Bastion (comics)

Bastionis asupervillainappearing inAmerican comic bookspublished byMarvel Comics.The character was created byScott LobdellandPascual Ferry,and first made acameo appearanceinX-Men#52 (May 1996) while his first full appearance was inTheUncanny X-Men#333 (June 1996).

Bastion
Art from the variant cover forX-Forcevol. 3 #6 (2008). Art byClayton Crain.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	X-Men(vol. 2) #52 (May 1996)
Created by	Scott Lobdell Pascual Ferry
In-story information
Alter ego	Sebastion Gilberti
Species	Android
Team affiliations	Purifiers Friends of Humanity Operation: Zero Tolerance Humanity's Last Stand
Notable aliases	Master Mold,Nimrod,Arnold Rodriguez, Template, The Oracle
Abilities	A mystical fusion of Master Mold and Nimrod; Immunity to telepathic probes and mutant abilities Adaptation Technoforming Ability to turn people intoPrime Sentinels Command of other Sentinels Energy manipulation Teleportation Chronokinesis Technopathy Superhuman strength and durability Flight

Fictional character biography

Operation: Zero Tolerance

Main article:Operation: Zero Tolerance

Bastion is introduced asSebastion Gilberti,a mysterious man who had risen to power in a relatively short time in theU.S. Governmentand began assembling the international anti-mutantstrike forceOperation: Zero Tolerance(OZT). When the X-Men learned about the existence of OZT some months before the operation became public,Jean GreyandGambit(acting on information) snuck into an OZT meeting being held at the Pentagon to learn more about the program and its leader Bastion, but did not come out with much. Jean could not read Bastion's mind, but he easily identified the two X-Men hidden among representatives of various foreign intelligence agencies interested in supporting OZT.

WhenProfessor Xvoluntarily turned himself in after theOnslaughtevent, Bastion confined Professor X in an OZT facility along with the artificially-created mutant Mannites, taking control of theXavier Institute for Higher Learning.It also allowed Bastion to gain possession of theXavier Protocols,a list of files containing information on killing the X-Men. Bastion also killedDaily Buglereporter Nick Bandouveris who was going to report onGraydon Creed's historyand later Bastion himself succeeded in capturingJubileeto take to the OZT base in New Mexico.

As the OZT attempted to reconfigure theSentinelforce assembled by Project: Wideawake, Bastion deemed most of them outdated. Instead, Bastion was able to develop a new type of Sentinel called thePrime Sentinels.Graydon's deathwas the last ammunition needed to initiate Bastion's OZT, which attacked mutants everywhere. The operation soon targeted and succeeded in capturing some members of theX-Men.

Bastion also tried to buy offJ. Jonah Jamesondirectly with all the available information he had managed to gather and decrypt on the outlaw X-Men and their associates. However, Jameson revealed that he had already been working on his own story for quite some time and invited Bastion to see what he had so far. When Bastion saw nothing, Jameson pointed out that Bastion had managed to ingratiate, intimidate, and dominate his way into a position of power in over a dozen countries. Yet there was no evidence of his existence. To Jameson, this meant the greatest story to follow was Bastion himself. He also implied that Bastion was behind the disappearance of Bandouveris and this meant Bastion would kill to keep his secrets. Jameson then burned the data disk and ordered Bastion out of his office, warning that he would see Bastion charged with Nick's murder.

After learning of the Prime Sentinels' nature, thePresidentwas convinced bySenator Robert KellyandHenry Peter Gyrichto suspend Bastion's operations. Bastion was captured byS.H.I.E.L.D.,with help fromIceman.

Origin

While in government custody, more mysteries surrounding Bastion were discovered, but before a further investigation could be made, he managed to escape and return to the home of his mother figureRose Gilberti.After the authorities accidentally killed Rose, Bastion flew into a rage and returned to the former OZT facility. There he foundCablefighting Machine Man who had lost touch with humanity. Bastion made contact with the version of Master Mold that helped created the Prime Sentinels and drained the unit's energy which transformed him into a unit resembling Nimrod.

This transformation allowed Bastion's memories to be unblocked, revealing that he had not been born human at all and instead was originally two separate beings: the lead SentinelMaster Moldand the highly advanced SentinelNimrodfrom analternate future.A fused Sentinel where Master Mold's programming co-opted Nimrod's had a conflict with the X-Men, ultimately resulting in the X-ManRogueusing theSiege Perilouswhich was capable of judging any who pass through it and reincarnating into a new life commensurate in quality with their previous life. The merging of the two Sentinels into a single being with no memory of his past, Bastion was eventually found by Rose who took him in and taught him human kindness. Bastion began to hear about America's mutant problem and his mutant-termination directives were re-activated. He abandoned Rose and sought out the high-profileFriends of Humanity.After regaining his identity as a Sentinel, Bastion attempted to lead another crusade against mutants by turningMachine Maninto a Sentinel Supreme, but Machine Man and Cable were able to defeat him.He was returned to government custody, only to be killed byApocalypse's Horseman of Death.

Template

Bastion's remains were eventually found by former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Mainspring who headed a project called the Gatekeepers, whose goal is to study and destroyPhalanxtechnology. Bastion was, however, able to co-opt and integrate itself with one of the Gatekeeper's bodies and used it to attack the techno-organic heroWarlockand his allies, being eventually defeated.Mainspring was able to strip away the layers of Bastion's programming to reveal the original Master Mold's source code and, using the alien transmode virus he was infected with, rewrote Bastion's programming, transforming him intoTemplate.The virus soon took complete control of Template and forced him to construct a Babel Spire on Earth to signal the alien Technarchy. To oppose them, Mainspring destroyed himself along with Template, while Warlock andWolfsbanemanaged to destroy the Babel Spire.

