Yesterday the new trailer for Marvel’s Black Widow dropped and it’s amazing. It marks the epic return of Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow and an insane amount of action.
The new trailer properly introduces the fresh Marvel Cinematic Universe villain: Taskmaster, a trained mercenary. It shows our first good view of the main villain of the film known as Taskmaster.
The big fight is short. More of a tease. But it’s clear he’s a formidable opponent. A lot of the footage in the new trailer was first shown at Disney’s biennial fan convention, D23.
But who is he? Let’s find out.
Who Is Taskmaster?
He first appeared in The Avengers #195 (1980) and was created by David Michelinie, George Pérez, and Alex Horne. In the comics his real name is Anthony “Tony” Masters and is a master assassin.
Taskmaster is a long-standing villain who has “photographic reflexes”. In the comics he was born with a condition that allows him to emulate any movement he sees at least once. He became a star quarterback on his high school football team from watching one game. He was able to do a championship dive but almost drowned because he’d never watched anyone swim.
Later he injected himself with a Nazi prototype super-soldier serum that unlocks his memory functions. That means once he sees someone move he can mimic their movements perfectly. One scene in the teaser shows him fighting Alexei Shostakov / Red Guardian (David Harbour) and they have similar movements and styles.
He’s going to be one of the toughest villains she’s ever fought because he can match her moves exactly. How do you fight someone that’s the master of unarmed combat and yours too? No word if he’ll do that leg wrap around the neck trick. Not sure I want to see that.
Weapons
Besides being an expert at hand-to-hand combat he’s also a master at weaponry. In the comics he is typically shown with a sword and a shield. Because of his photographic memory he can use it with the same skill as Captain America.
In the trailer you see him with a metal disk that has a glowing red mark that resembles the “T” in Taskmaster comic book shield. We don’t know what it does or how it works but in the comics he stole it. The shield was designed and based off of Captain America’s classic weapon. In the comics it’s not made out of Vibranium or Adamantium but is indestructible. The alloy, known as Osmium is strong enough to defend against attacks from Iron Man and Cap. In the trailer we see it seemingly absorb gunfire. Whatever it’s made of or how it works he’s a formidable opponent.
It has been stated that Taskmaster’s shield is constructed from an Osmium Alloy and nearly indestructible. The Alloy is strong enough to withstand attacks from Iron Man, and strikes from Cap’s shield itself.
Another trailer shows him using a bow and arrow. The skills might have been emulated from Hawkeye if he watched him fight. But he might just be a master of all weapons and doesn’t need Clint’s skills.
Skull Mask
In the comics, Taskmaster wears a cape, hood and a mask that looks like a skull. That plays in the comics but is impractical for a movie. The mask he wears in Black Widow does look a little like a skull. Typical for Marvel they honor the comic book-look but update it for the movie.
One thing we don’t know is who Taskmaster is in the movie. While he’s obviously important to the movie they haven’t revealed who was cast to play him. This implies that it’s either a secret or it’ll turn out that another character in the movie is really the villain known as Taskmaster.
SPOILER WARNING
The rumor is that Natasha’s love interest Rick Mason (O-T Fagbenle) is secretly the Taskmaster. But they could make an even bigger twist and have it turn out Taskmaster is a woman.
SPOILER ENDS
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is full of villains. We’ll see where Taskmaster fits in the world.
| About the Author Maurice Mitchell has been a passionate science-fiction fan of movies, television, books, and comics since age five. He and his twin brother Nigel created the site “The Geek Twins” to share that passion. Maurice has written and created infographics for sites like The Geek Twins and About.com. His work has been featured on sites like Business Insider, io9 Slashfilm and more. Read more of his posts | Follow him on Twitter @Mauricem1972 |
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