Taskmaster
Taskmaster is a male comic supervillain who features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Tony Masters
From a young age, he demonstrated a trait for being able to copy any moves that he could see with his eyes. He came to utilise this trait when he was a child and by the time he was in high school he came to use the talent to become a pro in American football. By adulthood, he came to seek new uses of his abilities where he considered using them to be a superhero but desired profit leading to him studying the various heroes fighting techniques from broadcasts. He then decided to become a supervillain though did not wish to fight heroes as there was no profit in that and instead he began to establish academies to train a villains henchmen. (Avengers v1 #196)
Masters came to be an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. where he became a skilled operative in the agency. He was deployed on assignment to the Andes to target the headquarters of S.S. Hauptsturmfuhrer Horst Gorscht who was a Nazi scientist that developed a corrupted version of the Super-Soldier Serum. His version had been used to empower a number of Nazi super-powered agents in that time. Upon his relocation, Gorscht came to believe that Nazi Germany's failure in the war was due to not being able to indoctrinate their young quick enough. To solve this, he had created a primer that unlocked the minds potential to absorb knowledge instantaneously. During the attack on the castle, Gorscht was fatally wounded and Masters found his serum which he injected into his body to save it before the knowledge of it was lost forever. The effects of it transformed him allowing Masters to learn physical skills instantly but this came at the cost of his memories. (Taskmaster v2 #3) He was set-up as a super-powered operative where he took the name Taskmaster and was deployed on assignments through a S.H.I.E.L.D. front called the Org with his handler being his wife Mercedes Merced operating as Hub. However, the effects of the serum on his memory caused him to forget his past making him lose track of his mission or nature as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent with him instead becoming a mercenary. (Taskmaster v2 #4)
One of his first jobs for the Org was retraining Mexican Special Forces to take over the operations from the drug cartels. (Taskmaster v2 #2)
He then established his Taskmaster Academy that was secretly based at the Solomon Institute for the Criminally Insane after recruiting Dr. Pernell Solomon to head its public guise. (Avengers v1 #196)
Taskmaster
Unknown to Taskmaster, his business partner Dr. Solomon had used the villains resources to grow a clone of himself as Pernell was suffering from a weak heart. The intention was to transfer his own clone's heart to himself but the genetic copy of Solomon came to flee the institute. It was then that he drew the attention of the Avengers that came to investigate the Solomon Institute thus exposing Taskmaster's operation. (Avengers v1 #196)
In the aftermath of the Skrull invasion, Taskmaster came to be appointed as the new field leader of the Shadow Initiative. Their first mission was to hunt down Hardball after he revealed his loyalties to Hydra. (Avengers: The Initiative v1 #20)
Masters came to learn of Avengers Academy that was a school being run to train young new heroes. Among the students was a woman named Finesse who showed similar abilities as Taskmaster with him wondering if she was perhaps his child. He had no memory of fathering a child but knew that his faulty memory might have forgotten him having a daughter. Meanwhile, Finesse herself was convinced Taskmaster was her father and wanted to confront him with this information. With Quicksilvers aid, the pair struck at one of Taskmasters bases with Finesse meeting the supervillain mercenary though he had no intention of confirming this as he felt it would be used as leverage against him by others. Before departing, he gave a word for advice to Finesse where Taskmaster said that Avengers Academy was a good thing where she could develop her skills for the future. (Avengers Academy v1 #9)
Secret Avengers
He was later hired by Baron Zemo to join his Hydra High sect where Helmut intended to deploy a sterilisation bomb against the human race with only loyal Hydra members being provided the cure. Their operation was uncovered by the new Captain America Sam Wilson and the new Nomad Ian Rogers. Taskmaster was dispatched to one of the bomb sites where he was ordered to detonate it at the appropriate time. However, he was confronted by Misty Knight who made him a counter-offer and provided him more money if he switched sides. Thus, Taskmaster sided himself with Captain America and refused to detonate the bomb when Baron Zemo gave the order. (All-New Captain America v1 #5)
Trapped in Bagalia, he was left in prison where Crossfire allowed Nick Fury, Jr. to have access to the mercenary. This was because S.H.I.E.L.D. was assembling a covert team to handle threats and intended to recruit Taskmaster for the initiative. However, Crossfire revealed that he had only allowed access to Taskmaster as a trap to capture the agent. However, Fury managed to defeat the villain and attempted to flee with Taskmaster but Bagalia's entire supervillain population chased after them. This caused Fury to abandon Taskmaster to the villains to flee the island leading to the mercenary being taken by Alyosius Thorndrake. However, it was revealed that Thorndrake was simply a disguise used by Mockingbird who smuggled Taskmaster off the island to join the Secret Avengers. (Secret Avengers v2 #2)
Secret Empire
