Long ago, there was a time when not every science fictional company was granted its own in-universe web site. Well, those years are long expired, and X-Men: Days of Future Past is introducing us to Trask Industries, a friendly genetics company that will protect your children by crushing the congenitally ill under massive robot fists. Trask’s site doesn’t quite capture the sinister utopianism of Ridley Scott’s in-world Prometheus ads, but it offers plenty of clever nods at the plot of Days of Future Past, including footage of Peter Dinklage as the company’s founder and an in-depth explanation of the company’s anti-mutant “genetic security” devices.
‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ site shows off robotic Sentinels and a very ‘70s Peter Dinklage
is a senior tech and policy editor focused on online platforms and free expression. Adi has covered virtual and augmented reality, the history of computing, and more for The Verge since 2011.
As a piece of world-building, it’s highly competent: prepare to get whisked through fifty years of R&D and alternate history, with Sentinel robots protecting Ronald Reagan during his inauguration and striding in front of the Manhattan Bridge. As a site, it’s slick and well-produced, leaning on the “Snow Fall”-style multimedia tricks that have gained traction in the past year. The contrast between euphemistic benevolence and “Mutants are the Enemy!” propaganda posters is a little hard to swallow, but given the creative ways X-Men has blended fantasy and social commentary in past installments, we’re willing to give the series the benefit of the doubt for now.
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