- "Just remember, you give your lives in the cause of humanity!"
- —Jason Trask
Jason Trask was a recurring villain in two episodes of the first season of the series.
He was a rogue government agent for Bureau 39: an organisation that dealt with foreign threats to America, but when Superman arrived in Metropolis, he feared that the Man of Steel was a threat to humanity and would produce a future alien invasion.
He was also the first villain to learn Superman's true identity and discover the Man of Steel's weakness of Kryptonite.
Personality[]
Trask had a distrust for extra-terrestrials and assumed them all dangerous, which is why he didn't turn a blind eye when Superman arrived in Metropolis.
He was so stubborn about Superman being a threat to humanity that he went to sadistic lengths to get his hands on the Man of Steel including kidnapping, murder, terrorism and tests risking people's lives which in his own sick-minded terms were "for the good of humanity."
History[]
Jason Trask was a prominent member of the US military and a founding member of Bureau 39. His main mission was identifying alien threats to the security of America. He lived in fear of one day a real alien coming to Earth, so when Superman came to town, he immediately decided to find out all the information he could including stealing the spaceship that the Man of Steel had been sent to Earth in when he was a baby and kept it in a hidden warehouse at their base.
it is unknown whether he knew that Superman's home planet Krypton was destroyed, or was afraid that if Superman was accepted on Earth, more Kryptonians or other alien species would arrive and take advantage, but he saw Superman as a threat to humanity and was determined to kill him before he killed them.
Season 1[]
Trask barging into the Daily Planet with his warrant
Trask first appeared suddenly barging into the Daily Planet with some men holding out a false warrant made to look like it had been issued by Federal Court to question reporters Clark Kent and Lois Lane for information on Superman.
He decided to use a polygraph lie detector to get the information he needed. During Lois' test, Trask became annoyed with the sassy backchat of the reporter, but learned that Lois had an attraction to the Man of Steel.
When it came to Clark's test, Trask asked him if the reporter himself was Superman, but it registered fully as the truth. Trask asked the man beside him why it didn't register as a lie but they both assumed that the lie detector was malfunctioning.
Trask asked the question again, but this time, unbeknownst to Trask, Clark used his super breath to mess with the machine so it registered as a lie and also tried other methods to mess Trask around.
Trask finally left but told Clark that he didn't need a polygraph to know that he was lying to him.
He later called his boss George Thompson who was called there by the president of Bureau 39 to clean up the mess Trask made by his false raid at the Daily Planet.
Trask attacking his boss when he tries to take away his chain of command
Thompson then went to the base where Trask was waiting for him. Trask told him his opinion of Superman being the advanced guard of an alien invasion and would not back down from his mission.
Thompson berated him for his reckless freelancing and paranoia, saying it was ruining the entire Bureau 39 operation. He then handed Trask a document signing over command and control of Trask's military assets over to him.
Trask however still refused to back down and attacked Thompson before tearing up the document. Afterwards it assumed that he had Thompson killed as his body was later found floating in the port of Metropolis.
Later, Lois and Clark decided to raid the warehouse to find out more about the people who had raided the planet. Trask with some of his armed men found them and took the two reporters prisoner to lure Superman to him.
They then go up into the sky in a giant plane at 20,000 feet where Trask planned to drop them both out of the plane without a parachute as a test to contact Superman believing the Man of Steel had telepathic powers to contact humans.
Trask using Lois and Clark as bait for Superman
Lois was chosen to go first, but before Trask's men shoved her out, she asked for one final request to kiss Clark goodbye. As they kissed, Trask failed to notice that this was a ruse to attack him and his men. He got punched in the face by Lois whilst Clark attacked one of his men. In retaliation, Clark was shot by another soldier but seemed unharmed.
One of the soldiers grabbed Lois roughly with Trask shouting angrily that she was his to harm. He then pushed Lois out of the plane and Clark followed after. Trask followed them on the radar screen. The soldier who shot Clark immediately said that he was hurt and would not be of no use to them. One of the other soldiers picked up the bullet that had hit the reporter from the ground which appeared to have not penetrated into his body.
Trask examined the bullet, which to their even bigger surprise had no trace of blood. He tossed it back, telling the soldier that he missed.
They finally saw Superman on the radar screen and fired a missile from the plane to kill the Man of Steel, but Superman grabbed it and hurled it back before it exploded. After that, Trask and his men fled, taking all their stock from the base with them. (Strange Visitor (From Another Planet))
Trask then decided to head to Smallville where he had found the spaceship that had carried Superman to Earth in hopes of finding more evidence and methods of destroying the Man of Steel once and for all.
Trask threatening resident Wayne Irig in his base in Smallville
He began working undercover with the Environmental Protection Agency and set up a base there where he kidnapped the owner of the land of where they were digging named Wayne Irig who seemed to have discovered a meteorite which was a connection to Superman for interrogation and questioned him on it's whereabouts. One of his workers Ms. Carol Sherman didn't agree with Trask's methods and threatened to quit but Trask said if she did then she would regret it.
