Black Widow: Who's Playing Taskmaster Anyway?

At long last, Marvel Studios has finally announced Black Widow will be hitting theaters next May [...]

By Adam Barnhardt

At long last, Marvel Studios has finally announced Black Widow will be hitting theaters next May with Scarlett Johansson reprising her role as the titular character. Along with the release date announcement, fans sitting in Comic-Con's Hall H were treated to the very first footage from the film, which confirmed Taskmaster would be serving as the antagonist for the film. That much was confirmed when Marvel Studios' Andy Park unveiled a piece of key art earlier today.

Technically, we still don't know who is playing the mercenary. Of course, Johansson is playing Natasha Romanoff and we now know Florence Pugh will be playing Yelena Belova and David Harbour is suiting up as Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian. But what we don't know, however, is who O-T Fagbenle and the Academy Award-winning Rachel Weisz will be playing exactly.

In a press release Disney distributed after the panel, it as revealed Fagbenle is playing a character named Mason while Weisz is playing the mysterious Melina, a character many have assumed to be Melina Vostokoff/Iron Maiden. Weisz's comments with Variety, however, may paint a different light. When asked if she was Taskmaster, the actor played coy without neither confirming nor denying.

The most popular consensus online would seem that Fagbenle's got the villainous role locked down pat, which seems to make sense — especially since the actor is a spitting image of Marvel's Ultimate Universe version of the character. But then there's also Ray Winstone, an actor who wasn't at the panel last night but previously reported to have been cast in the film.

The situation seems to have tones of the withholding Marvel studios put in place for Jude Law's Yon-Rogg in Captain Marvel. While we're still far from the movie and a lot can happen between now and May, it's most peculiar that the production house did manage to reveal the footage with a villain without telling us who the villain is. It almost seems as if they're beginning to shape it up for a massive on-screen reveal.

Who do you think is playing Taskmaster? Share your thoughts in the comments below or by tweeting me at @AdamBarnhardt to chat all things MCU!

Black Widow is set for release on May 1, 2020. Other upcoming Marvel Studios projects include The Falcon and The Winter Soldier in fall 2020, The Eternals on November 6, 2020, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on February 12, 2021, WandaVision in spring 2021, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on May 7, 2021, What If? In summer 2021, Hawkeye in fall 2021, and Thor: Love and Thunder n November 5, 2021..

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