He later moved his base of operations to Bagalia, becoming the sheriff of the small lawless country. (Captain America: Steve Rogers v1 #3) Around this time, Captain America had been secretly supplanted by an evil version of himself from an alternate timeline. In this time, he came to be involved in an operation in Bagalia. (Captain America: Steve Rogers v1 #1) Taskmaster managed to obtain a recording of him showing his loyalty for Hydra. It was then that Taskmaster and Black Ant had attempted to sell the recording to Maria Hill. However, Elisa Sinclair, an ally of the evil Captain America, intercepted them. (Captain America: Steve Rogers v1 #12) This saw the pair being forced them to become the new bodyguards of the reigning Madame Hydra. (Captain America: Steve Rogers v1 #14)
By the time Hydra rose to power and conquered the United States, the duo had become members of Hydra's own Avengers. (Secret Empire v1 #1) Both Taskmaster and Black Ant decided to switch allegiances during the final battle between Hydra and the resistance as soon as Hydra started losing. They freed some of Hydra's prisoners, namely the Champions, in hopes that the young heroes would later put in a good word for them. (Secret Empire v1 #8) Following Hydra's fall and the return to normalcy, Taskmaster returned to operating as a mercenary. (Spider-Men II v1 #1)
Hunted
Kraven the Hunter came to hire Taskmaster and Black Ant to capture all animal-inspired criminals to be imprisoned in Central Park for him. In addition, their job was to fight against poachers so that everyone he thought acted dishonorably would annihilate each other. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #20)
He was later hired by a Maggia member to help him win in a game of golf against a comrade who had hired Bullseye. It was then that Taskmaster was targeted by an assassin and had to go on the run. Tony was saved by the intervention of Nick Fury, Jr. who revealed that Maria Hill had been killed with Taskmaster believed to be the culprit as his shield was found at the scene. He was informed that the Black Widow was the assassin chasing him and that he believed Taskmaster was innocent with Fury attempting to uncover the truth about his mentors murderer. Fury had determined that this was traced to the mysterious Rubicon Trigger but not access the information as it required the kinesic signature of four people that included Phil Coulson, Okoye and Ami Han. (Taskmaster v3 #1) He managed to ambush Coulson at a comic shop where Taskmaster was nearly killed by Hyperion but managed to defeat his foe barely and escaped after watching the kinesic signature of his target. (Taskmaster v3 #2) Taskmaster then went to South Korea where he infiltrated the nation's superhero headquarters where he had to evade both the White Fox and Black Widow who was pursuing him. He only managed to escape them with a telepathic bomb that knocked everyone around him after having copied the kinesic signature of Director Han. (Taskmaster v3 #3) After that, he infiltrated Wakanda but was captured by the Hatut Zeraze where he claimed that he was looking for asylum. Upon insulting the Dogs of War, he was forced to battle them but managed to defeat them in combat leading to a match against General Okoye. This allowed him to copy her kinesic signature whereupon Okoye decided to have Taskmaster sent to U.S. authorities to be charged for his crimes during the Hydra regime. However, in reality, Nick Fury, Jr. had arranged for the exchange so that he could recover Taskmaster where they went to find the truth about the Rubicon Trigger. (Taskmaster v3 #4)
During Knull's onslaught, Taskmaster came to be one of a number of villains recruited by Mayor Wilson Fisk to part of his new Thunderbolts Unit to fight off the Symbiote invasion. In that time, he came to be the de facto field leader of the team whilst having many arguments with Mister Fear. During their mission, Ampere and Snakehead were both killed with Taskmaster unable to stop Rhino from walking away. The Thunderbolts came to make their way to Ravencroft where they met with Norman Osborn who Mayor Fisk claimed could help them defeat Knull. (King in Black: Thunderbolts v1 #1)
Mayor Fisk came to declare the passing of a law that banned superheroes in the city with him deputising the Thunderbolt Unit that would arrest any active vigilantes. Taskmaster was with Whiplash as they went to the Daily Bugle taking them hostage in order to draw out Spider-Man. The Thunderbolts only had an incomplete file on the hero with them being confronted by the new Spider-Man. The pair managed to injure and capture Spider-Man with Taskmaster placing a power dampener on the Wall-Crawler where he threw him out the window. It was only his webbing that helped slow the hero's descent to the ground allowing him to be surrounded by NYVP operatives. (Devil's Reign v1 #2)
Overview
Personality and attributes
He would list his name as being T. Master on his business cards. (Taskmaster v1 #1)
After gaining powers, he initially considered becoming a superhero but was more motivated by the money and noticed that villains tended to get paid for their works. He quickly then determined that whilst being a supervillain was lucrative that it was also painful on account of fighting heroes. It was then that he decided to change tactics and instead decided to help train henchmen for supervillains. (Avengers v1 #196) He came to believe that he dealt in a rather unique business which was task fulfilment. (Taskmaster v1 #1)
He later began to branch out into more general mercenary work which he found more lucrative and interesting where he engaged in a variety of tasks for the right price. (Taskmaster v1 #1)
It was shown that he was more willing to escape capture rather than keep fighting as he reasoned that he could not do his business if he ended up in jail. (Avengers v1 #196)
Powers and abilities
