Marvel Giving Taskmaster A New Costume?

05/28/2017 11:17 am EDT

Fan-favorite Marvel Comics villain Taskmaster may be getting a new look in August.

This was revealed in Marvel's August 2017 solicitations on the Sara Pichelli's cover for and in the synopsis of Spider-Men II #1.

The solicitation text reads:

The mystery of the OTHER Miles Morales thickens, but our Spider-Men may need to hit pause on the sleuthing because TASKMASTER IS GOING TO TAKE THEM DOWN! Don't miss this Spider-Event!

The cover, which can be seen below, shows both Spider-Mans (Peter Parker and Miles Morales) in the reflection of the villain's sword. Taskmaster favors swords as a hand-to-hand combat weapon, but the rest of the costume is something new and much more ornate than his usual costume.

What's interesting is that Taskmaster's usual costume is still used on Alex Ross's cover for Avengers #10, where Taskmaster is acting as a member of Steve Rogers' Hydra Avengers, and on the villain variant for Secret Empire #8.

Perhaps this indicates that Taskmaster's appearance in Spider-Men II takes place after the events of Secret Empire and that Taskmaster has decided to change up his look. Then again, the Spider-Men series tend to deal with two different versions of the same character meeting each other. Perhaps then this is a new and different Taskmaster?

Taskmaster is the supervillain with photographic reflexes that allow him to imitate any technique or skill instantly after seeing it done just once. Taskmaster had been working as the Sheriff of Bagalia, a nation of criminals and supervillains, but when he and his deputy, Black Ant, found the black box from Captain America's crashed aircraft and discovered that Cap was a Hydra agent the new Madam Hydra forcibly recruited them into the fold. Now both Taskmaster and Black Ant are operating as members of the Hydra-sponsored Avengers team

Taskmaster was created by David Michelinie and George Perez and first appeared in The Avengers #195 in 1980. Taskmaster is one of the formidable villains in the Marvel Universe, having once fought the Avengers to a standstill. Taskmaster is a pure mercenary. While he has in the past set up schools for would-be villains, he's also been revealed to be a sleeper agent for SHIELD hired by Nick Fury himself. As a mercenary, he often crosses paths with Deadpool, sometimes as allies and sometimes as enemies.

Spider-Men II #2 goes on sale in August.

Spider-Men II #2
BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS (w) • SARA PICHELLI (a/C)

Variant Cover by TBA

Connecting Variant Cover B by JESUS SAIZ

• The mystery of the OTHER Miles Morales thickens, but our Spider-Men may need to hit pause on the sleuthing because…

• ...TASKMASTER IS GOING TO TAKE THEM DOWN!

• Don't miss this Spider-Event!

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

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