She then told him about meeting reporters Clark Kent and Lois Lane. Trask's eyes lit up for if the two reporters were here then Superman couldn't be far away.
Later Trask was going over some documents when Ms. Sherman appeared again and told him that Lois and Clark had returned and wanted to know where Wayne Iriq was as he was a good friend of Clark's parents. She had told them that Mr. Iriq had been relocated but wasn't fully sure if they believed her.
Trask revealing his ultimate plan
She then asked Trask that if she is to work with them, she needs to know what is going on. Trask then shows her Superman's spaceship and his theory that a meteorite from the Man of Steel's home planet would be capable of being non lethal to humans but deadly to Kryptonians. Ms. Sherman protested saying Superman had never done anything hostile, but Trask gave the same answer he had given Thompson that Superman was the advanced guard of a future alien invasion and must be stopped immediately.
Trask then forced Iriq to call Lois to assure her that he was safe while he recorded the conversation. He then let Irig go. Knowing that by this time Lois and Clark were on to him, Trask decided to kidnap them. He sent his men in camouflage and they successfully kidnapped the two reporters.
He then had his men bring the two reporters to him. Having had enough of Lois's sassing when she revealed that she knew all along that Ms. Sherman was working for them, he had her taken away but he kept Clark to be interrogated about his connection to Superman as the Man of Steel came to Earth at about the same time Clark was born.
Trask interrogating Clark with little success
He made Clark a deal of giving him the whereabouts of Superman in exchange for his life. However Clark didn't give him any answers and told him that Trask had no proof of Superman being a threat. Trask then assumed that Superman had taken over Clark's mind to prevent him from spilling the beans, but Clark insisted that there was nothing going on.
Ms. Sherman walked in and told Trask that Irig was heading towards the home of Jonathan and Martha Kent. He arranged for Clark to be tied up and shoved into the back of a truck while he set off with his men after Irig.
He realized that Jonathan must of had the Kryptonite the whole time and retrieved it just as Jonathan was making plans with Irig to destroy it when he and Martha found out how much it was harming Clark.
He then went back to Clark, again demanding the whereabouts of Superman in exchange for the life of his parents. Knowing he had no other choice, Clark said he would tell him if he let them go. Trask agreed and Clark revealed that he was Superman. Trask was at a loss for words and didn't fully believe him so he pulled out his handgun to which Clark who had been weakened to the level of an ordinary human being from his first exposure to the Kryptonite, showed fear.
As Superman never feared guns, Trask took Clark's words as lies and left him. He then tied the Kents and Irig up in the shed and had his men dump flammable fuel near the entrance and then he himself lit it.
All seemed lost for Clark until Jimmy Olsen who was sent to photograph the goings on of the site, activated his communicator watch that restored his strength.
Trask astonished when he sees that Clark was telling the truth about being Superman
Trask then watched in astonishment as Clark used his super strength to break out of the van and his super breath to put out the fire and untie his parents and Irig, revealing that he had been telling the truth all along.
He told Clark how he marveled at him keeping a secret identity and Clark replied he would be going to prison for his crimes of murder, kidnapping and abuse of power.
Trask threatened to tell everyone Clark's secret, but Clark didn't care and told him that Trask's insane ambition at the expense of people's lives ended now. But Trask tried to kill Clark with the Kryptonite, mocking him on being so perfect and superior compared to humans before knocking the weakened Man of Steel to the ground and gloating over his victory.
Clark however managed to painfully pick up the chunk of Kryptonite and hurled it against a massive stone in the river, destroying it.
Trask admired Clark's bravery, but also called it foolishness as he had now decided to kill the now weakened Superman by his own hands. He pulled out his handgun deciding whether to shoot him first or his parents and Irig.
Clark however managed to disarm him and a fierce fight took place between the two men ending with them falling into the river and Clark punching Trask against the stone.
Trask then told him to go ahead and kill him as he would have done the same to him. Clark grabbed him by the collars and responded angrily once and for all that killing people was not how he operated and left him for the authorities.
Trask shot dead after attempting to kill Clark
Suddenly the Smallville Police arrived. With the help of Ms. Sherman, who had had a change of heart especially after learning the truth of Trask's ambitions, Lois had called them and they were ready to put Trask and his men behind bars.
As Clark was clambering out of the river, Trask pulled out a small handgun that he had kept on his person in an attempt to kill him once and for all. Fortunately he was shot in the chest by one of the sheriffs and he slowly sank down dead to the bottom of the river, taking Clark's secret with him. (The Green, Green Glow of Home)
Episode Appearances[]
Season 1[]
Trivia[]
- Four years later, Trask's theory of an alien invasion would be proven correct, but not because of Superman who had tried his hardest to protect the Earth from deadly threats, but by the evil power-hungry Lord Nor who had heard of the Man of Steel's exploits on the planet. He was a Kryptonian from a civilization who had left the planet before it's destruction and settled in a new area of the galaxy called New Krypton.