Yes, that's right - before Peter Dinklage appeared as a moustachioed, Caucasian version of the character in last year's X-Men: Days of Future Past, he first appeared in the guise of Bill Duke in Brett Ratner's much-maligned X-Men: The Last Stand back in 2006. I'm not entirely sure how Bryan Singer's time travel deus-ex-reboot affected the continuity in such a way that a decidedly non-African American dwarf became Bill Duke forty years later... but then neither is Singer, probably. Regardless, seeing a recognisable name like Bolivar Trask back in '06 was a treat for the fans, even though his character did literally nothing of note. We had seen a Sentinel in the film's Danger Room sequence near the beginning of the film - well, 'seen' is a strong word - so it was a nice one-two punch to have Trask there too. All disparagement of The Last Stand aside, it was packed to the brim with fan-pleasing nods and moments, from Fastball Specials to Iceman icing up for the first time. To that fan-baiting effect, we were given a few moments with Trask, and that's just fine. Again, it was simply that issue of lack-of-foresight; the filmmakers never think ahead far enough to presume that they might want to maybe use these cameo characters to better effect in later films in the franchise (and shock-horror, have them be played by different actors, depending on the whims of whatever director is next at the helm).
Cinephile since 1993, aged 4, when he saw his very first film in the cinema - Jurassic Park - which is also evidence of damn fine parenting. World champion at Six Degrees of Separation. Lender of DVDs to cheap mates. Connoisseur of Marvel Comics and its Cinematic Universe.