Sometime later,Carol Danverscontacted the X-Men about the current whereabouts of the remains of Bastion/Template. The X-Men sentShadowcat,Wolverineand Gambit to break into the government facility, intending to reclaim their stolen computer files. While there, Template showed the three X-Men false holograms of events and lies about their teammates. The X-Men eventually got their files, but they were left with doubts and fears about their teammates.

X-Force

Following the events of theMessiah Complexevent, the fundamentalistPurifiersassaulted a heavily defended S.H.I.E.L.D. installation, breaching the tight security with the aid of several double agents within the organization and recovered Bastion's head. At one of their churches, the Purifiers attached the head to the body of the Nimrod unit recovered from Forge's Aerie, returning Bastion to life. Immediately after his activation, the mutant-hunting robot alerts the Purifiers to the presence of the newX-Force.After accessing Nimrod's database, Bastion concludes that the X-Men are the greatest mutant threat to the Purifiers' objectives in this timeline or any other and that there is no terrestrial force in existence that could guarantee the elimination of the X-Men. However, he reveals that he has found something that could:Magus.

It was later revealed that what Bastion discovered at the bottom of the ocean was not the real Magus, but one of his offspring in a mindless state. Bastion rewrote its programming and infectedDonald Pierceand theLeper Queen,the recovered techno-organic remains ofCameron HodgeandSteven Lang,as well as the corpses ofBolivar Trask,Creed, and ReverendWilliam Strykerwith the Technarch transmode virus, declaring them to be the future of humanity and the end of mutantkind.

His first move was to capture several mutants and inject them with a strain of the Legacy Virus to cause their powers to go berserk and kill themselves and thousands of humans. This would compel theUnited Nationsto form a Mutant Response Division, which is successful, despite X-Force's efforts.

Bastion also had Pierce act as his mole inside the X-Men's headquarters, all the while building several structures that surround Utopia.

During the "Dark Reign"storyline,Quasimodoanalyzed Bastion forNorman Osborn.While claiming that Bastion's current programming makes him difficult to sway, Quasimodo states that would be a beneficiary tool if they can find a way to bypass his Prime Director.

Second Coming

Main article:X-Men: Second Coming

Bastion is the primary antagonist in theX-Men: Second Comingstoryline. He is seen with Lang, Hodge, Trask, Stryker and Creed, stating that their forces are assembled and at his disposal. Bastion tells them that the Mutant Messiah has returned and gives them orders to kill.Later, Bastion attempts to killHopeon his own, but he is confronted by Rogue and then severely damaged whenNightcrawlersacrifices himself. When rebooting, Bastion takes on much of Nimrod's old appearance, but is finally destroyed when Hope manifests a variety of the current X-Men's mutant powers and obliterates him.

X-Men: Blue

Despite his apparent destruction, Bastion had survived the attack by activating, at the last second, his temporal drives and shunted himself into the future. However, Bastion had suffered catastrophic damage from Hope's assault and the time-shift had corrupted and compromised his systems. Arriving when mutants were being faced with extinction due to the Terrigenesis cloud, Bastion decided to re-dedicate himself to protecting mutants, assembling, and reprogramming a wave of standard sentinels. He eventually returned to the present and was soon confronted by thetime-displaced X-Menwhich confirm that Bastion's actual goal is simply to preserve mutants until their population rises to a level where he can destroy them all himself. The team try to fight him but Bastion instead just left them and retreat with his Sentinels.

In the aftermath of Hydra takeover of the United States of America under the leadership of the Cosmic Cube-altered Captain America, Bastion seemingly started to work withMiss Sinister,Emma FrostandHavokto use Mothervine on a global scale.Bastion went with Havok to take control of an army of Prime Sentinels; since his programming was unrecognizable by them, they identified him as a threat despite his role in their creation. Bastion continued to survey the development and growth of the Mothervine to continue mutant repopulation, much to the chagrin of Frost.AfterSebastian Shawfailed in his attempt to killMagnetoto gain a role in the Mothervine plot, Bastion was present to negotiate with and later fight the Master of Magnetism, simultaneously unleashing a wave of Prime Sentinels to finally release Mothervine under Havok's order; Magneto was able to escape by using a vial of Mutant Growth Hormone and throwing a lighthouse at the group, fleeing in the chaos.

Thanks to Bastion's efforts, both humans and mutants began to experience accelerated mutations through exposure to the Mothervine.A group of mutants, led byPolaris,managed to infiltrate the Mothervine group's hideout once Mothervine was already active, with Bastion detecting their presence and alerting the rest of the group; Bastion incapacitated the daughter of Magneto when Polaris refused Havok's offer to join them, and they were imprisoned as a result.The traitorous Frost, disillusioned by the Mothervine plot, freed Polaris and her team after overseeing an experiment by Miss Sinister on Jimmy Hudson, and they made their way to the inner circle's meeting room. At this point, Magneto had discovered the mutantElixirwho was capable of reversing the Mothervine mutations and was taken across the world to stop the rampancy, to the notice of Havok and Bastion. Emma and Polaris managed to break into their meeting, and Bastion began fighting them off. Ultimately, he was caught off-guard by the arrival ofXornwho absorbed him into a wormhole and seemingly destroyed them both.

In other media

Television

Sebastion Gilberti / Bastion appears inX-Men '97,voiced byTheo Jamesas an adult,and byKari Wahlgrenas a child.This version is aSentinel-esquecyborgandtechnopath.

Video games

• Bastion appears as abossand a playable character inX-Men: Next Dimension,voiced byDon Morrow.
• Bastion appears as a boss inX-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse,voiced byAlastair Duncan.
• Bastion appears as a boss inX-Men: Destiny,voiced byKeith Szarabajka.
• Bastion appears as a boss inMarvel: Avengers Alliance.

External links

• Bastionat Marvel.com