Part Three: Steven Lang – the human
However, the Master Mold unit in Ecuador was not the last that would be built based upon the designs of Bolivar Trask. The next unit was constructed at the behest of one Dr. Steven Lang. Not much is known about the early life of Dr. Lang, but it clear that he was influential and respected enough to be placed in charge of a government project whose directive was to determine why mutants exist. His position as project head allowed him access to the estate of Larry Trask, which in turn granted him access to the notes and blueprints of Bolivar and Larry Trask’s Sentinels.
Having become convinced by Larry Trask’s writings that mutants were a threat to the whole of humanity, Lang was determined to deal with the threat himself. In a manner unclear, he soon thereafter became involved with a secret, 
shadow organization called the Council of the Chosen, the prestigious Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club, a group of wealthy industrialists who longed to somehow use mutants as tools to enhance their power and influence. It was they who provided the money and material Lang needed to fund a new program, which was named Project: Armageddon. However, even from the beginning, Lang plotted to betray his benefactors. While they wished to use mutants for their own ends, Lang meant to exterminate them all. [X-Men (1st series) #100]
Still, not all of the Council of the Chosen were fooled by Lang, who was actually supported by one of their number, the White King aka Ned Buckman. Like Lang, Buckman saw mutants as a threat and wanted them exterminated. A Colonel Rossi, working at the behest of Sebastian Shaw, the then-uncrowned Black King of the Council of the Chosen, was sent to Project: Armageddon to meet with Steven Lang. Upon learning the true nature of the projects goals, he left for Washington DC, only to have his aircraft be attacked and downed by Sentinels. Recovered by Shaw’s people, Col. Rossi was taken to Shaw’s beach house in the Hamptons and guarded by Emma Frost, who would one day hold the title of the White Queen.
By the time Emma was able to use her mental powers to learn what the now-unconscious Rossi had learned and telepathically inform Sebastian, she and Rossi were attacked by yet another Sentinel, sent by Lang to finish the job. It was only by the timely arrival of Sebastian and Harry Leland, teleported on site by Shaw’s lover, Lourdes Chantel, that the Sentinel was destroyed. Returning to the Hellfire Club, Shaw used Emma’s telepathy to cause Buckman to gun down the Council of the Chosen, leaving Shaw to finish Buckman himself. With the Council destroyed, Shaw promised to replace it with a Lords Cardinal, comprised of mutants, who would rule first the Hellfire Club… and then the world. [Classic X-Men #7]
Unaware or uncaring of his role in the takeover of his benefactors’ organization by mutants, Steven Lang continued with his plans for Project: Armageddon. Rather than placing the project’s main facility anywhere on Earth, it was positioned in Earth’s orbit. Having recently been abandoned due to budget cuts, Lang’s project took residence upon SHIELD’s orbital platform. Therein, Lang used technology undeniably derived from the
work of Bolivar Trask, and possibly from the improved models of Larry Trask. Whether a man of such talents himself or employing those with such, Steven Lang’s third generation of Sentinels were even more improved, including his model of “X-Sentinels,” which were designed to be so human-like that they could pass for the people they were attempting to mimic.
Like Bolivar, Steven Lang utilized a Master Mold Sentinel. From this, it can be reasonably inferred that it was used in the same manner as Bolivar’s generation, to manufacture Sentinels. In the subsequent conflict with the X-Men, it was used neither in combat nor for strategic coordination, thereby limiting its possible purposes. It is also not completely clear if this was a wholly new Master Mold, or a previous model. The unit which had betrayed Bolivar seemed to have been obliterated, though it is not impossible that it had been recovered. Likewise, it is not clear whether Bolivar’s son, Larry Trask, had employed a Master Mold model or not. It is possible that this Master Mold unit was the same unit employed by Larry Trask, but never seen, or a wholly new construction. However, it cannot be denied that it included some of the very same programming as Bolivar’s unit, as much later Lang’s Master Mold would contain references to “the Twelve,” a subroutine entered many years before by Bolivar’s time-traveling daughter, Tanya.
Nevertheless, just as before, it was the hubris of the Sentinels’ creator which conspired against them. Utilizing the same logic as Bolivar and Larry, Steven Lang sent his completed Sentinels out to capture the X-Men. Like them, his reasoning was that the X-Men embodied the heart and spirit of mutantkind. Once that was crushed, the days of mutants would be numbered. Enacting his plan, Lang captured a few of the X-Men and returned to his orbital platform, where the remaining X-Men tracked him and soon followed. In the fight that followed, Lang soon discovered his Sentinel models insufficient against the X-Men and boarded a small, flying gunship, intent on destroying the X-Men himself. However, a well-aimed optic blast from Cyclops jammed the craft’s controls, causing him to crash and seemingly perish. As the orbital platform began to burn, the flames ignited by the battle, the X-Men, as well as the station’s personnel, fled. [X-Men (1st series) #99-100]
Part Four: Steven Lang – the Sentinel
Despite being believed so, Steven Lang was not yet dead. Pulling himself free from the wreckage of his gunship, he crawled to the chamber of the station that held his greatest 
creation: the Master Mold. Determined that his death would not be in vain, he used a helmet designed to interface with the Sentinel, just as Bolivar had done so long ago. However, this time, something went wrong. As his own design had differed too far from that of Bolivar’s, the mental engrams of Steven Lang were passed to the Master Mold unit, rather than merely activating it. Now activated and with the mind of Steven Lang, the Master Mold fled the facility to carry on its directives. Though it actually believed itself truly to be Steven Lang, in truth the real Steven Lang was later recovered by SHIELD operatives who investigated the aftermath of Project: Armageddon’s use of their orbital platform.
