DONALD TRASK III
Real Name: Donald Trask III
Identity/Class: Human, citizen of the United States of America
Occupation: Dentist
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: None
formerly Cassandra Nova
Enemies: Ugly John, Cassandra Nova, X-Men (Cyclops/Scott Summers, Wolverine/James "Logan" Howlett)
Known Relatives: Bolivar Trask (uncle, deceased), Donald Trask Sr. (grandfather, deceased), Donald Trask Jr. (father, deceased), Larry Trask (cousin, deceased), Simon Trask (uncle), Tanya Trask (cousin)
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Master Mold complex in the jungles of Ecuador (place of death);
formerly Albuquerque, New Mexico
First Appearance: New X-Men I#114 (July, 2001)
Powers/Abilities: Donald Trask III possessed no known mutant or parahuman abilities. He had all the strength and stamina of an overweight man who engaged in little to no regular exercise. As a member of the Trask family, the Sentinels created by his uncle Bolivar were programmed to serve and protect him and all others possessing the genetic code specific to the Trask family.
Height: 5'8" (by approximation)
Weight: 180 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown
History:
(New X-Men I#114 (fb) - BTS) - Some time after Bolivar Trask created the first Master Mold to deal with the mutant problem, the United States government helped to fund a second, covert Master Mold factory in the jungles of Ecuador. The Master Mold's artificial intelligence was precision engineered to build wild Sentinels using whatever technology was available. Like the other Sentinels, these creations were programmed to preserve and protect all those with Trask DNA.
Over the years, the Ecuadorian Master Mold was all but forgotten, until Cassandra Nova learned of its existence and decided to use it in her fight against her brother Charles Xavier and mutantkind in general. Hoping to harness the plant's destructive capabilities, she sought out Bolivar's long lost relative Donald Trask III who, unlike his wealthy, industrialist uncle and cousins, was working in Albuquerque as a dentist.
(New X-Men I#114 - BTS) - Cassandra Nova approached Donald Trask in his practice, claiming she was working for the United States government and that she needed him to accompany her to do some emergency, black ops root canal work on the president. Honored, Trask went along with Cassandra who had already started analyzing and copying his DNA sequence. Trask and Nova boarded a military helicopter bound for Ecuador. During the 8-hour flight, Nova had Trask watch several rather graphic holographic scenarios that showed the cruel and brutal sides of the evolutionary process.
(New X-Men I#114) - Donald Trask, his virtual reality helmet on, watched along with Cassandra Nova how at the dawn of mankind the far more evolved Neanderthals brutally slaughtered their genetic predecessors, the Cro-Magnon. Nova calmly looked at the bloodbath, while Trask grew ever more horrified at the carnage. Cassandra assured him mankind was about to befall a similar fate at the hands of homo superior... unless Trask helped. After the simulation ended, Donald was so traumatized by what he'd seen, he threw up in his helmet even as the helicopter reached its destination. As they walked out into the jungle, Nova explained to Donald she knew about his family's history with the Sentinels and told him of the secret Master Mold just as the massive structure came into view. As they approached the foot of the giant Sentinel shaped complex, a squad of specialized "wild" Sentinels automatically attacked them but immediately fell in line once they recognized Donald's DNA. Still startled and out of his elements, Trask pleaded with Nova to be returned home only for Cassandra to usher him inside the Master Mold, assuring the dentist his future lay in genocide.
(New X-Men I#115 - BTS) - While in the Master Mold, Cassandra Nova explained to Donald her plans for using the Sentinels constructed there for an all out assault on the island of Genosha, home of roughly 15 million mutants. Trask remained unsure about his new "role" as the savior of mankind, but nevertheless used his control over the Sentinels to construct four specialized killer robots who would be able to total the island nation. While they worked, Cyclops, Wolverine and Ugly John (an Australian mutant they'd just rescued from a Sentinel attack) were en route to the complex in one of the team's X-Wing jets.
(New X-Men I#115) - Trask gave the four Genosha bound Sentinels their launch orders, just as the X-Men approached. While the mutant heroes tried to fight their way inside, cutting through the Trask-loyal wild Sentinels outside, Donald was having second thoughts about having just unleashed several supersonic death machines. Nova coyly tried to comfort him, telling the distraught dentist it isn't really murder when the targets are germs and vermin. She went on to say she could sense his newfound power and reputation as history's greatest mass murderer excited him. After all, he'd always had secret dreams of keeping mutant women and children as slaves in his basement. Right around that time, Cassandra had finished copying Trask's DNA. Now undistinguishable from a Trask, she didn't need Donald to control the killer robots any more and unceremoniously disposed of him by sticking her hands through his chest and head, destroying both his heart and brain. As he lay dying, Nova told Donald the secret, real message of evolution: All life winds up as manure.
Comments: Created by Grant Morrison (writer), Frank Quitely (pencils), Tim Townsend (inks).
Thanks in part to Donald Trask, Grant Morrison launched 2001's (initially) beloved revitalization of the X-Men line. His character is a mere cipher in the grand scheme of things, but having a dentist be responsible for 15 million dead mutants at least gave us the immortal line "forget your dental practice, mister Trask. Your future lies in genocide". Anyone who's ever had a dentist fill a cavity before the novocaine fully kicked in will know most of them have at least an appreciation for afflicting pain.
Still, let's be realistic. Why was it necessary for Cassandra to drag poor ol' Donald all the way to Ecuador when the story itself clearly showed she knew she could take over his genetic traits and, failing that, couldn't be affected by the Sentinels to begin with (seeing as she was, at the time, a purely psychic entity)? She could just as easily have sat in his Albuquerque waiting room for a day or so and have absorbed his genetic code that way.
Profile by Norvo
CLARIFICATIONS:
Donald Trask III is related to:
But has no known connections to:
images: (without ads)
New X-Men I#115, p14, pan2 (main image)
New X-Men I#114, p23, pan1 (future lies in genocide)
New X-Men I#115, p15, pans 1&2 (killed by Cassandra Nova)
Appearances:
New X-Men I#114 (July, 2001) - Grant Morrison (writer), Frank Quitely (pencils), Tim Townsend (inks), Mark Powers (editor)
New X-Men I#115 (August, 2001) - Grant Morrison (writer), Frank Quitely (pencils), Tim Townsend, Mark Morales (inkers), Mark Powers (editor)
First Posted: 05/24/14
Last Updated: 08/23/18
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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