Master Mold is a
supervillain who first appeared in
Marvel Comics Uncanny X-men #15.
Master Mold is a giant
Sentinel, at least thirty
feet in height, responsible for many of the artificial intelligence decisions made by the
entire body of Sentinel robots. Like all
Sentinels, it is dedicated to the capture and
destruction of
superhuman mutants. The Master Mold acts as the
central node of the Sentinels
robotic hive mind. All robots of the same generation as the Master Mold are
slaves to its
commands. The cold
logic and
machine will of the Master Mold make it a strangely creepy
villain. Master Mold can project its artificial consciousness into the smallest of its
mechanical parts, and then reconstruct itself from any metal available in its
vicinity. It can also use materials to enlarge itself to
titanic proportions. Almost impossible to
completely destroy, and commanding waves of deadly Sentinels, Master Mold is a
serious threat to the heroes of the
Marvel Universe. Commonly opposed by the
X-men and occasionally the
Avengers, Master Mold continues to pop up to try to complete its deadly task by any
extreme measure it deems necessary. In its quest to protect humanity, it usually threatens more lives than it protects.
History of the Master Mold
The original Master Mold was built by the
Sentinels' inventor,
Dr. Bolivar Trask. Trask believed that mutants were the next step in human evolution, and that humanity would
subjugated if they were not stopped. To save mankind, Dr. Trask designed the original Sentinels to hunt and kill the superhuman mutants that he feared. The enormous Master Mold was built to be a manufacturing
control computer that automated the construction of Sentinel robots. For whatever reason, Trask made the Master Mold
mobile and
capable of speech. The computer mind of Master Mold became the center of Sentinel consciousness when Trask released his creations upon the world. Deciding that the most logical way to fulfill their programming would be to take over the
entire human race, the Mark I Sentinels rebelled. Lacking the
means to build themselves, Master Mold directed his
minions to capture Trask so that he could be forced to create the
army of robots that would be needed to
conquer Earth. The
X-Men, a group of mutants, fought to free Trask from his
rampaging creations. Realizing that he had created a greater
threat to man than the mutants that fought to free him, Trask
sacrificed himself by smashing Master Mold's power source, which exploded destroying the Sentinel fleet.
Years later, Dr. Steven Lang, the creator of the Mark III Sentinels, was appointed to a
United States government project to study
mutants. Lang shared Trasks
paranoid hatred of mutants and he used his government position to develop a means to exterminate them. He was secretly receiving additional funding from the
Hellfire Club, Lang found and explored the
Sentinel bases constructed by Bolivar and Larry Trask. Working from Bolivar's original notes and using the remains of the original, Lang recreated the Master Mold and developed a new version of Sentinel. He then turned an abandoned
SHIELD space station into his base, and sent his creations to attack and capture members of the
X-men. The X-men battled and defeated the new Mark III Sentinels, causing
critical damage to the space station in the process. Lang was trapped in the
wreckage and left for dead by the escaping heroes. In a last ditch effort to kill them, Lang activated the Master Mold. Programmed with Lang's own
brain engrams, the Master Mold came to believe that it was actually Lang himself. Believing his
organic body destroyed, Lang/Master Mold escaped the doomed station and constructed a new
base on a small
asteroid in Earth
orbit.
Months later, Master Mold abducted
Iceman from the Colorado mansion of his fellow
X-Man, the
Angel. Angel pursued Master Mold to
New Mexico where the trio crossed paths with the
Incredible Hulk. Master Mold defeated the group of heroes, making them prisoners at its asteroid base. Revealing to the captured X-men that it believed itself to be Steven Lang, the Angel pointed out that
SHIELD agents who had reclaimed the damaged space platform had found Lang there. Hospitalized as a
mindless vegetable, Steven Lang had lived. Shocked to learn that it was not truly human after all, Master Mold became
suicidal as the remains of Lang's mind rejected its
robot prison. The three
prisoners escaped and smashed the Master Mold apart. In a last suicidal act, Master Mold set the base's
fusion reactor to
overload, hoping to destroy both itself and the heroes he had captured. The resulting explosion
obliterated the asteroid. The Angel, Iceman, and Hulk all succeeded escaping.