Unaware of this, the Lang/Master Mold moved in secret for the next few years, rebuilding its power base, though in new and original ways. Rather than constructing a new army of Sentinels, this Master Mold instead relied on itself, at least for awhile. Instead of a new army, it constructed a new orbital fortress from an asteroid caught in Earth’s gravity well. The very size of the corridors and controls of the facility were built to the scale of the Master Mold, seemingly in a reflection of its sole use. In the base’s labs, it designed tubes to counter the powers of specific mutants for purposes of imprisonment, in preparation for when it enacted the carefully laid plans it was constructing. [ Incredible Hulk Annual #7]
While it is not completely clear, it is most likely that it was during this time that the Master Mold constructed a doppelganger of itself and sent it to Earth. This secondary unit would lie low for years and only seemed to begin to act on its own after the apparent destruction of its main unit, which continued to scheme in orbit.
Finally reaching a point of readiness, the Lang-deluded Master Mold attacked Iceman and the Angel at the latter’s mountain retreat, far away from the rest of their teammates. Though easily capturing Iceman, the Master Mold was given chase by the Angel. Nevertheless, the chase ended shortly thereafter when the former X-Man sought assistance at the military’s Gamma Base in New Mexico. Unfortunately for the Master Mold, in the process of the capture, he drew the ire of the Hulk, who was currently residing on base. So, when the Sentinel rocketed to orbit, it inadvertently picked up a passenger, as the Hulk leapt to its boot and held on, even when exposed to the vacuum of space.
By the time the two mutants and the Hulk regained consciousness, they found themselves in transparent cylinders, specifically designed to counteract their powers. Unfortunately for the Master Mold, the 
cylinder in which the Hulk had been placed was designed for the Blob, whose strength was dwarfed by his own. The Hulk easily broke free, shattering the Angel’s cell in the process. Once joined by Iceman, the trio made their way to the control room of the Master Mold, who temporarily fought the threesome to a standstill. Seemingly in charge once again, the Master Mold informed the mutants of his true identity, that of Steven Lang. To his horror, however, his beliefs were shattered when the Angel informed him that the true Steven Lang had been discovered by SHIELD, still alive though in a vegetative state.
The Master Mold had little time to react to this, as the Hulk had quickly recovered from his battle with the Sentinel. This time, the green goliath got the better of the robot and tore it apart with his bare hands and fists. Believing the threat to be over, the trio began a search for a way back to Earth. They had just discovered an escape capsule when the Master Mold contacted them via a monitor, informing them that it had just overloaded the fusion reactor. Still, the trio managed to escape before the installation exploded, seemingly ending the threat of this Master Mold forever. [Incredible Hulk Annual #7]
However, this was not to be the case. Not only had the Master Mold unit survived the explosion, but it endured the reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere, crashing into the frigid waters of Alaska’s Bering Strait. There, on the ocean floor, it lay dormant for many years until a freak accident caused its circuits to activate themselves. Though still inert, it began to scan the area and soon sensed a mutant using his power with such intensity that even its damaged receptors were able to detect it. Further, what remained of the Master Mold’s programming informed it that the signature of the mutant’s power matched that of one of the Twelve. Though wholly ignorant of the fact that programming of the Twelve had been entered in its system by the mutant time-traveling Tanya Trask years ago in Bolivar Trask’s first Master Mold model, this Master Mold had no choice but to fulfill its programming and seek out the mutant. [ X-Factor (1st series) #13, X-Men #minus 1]
The mutant in question was Cyclops, having traveled to Alaska in search of his missing wife, Madelyne. Making a straight path toward its quarry, the Master Mold repaired itself along the way, absorbing first the metal and mass from an offshore oil platform and then the information gleaned via a computer terminal in an office building it callously demolished. No longer a construct of true consciousness, much of what composed the Master Mold’s mind was gone, the mental engrams and persona of Steven Lang destroyed by the inferno of reentry. Its personality now gone, it only had its core programming, which included survival and fulfillment of its directives. The highest on the list of the latter was the destruction of the Twelve.
