype Omega Sentinels. (Magneto v3 #3)
Notes
- Master Mold was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby where he made his first appearance in X-Men v1 #15 (December, 1965).
In other media
Television
- In X-Men, the Master Mold appeared as an antagonist in the animated series where he made his first appearance in the episode "Slave Island" where he was voiced by David Fox. He was shown as being the creation of Bolivar Trask and the manufacturing point for the Sentinels that were being built at Genosha until the factory was flooded by a time travelling Cable. In the episode "Days of Future Past", the Master Mold deployed Sentinels at the direction of Trask to retrieve Senator Robert Kelly who had been captured by Magneto. This was with the idea of proving the Sentinels worth to the senator but when Trask ordered Kelly to be returned to his home - Master Mold refused. The giant Sentinel intended to replace the brains of all the world's leaders with a computer linked to Master Mold as the machine sought to control the world. He cited that Mutants were Humans and that logically mankind needed to be protected from themselves. By that point, the X-Men arrived to battle the Sentinels with the underground factory being destroyed. However, Master Mold emerged from the ruined mountain to destroy the Mutants only for the giant Sentinel to be seemingly destroyed when Professor X crashed the Blackbird into the machine.
- In Wolverine and the X-Men, Master Mold appeared as an antagonist in the animated series where it was voiced by actor Gwendoline Yeo. This version appeared with a feminine shape and personality. It first appeared as a schematic in the episode "Thieves Gambit" where it was being developed by Boliver Trask as the guiding intelligence of the Sentinels being constructed by the Mutant Response Division. In the future timeline, the Master Mold guided the Sentinels that controlled the devastated Earth where it captured the few remaining Mutants left. Master Mold sought to replicate the powers of Mutants in order for the Sentinels to evolve. Following the discovery of Professor X, Master Mold sought his capture and that of Cerebro in order to replicate his powers in order to track the few remaining Mutants on the planet. In the episode "Backlash", Forge hacked his way into the MRD in the present where he discovered that Master Mold was the artificial intelligence that guided the Sentinels leading to the X-Men staging an attack on the factory housing it. However, Master Mold registered the digital intrusion and staged an ambush but the X-Men with the Brotherhood of Mutants were successful in destroying the factory but the artificial intelligence survived in one of the damaged Sentinels where it came back online.
Video games
- In X-Men: Children of the Atom, the Master Mold made a cameo appearance in the background of one of the fighting arenas in the setting of the fighting video game.
- In X-Men: The Official Game, Master Mold served as the primary antagonist in the video game tie-in to X2: X-Men United in events set after the movie. Master Mold was part of the Sentinel program that was a project being developed by William Stryker deep in a facility at Alkali Lake. The mission of the Sentinels was finding and terminating Mutants. It was reactivated by Jason Stryker who survived the destruction of the facility and intended to complete his father's mission of killing all Mutants.
- In X-Men: Battle of the Atom, Master Mold appeared as a playable card in the iOS video card game.
- In Marvel: Future Fight, Master Mold appeared as a boss antagonist in the setting of the mobile video game.
Appearances
- X-Men v1: (1965)
- X-Factor v1:
- Secret Avengers:
External Links
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