NICHOLAS TRASK
Real
Name: Nicholas Trask
Identity/Class: Human
Occupation: Criminal mastermind and owner of several legitimate and non-legitimate businesses
Group Membership: Leader of his own criminal organization
Affiliations: His own criminal organization
Enemies: She-Hulk, Iron Man (Tony Stark), Lou Monkton, Roxxon Oil, Sheriff Morris Walters, Elaine Ann Walters
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Los Angeles, California
First Appearance: Savage She-Hulk#1 (February, 1980)
Powers: None. He did once use the Silver Serpent, a massive earth-boring device which served as a big, snake-like weapon. It could chew things up or crush others in its coils.
History:
(Savage She Hulk#1 (fb, BTS)) - Nicholas Trask was the mastermind and leader of a non-Maggia criminal organization on the West Coast probably unknown to the Kingpin of the East Coast. Killing his body guard in a fit of rage, he blamed the murder on (and later framed) Lou Monkton, a small-time hood and rival.
(Savage She-Hulk#4 (fb, BTS)) - Trask placed a hit on Sheriff Morris Walters, who was getting close to several of his illegal businesses, but the attempt went wrong and killed Walters' wife, Elaine Ann Walters.
(Savage She-Hulk#1) - Defending Monkton in court, Jennifer Walters (Morris's daughter) planted a rumor that she had proof that Trask was guilty of the murder. He sent three of his men to silence her, but she survived the gunshot due to a quick blood transfusion from her cousin Doctor Robert Bruce Banner (The Hulk). Because of the transfusion, Walters became the She-Hulk during a second attempt on her life, and forced an admission of guilt from her would-be killers.
(Savage She-Hulk#2-3) - Trask paid off trucker Jacob Fox to keep quiet for turning over a shipment of obsolete Stark International technology, part of which was a robot he made over into the image of the She-Hulk to take out hits in his behalf. He had Fox killed as well as his men in jail to keep them from turning state's evidence and blamed the murders on the She-Hulk. He ordered another hit on Walters that actually killed her best friend, Jill Ridge. Driven into hiding, Walters was attacked by the She-Hulk robot, but destroyed it as the She-Hulk.
(Savage She-Hulk#4) - Trask abducted Jennifer's father, Sheriff Morris Walters, and gave him part of the stolen Stark Technology to kill the She-Hulk. By purposely rigging the device to explode, he planned to kill them both, but the She-Hulk spotted the flaw and saved them both.
(Savage She-Hulk#5) - Trask built a massive earth-boring device called the Silver Serpent from Stark plans and used it to drain Roxxon Oil dry of its oil reserve in his attempt to force procurement of the conglomerate. Jen Walters investigated and discovered the serpent as the She-Hulk. Trask, meanwhile, distracted her with her identity as she damaged the serpent's control systems and sent him on an unavoidable course deep into the Earth.
Comments: Created by Stan Lee, further developed by David Anthony Kraft and Mike Vosburg.
When last seen, Trask was on a direct course for the center of the Earth. Quite possibly, he could have run across Tyrannus or the Mole Man but we may never know.
In these early stories, Trask was blamed for the death of the She-Hulk's mother by means of a hit on Sheriff Walters gone wrong. By the Sensational She Hulk series, her mother's death was blamed on a drunk driver (conceivably, Trask's man could have knocked her car into the drunk driver). Furthermore, in these early stories, Jennifer's mother's name was Ann, changed to Elaine, and reverted back to Ann. In the She-Hulk's entry in the Marvel Universe, it's Elaine!
by Will Uchtman
CLARIFICATIONS:
Nicholas Trask should not be confused with:
Appearances:
Savage She-Hulk#1 (February, 1980) - Stan Lee (writer), John Buscema (pencils), Chic Stone (inks), Jim Shooter (editor)
Savage She-Hulk#2-5 (March-June, 1980) - David Kraft (writer), Mike Vosburg (pencils), Chic Stone (inks), Jim Shooter (#2) & Mary Jo Duffy (#3-5) (editor)
First Posted: 08/27/2002
Last updated: 06/10/2014
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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