Bastion (comics)

Bastion is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by Scott Lobdell and Pascual Ferry, and first made a cameo appearance in X-Men #52 (May 1996) while his first full appearance was in The Uncanny X-Men #333 (June 1996).^[1]

Bastion
Art from the variant cover for X-Force (vol. 3) #6 (2008). Art by Clayton 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	Immunity to telepathic probes and mutant abilities Adaptation Technoforming Ability to turn people into Prime Sentinels Command of other Sentinels Energy manipulation Teleportation Chronokinesis Technopathy Superhuman strength and durability Flight

Fictional character biography

Operation: Zero Tolerance

Bastion is introduced as Sebastion Gilberti, a mysterious man who had risen to power in a relatively short time in the United States government and assembled the international anti-mutant strike force Operation: Zero Tolerance (OZT).^[2][3]

As the OZT attempt to reconfigure the Sentinel force assembled by Project Wideawake, Bastion deems most of them outdated. Instead, Bastion develops a new type of Sentinel called the Prime Sentinels, who are humans transformed by nanotechnology.^[4] After learning of the Prime Sentinels' nature, Robert Kelly and Henry Peter Gyrich convince the President to suspend Bastion's operations. Bastion is captured by S.H.I.E.L.D. with help from Iceman.^[5]

Origin

Bastion later escapes from government custody and returns to the home of his adoptive mother Rose Gilberti. After the authorities accidentally kill Rose, Bastion is enraged and returns to the former OZT facility. Bastion makes contact with the version of Master Mold that created the Prime Sentinels and drains its energy, transforming him into a unit resembling Nimrod.^[6] This transformation unlocks Bastion's memories, revealing that he was created after a Master Mold absorbed Nimrod and the two were reborn into a singular human body after passing through the Siege Perilous.^[7]

Bastion was returned to government custody, only to be killed by Apocalypse's Horseman of Death.^[8]

Template

Bastion's remains are found by former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Mainspring, the head of a project called the Gatekeepers, whose goal is to study and destroy Phalanx technology. Mainspring uses the Transmode Virus to reprogram Bastion, transforming him into Template. The virus takes control of Template and forces him to construct a Babel Spire on Earth to signal the alien Technarchy. Mainspring destroys himself along with Template while Warlock and Wolfsbane destroy the Babel Spire.^[9]

X-Force

Following the Messiah Complex event, the Purifiers recover Bastion's head and attach it to Nimrod's body, resurrecting Bastion. Bastion discovers one of Magus's offspring and uses it to infect Donald Pierce, the Leper Queen, Cameron Hodge, Steven Lang, Bolivar Trask, Graydon Creed, and William Stryker with the Transmode Virus.^[10]

Second Coming

Bastion acts as the primary antagonist in the X-Men: Second Coming storyline, where he sends Lang, Hodge, Trask, Stryker and Creed to kill Hope Summers. Later, Bastion attempts to kill Hope on his own, only for her to seemingly kill him.^[11][12]

X-Men Blue

Bastion is later revealed to have survived by transporting himself to the future, but was severely damaged by Hope's attack. Bastion decides to re-dedicate himself to protecting mutants, assembling a wave of Sentinels. Bastion eventually returns to the present and is confronted by the time-displaced X-Men, who learn that Bastion's actual goal is to preserve mutants until their population rises to a level where he can destroy them all himself.^[13]

In X-Men Blue, Bastion works with Miss Sinister, Emma Frost, and Havok to use the drug Mothervine to repower mutants worldwide. Frost, disillusioned by the Mothervine plot, frees Polaris and her team after overseeing Sinister's experiments on Jimmy Hudson, and the group travels to the inner circle's meeting room. Bastion battles them, but is caught off-guard by the arrival of Xorn, who kills him.^[14]

In other media

Television

Bastion appears in X-Men '97, voiced by Theo James as an adult and Kari Wahlgren as a child.^[15][16] This version is a human who was born with Sentinel-like abilities due to Nimrod infecting his father.

Video games

• Bastion appears as a boss and a playable character in X-Men: Next Dimension, voiced by Don Morrow.^[15]
• Bastion appears as a boss in X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse, voiced by Alastair Duncan.^[15]
• Bastion appears as a boss in X-Men: Destiny, voiced by Keith Szarabajka.^[15]
• Bastion appears as a boss in Marvel: Avengers Alliance.
• Bastion appears as a playable character in Marvel Contest of Champions.