According to himself, he had photographic memory since childhood where he found that he could copy any movements he saw on television. (Avengers v1 #196)
Much of his powers came as a result of a variant of the super-soldier serum that was developed as a primer designed to allow him to absorb information and skills instantaneously. (Taskmaster v2 #3) He came to claim that he was born with these photographic reflexes allowing him to duplicate any moves that he was able to see. This allowed him to achieve a range of physical skills from those of Captain America, Hawkeye, Daredevil, Iron Fist and Spider-Man. (Avengers v1 #195)
He utilised a mnemonic technique called a memory palace where he built a palace within his mind with rooms that contained items he wanted to remember. These rooms were stocked with objects and associations that triggered the information he was looking for which needed to be recollected. It was said to work best if the rooms of the memory palace were placed the person had been in during his life. (Taskmaster v2 #1) This allowed him to retain skills, random facts and even allowed him to speak eight languages. (Taskmaster v2 #2)
According to him, his photographic reflexes operated by implicit memory making them operate differently from brain maps that controlled his actual memory of past events as this was explicit memory. (Taskmaster v2 #3)
Through muscle memory, his fingers were incapable of inputting passwords without him thinking about it. (Taskmaster v2 #2)
Among his equipment included holographic disguises allowing him to appear as anyone even when he was wearing his armor. (Taskmaster v1 #1)
He made use of a range of different arrows for his bow such as disruptor arrows. For an escape, he could make use of a special magnesium flare to blind his opponents thus allowing him a chance to make his getaway. (Avengers v1 #196) Sometime ago, he came to steal a unique S.H.I.E.L.D. device that was a small generator which could produce solid shapes composed of pure energy that he used to make a replica of Captain's Shield for himself. (Taskmaster v1 #1)
Taskmaster had set up an operation where he aided in the training of henchmen for supervillains. (Avengers v1 #195) Publicly, one of these was known as the Solomon Institute for the Criminally Insane though in reality served as a ground to brainwash people to serve as henchmen. (Avengers v1 #195) This led to him establishing training academies where he took criminals from the streets and taught them skills to improve their work. Taskmaster then rented these criminals out as hired guns for supervillains and thus earned a fortune in the process. (Marvel Team-Up v1 #103)
Notes
- Taskmaster was created by David Michelinie and George Pérez where he made his first appearance in the Avengers v1 #195 (May, 1980).
Alternate Versions
- In Master of Kung Fu v2 (2015), an alternate version of the character appeared on Battleworld in the realm of K'un-Lun with this one being a martial arts master and assassin named Laughing Skull who served Emperor Zheng Zu.
- In Old Man Hawkeye v1 (2018), an alternate version of Taskmaster appeared in a world designated as Earth-807238. This version lived in a world where the Red Skull had led a supervillain uprising against the world's superheroes that were largely killed. He was shown as being an enforcer for the Red Skull who dispatched him to retrieve the rogue Marshal Bullseye.
In other media
Television
- In Ultimate Spider-Man, Taskmaster appeared as an antagonist in the animated television series where he was voiced by actor Clancy Brown.
- In Avengers Assemble, Taskmaster appeared in the animated television series fourth season Secret Wars in the episode "Show Your Work" where he was voiced again by actor Clancy Brown.
Films
- In Avengers Confidential: Black Widow & Punisher, Taskmaster appeared in the setting of the anime film in a non-voiced role.
- In Heroes United: Iron Man and Captain America, Taskmaster appeared as a supporting antagonist in the 2014 animated film where he was voiced by actor Clancy Brown. He was shown as a mercenary that was hired by the Red Skull who had sought Captain America's blood and Iron Man's Armour. During this time, he acquired a set of Iron Man Armour and adopted the name of Ironmaster.
Video games
- In Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds, Taskmaster appeared in the setting of the fighting video game where he was voiced by actor Steve Blum.
- In Marvel Heroes, Taskmaster appeared as a playable character in the setting of the MMORPG where he was voiced again by actor Steve Blum.
- In Marvel: Avengers Alliance, Taskmaster appeared as a boss antagonist and an unlockable character in the Facebook video game.
- In Captain America: The Winter Soldier - The Official Game, Taskmaster appeared as a boss character in the setting of the video game where he was voiced by actor Roger Craig Smith.
- In Marvel Avengers Academy, Taskmaster appeared as an unlockable character in the setting of the Facebook video game where he was voiced by actor Adam Montoya.
- In Marvel's Spider-Man, Taskmaster appeared in the setting of the video game where he was voiced by actor Brian Bloom.
- In Marvel: Future Fight, Taskmaster was introduced as a playable character in the Secret Empire update for the mobile video game.
- In Marvel's Avengers, Taskmaster appeared in the setting of the video game where he was voiced by actor Walter Gray IV.
Appearances
- Avengers v1: (1980)
- Captain America v1:
- Taskmaster v1:
- Taskmaster v2:
- Avengers: The Initiative v1:
- Avengers Academy v1:
- All-Captain America v1:
- Secret Avengers v2:
- Captain America: Steve Rogers v1:
- Spider-Men II v1:
- Old Man Hawkeye v1:
- Amazing Spider-Man v5:
- Taskmaster v3: (2020)
- Devil's Reign v1:
External Links
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