30 Greatest Marvel Movie Villains

Though Bolivar Trask technically appeared in X-Men: The Last Stand as played by Bill Duke, a comic-faithful take on the character didn't appear until Days of Future Past, played by Peter Dinklage.

Though Trask's presence was much more muted throughout the film than most fans expected, he served an undeniably crucial role in the movie's plot, as it would be his death at the hands of Mystique that leads to an expedited Sentinels program and a future where the mutants are all-but wiped out.

This, of course, kickstarts a race to send Wolverine back in time and prevent Trask from being killed, creating an ironic, novel situation where the villain's death is not sought but in fact quite the opposite.

Also, Trask's motives are not a black-and-white hatred for mutants: rather, we see that he actually has respect for them, even if he believes that experimentation upon them and the creation of the Sentinels will lead to a better world.

In many ways Trask is outdone by the gimmick of the movie that he's in, but he's an undeniably vital part, and performed with the expected skill by Dinklage.