Avengers Campus Marvel Villain Revealed As Taskmaster

Marvel Comics supervillain Taskmaster, who first makes his live-action debut in Marvel Studios' Black Widow, will menace Earth's mightiest heroes as the main villain of Avengers Campus at the Disneyland Resort. Marking the first time the fan-favorite character has appeared in a Disney theme park, Taskmaster will engage Black Widow, Captain America and Black Panther in an action-packed battle on the ramparts of Avengers Headquarters as part of a live show developed with a Black Widow fight coordinator who choreographed stunts for the movie. A master martial artist with photographic reflexes allowing him to replicate the physical movements and abilities of any opponent, Taskmaster will appear in a movie-accurate costume inspired by Black Widow.

"Taskmaster's appeared in so many different comic stories with the Avengers in different times and places, and he's a great foe for the Avengers," Dave Bushore, Vice President, Franchise Creative & Marketing, Marvel Studios, said during a media preview of Avengers Campus inside Disney California Adventure Park. "And for us, bringing that character to the big screen this summer in Black Widow, it was a great opportunity for us to say, 'Well, hey. It's a living, breathing place. Let's have him there on opening day.'"

"I think it speaks to the opportunity to always be injecting new, fun story character elements into this place," Bushore added.

The mysterious villain will attempt to steal from Avengers Headquarters, home to revolutionary technology developed by Tony Stark, a.k.a. Iron Man, prompting Black Widow, Captain America and Black Panther to spring into action on the building at the heart of the land.

"He's great. He's an iconic villain in and of himself from the fans' perspective," Bushore told ComicBook.com of Taskmaster. "He's someone that's gone against the Avengers and he can take on any one of them, which is awesome."

Acknowledging the synergy that comes with Taskmaster's presence at the land trailing his key role in Black Widow, Bushore said bringing the character from the Marvel Cinematic Universe into an attraction for The Walt Disney Company is another example of the unprecedented collaboration between Marvel Studios and Disney theme park creatives bringing the campus to life.

"That really was part of it. It's not just what you would say is the outward looking, synergistic nature of that thing. But to use that, of course, overly used phrase sometimes. It truly is," he said. "The opportunity was that character fits perfectly. We're developing the costume that we can take. That's really what's great about it. I know we use the word collaboration about 973 times, but it's true, because we'll have a meeting with the filmmakers on Black Widow and we'll get early access to seeing what Taskmaster's going to be."

When guests walk into Avengers Campus after watching Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) battle the villain in Black Widow, they're met with "the real thing."

"We're having conversations now. It's one of the big challenges that we're really putting down, is how we can keep the place as dynamic as possible so that you go and see the Black Widow film in the theaters and you walk in the land and Taskmaster is there," Bushore said. "You don't have to wait a year. You don't have to wait six months. It's a lot. So it was very much the reason behind it."

Black Widow releases in theaters May 1. Avengers Campus opens this summer inside Disney California Adventure Park, opposite Disneyland Park, at the Disneyland Resort. Purchase tickets.