Traipsing across the state, the Master Mold eventually intercepted Cyclops, who through a misunderstanding had been arrested by the local police. However, he quickly gained his freedom and one of the officer’s help when the Master Mold incinerated the officer’s partner. Together, the pair led the Master Mold through the maze of an oil refinery. Though the Master Mold continued to repair itself every time Cyclops damaged it, the Sentinel was seemingly obliterated when a stray shot from its blasters hit one of the oil tanks, igniting the whole facility. Believing the robot destroyed, Cyclops and the officer departed. [X-Factor (1st series) #13-14]
For a few months, the facility and what remained of the Master Mold remained untouched. However, when repair crews were finally sent to rebuild the facility, one errant construction worker discovered a beeping device, which he decided to keep for himself. Secreting it away in his work clothes, the man began to fiddle with it with a pocket knife that night in his bunk on an oil tanker. However, the mistake turned out to be a fatal one, as the device was what remained of the Master Mold, which electrocuted the man and, once dropped on the floor, began to absorb the whole tanker, until it had reconstructed its immense robotic form.
Once its task was complete, the Master Mold detected a mutant energy signature with potentiality levels off the scale. Further, its programming, which for the first time seemed to give it access to details from “the future,” 
identified the subject as Franklin Richards, child of the first family of the Fantastic Four, Reed and Sue Richards. Undeniably, the child was one of the Twelve, so the Master Mold immediately began to move along the ocean floor, making its was around the northern side of North America and under the polar ice cap, until it came to the shore of Manhattan. It was with the four children of Power Pack, friends of his, that Franklin found himself when the monstrous Master Mold attacked.
At first, the foursome seemed to have little ability to hinder the Sentinel, until Alex Power, known at the time as Destroyer, used his power of matter-energy conversion to convert the Sentinel’s body into energy for him to absorb. At this point, what remained of the Master Mold began to regenerate, but would not be given the chance. Using the energy he had generated from converting the Sentinel’s mass, Alex then unleashed a plasma ball which seemingly obliterated the Master Mold. However, again this was not to be. Unseen by Franklin nor Power Pack, the Master Mold continued in the form of a small, beeping box, left behind in the crater caused by the explosion. [Power Pack #36]
A few months later, elsewhere across the Atlantic Ocean, the Master Mold continued, albeit in a different form. Rather than a haphazardly robotic form constructed from available materials, this Master Mold was whole, 
with sleek, straight lines and gleamed against the light. Also, rather than seeking one of the Twelve or other mutants in general, this Master Mold plotted and schemed about mutants in general. The current machination of this Master Mold was to secret itself on a facility on Muir Island. There, it had used mental conditioning to brainwash geneticist Moira MacTaggert into developing a virus that would target the world’s mutant population, eradicating them from the genepool.
It was into this plot that the Master Mold’s greatest enemy, Cyclops of the X-Men, arrived, having been summoned by Moira’s lover, Banshee due to odd occurrences on Muir Island. Cyclops’ investigation led to an operation where robotic servitors of the Master Mold were taking patients of a local hospital, all of whom had been infected with a mysterious virus, to be examined elsewhere. Surprising them, Cyclops did battle against the small army of robotic creatures, though most managed to escape via a teleportation portal, through which Moira herself nearly disappeared had she not been held back by him. [Marvel Comics Presents (1st series) #18-19]
Concerned with the loss of his geneticist on the brink of her breakthrough, the Master Mold sent a new Sentinel model, which he called Conscience. Also created from the engrams of Steven Lang, Conscience was designed to be just that, the conscience to the Master Mold’s harsh, yet necessary resolve at his task. So directed, Conscience lead another army of robotic “servitors” and captured Cyclops, bringing him back to the Master Mold’s lair. There, Cyclops learned of the Master Mold’s existence and his most recent plot. When questioned as to how he could still be functioning after he had destroyed him months ago, the Master Mold mocked Cyclops, reminding him that it was not a living thing. It could rebuild itself or have duplicates made. It could be in many places at once - or hide its mind in the smallest of transistors. [Marvel Comics Presents (1st series) #20-21]
Infected himself, Cyclops could do little to resist. However, when the news arose of the virus having mutated, affecting humans as well as mutants, Cyclops gained an ally in Conscience. While the Master Mold could stomach a 92.4% mortality rate among humans for the sake of 100% for mutants, Conscience could not. Releasing Moira to work on a cure for the virus, Conscience aided Cyclops in the destruction of the virus itself. Incensed by the betrayal, the Master Mold prepared to release the portion of the spore not destroyed by Conscience in his ship. However, again, Master Mold was betrayed by Conscience, who jacked in his artificial consciousness into the ship as well, merging his own personality with that of his counterpart. Then, as Moira and the mutants escaped, Conscience activated the ship’s self-destruct, annihilating himself and the Master Mold. [Marvel Comics Presents (1st series) #22-24]