Parts of the Master Mold rained down through the atmosphere. A large piece fell to Earth near
Anchorage, Alaska. This piece, barely operational, detected the presence of a powerful mutant, the X-Man
Cyclops. Seemly freed of Lang's suicidal urges, these remains activated and rebuilt Master Mold from
scrap metal. Before transferring his mind, Lang had determined that there were twelve
superhuman mutants on Earth who had the potential to become the leaders of a
mutant revolution. The reconstructed Master Mold determined that the elimination of "
The Twelve" would be its
prime directive. Cyclops was identified by Lang as one of the twelve. After scanning the city of Anchorage for mutants in order to pinpoint Cyclops, Master Mold discovered that all humans contained some
mutated cells. Logic dictated that it’s programming to eliminate all mutants now included all humans. Master Mold began to
lay waste to Anchorage. Drawing Cyclops into a fight, Master Mold was tricked by the X-man into blasting
oil tank farm, causing an huge explosion that nearly completely destroyed it once again.
After lying
dormant for a time, Master Mold again reconstructed itself. Due to loneliness, an
emotion it had acquired from Lang's brain engrams, it created another robot which it named
Conscience. Programming Conscience with the creative and emotional sides of Lang's mind, Master Mold retained the programming based on the rational side. No longer determined to destroy the entire human race, Master Mold took mental control of the
Dr. Moira MacTaggert, a noted mutant researcher and friend of
Charles Xavier. Master Mold forced MacTaggert to create the
Retribution Virus, which was designed to kill all superhuman mutants. The virus would also kill 92.4% of all normal human beings, but Master Mold was
content because some normal humans would survive.
The ends justified the means to Master Mold. Conscience, however, was
disturbed by the idea of killing so many people. Betraying Master Mold, it joined the X-Men in opposing Master Mold's plan. MacTaggert found a means of curing the
disease induced by the virus, and once she was free from the Master Molds control, was able to implement it. Conscience then
blew up Master Mold's ship, destroying itself, Master Mold and all existing specimens of the Retribution Virus.
Again Master Mold succeeded in rebuilding itself.
Nimrod, a highly advanced
Sentinel from the future of an alternate reality, had come to the present and disguised itself as construction foreman
Nicholas Hunter. As Hunter, Nimrod discovered a component of the Master Mold in a
Manhattan construction site and picked it up. Master Mold's program infiltrated Nimrod's own systems, triggering the reconstruction of Nimrod in the form of the gigantic Master Mold.
Once again, the Master Mold was determined to
exterminate all mutants, especially
The Twelve. Moreover, it again believed that since the human race was the
progenitor of human mutants, all of humanity must be exterminated as well. Master Mold began rampaging through the construction site, attracting the attention of the X-Men
Rogue and
Psylocke. During the battle, Sharon Kelly, the wife of
Senator Robert Kelly, was killed. Other X-Men arrived and joined in fighting the Master Mold. The technology of both the futuristic Nimrod and the
regenerative abilities of Master Mold made the ensuing fight a losing one for the X-men. The only weakness that they could
exploit was the battle that was raging inside Master Mold. Nimrod's programming was fighting against being
assimilated. In a last desperate attempt to destroy the robot, the X-Man,
Dazzler, unleashed an
energy blast that propelled both the Mold-Nimrod creature and Rogue through the dimensional portal contained within the mysterious
Siege Perilous crystal.
This was not the end of Master Mold. The magic of the Siege Perilous
crystal allows any entity that passes through it to be reborn as a new being. Nimrod/Master Mold returned in humanoid form as the
supervillain Bastion. A new Master Mold was also seen in an
Operation Zero Tolerance base, presumably sending directives to Bastion's Prime Sentinels. Upon his escape from
SHIELD, Bastion downloaded the contents of that Master Mold into himself.
When and where Master Mold may turn up again is not known, but its quest to destroy the Twelve and all mutants remains unfulfilled. Millions of parts of Master Mold still lay dormant all over the Earth, waiting for the opportunity to rebuild and menace the
Marvel Universe again.