Black Widow Unmasks Taskmaster: What Audiences Are Saying About the Marvel Movie's Villain Reveal

Who is Taskmaster in Black Widow? A third-act twist unmasks the costumed character, revealing a [...]

By Cameron Bonomolo - July 9, 2021 06:05 pm EDT

Who is Taskmaster in Black Widow? A third-act twist unmasks the costumed character, revealing a secret identity with ties to the dripping-red ledger of Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson). Spoiler warning for Marvel's Black Widow. A flashback set before the events of 2012's The Avengers reveals what happened in Budapest when Romanoff and Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) partner on a mission to assassinate Red Room founder Dreykov (Ray Winstone) as the final step in the black widow's defection to S.H.I.E.L.D. But there's collateral damage: Dreykov's daughter Antonia is seemingly killed by bombs detonated by Barton and Romanoff, whose ledger is gushing red until Natasha's sacrifice in Avengers: Endgame.

In 2016, Taskmaster attacks Romanoff when her "little sister" Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) entrusts the super-spy Avenger with red vials carrying an antidote to deprogram brainwashed black widows: young girls trained to be killers by Russia's Red Room. When Romanoff and Belova learn that Dreykov is still alive, he reveals Taskmaster's true identity: his daughter Antonia Dreykov (Olga Kurylenko).

Disfigured by the bomb that nearly killed her, Dreykov's daughter suits up as the master assassin Taskmaster via the chip implanted in her neck. A product of the Red Room, Taskmaster is capable of mimicking the fighting techniques of her opponents — including the styles of Earth's mightiest heroes.

The Taskmaster of the Marvel comic books is Tony Masters, a former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent turned mercenary and assassin. As the skull-masked Taskmaster, Masters' photographic reflexes, tactical prowess, and mastery of weapons make him a threat to such superheroes as Captain America, Spider-Man, and the Avengers.

With Black Widow now playing in theaters and streaming on Disney+ Premier Access, moviegoers and at-home audiences are taking to social media with mixed reactions to the MCU twist on Taskmaster:

Side Tasks

I'm genuinely so shocked how Marvel fucked up Taskmaster in the MCU. All they had to do was make him a talkative mercenary called "Tony Masters" who has photographic memory and was hired by the Red Room to kill Natasha or whatever. But they somehow fucked up all of that... pic.twitter.com/wVxP9ZpuNf
— Commander Red (@DaredevilShill) July 9, 2021

Taskmaster gets more depth and character development in the side missions of Spider-Man PS4 than in the entire runtime of Black Widow..... pic.twitter.com/2mTaVGGBnD
— The Moonlight Warrior 🌙 (@BlackMajikMan90) July 9, 2021

No spoilers and please don’t quote tweet with any, but I liked how Black Widow handled Taskmaster. It fit thematically.
— Richard Newby (@RICHARDLNEWBY) July 9, 2021

Superhero Movie Villains Assemble

Taskmaster in some elite company pic.twitter.com/nIpgFLWaAO
— advit² (@addyvit) July 9, 2021

How tf does Avengers Assemble have the best Taskmaster redesign pic.twitter.com/aBr91fQqEM
— 『C H I L D S U P P O R T』⊙ (@eatdabootyBM) July 9, 2021

I loved how they wrote Taskmaster to fit with the #BlackWidow movie

I have no complaints. No complaints whatsoever pic.twitter.com/OZioloD3W1
— Quintin Quarantino (@Gedaffa_Koff) July 9, 2021

Up to the Task

Just got done watching #BlackWidow and I thought it was a decent movie. The biggest gripe I had was Taskmaster. I don’t like what they did to that character. Such a cool villain wasted imo. Also can we get more Red Guardian, because he was great! Overall a fun watch 7.5/10 pic.twitter.com/myVeQyznMI
— David Cage (@unCAGEDgamez) July 9, 2021

#BlackWidow

1. Taskmaster in Comics.
2. Taskmaster in black widow movie. pic.twitter.com/gDOipAZWqC
— Hitesh Joshi (@_h_i_t_e_s_h_) July 9, 2021

Taskmaster in Black Widow worked for the story they were telling, but that wasn't Taskmaster like... at all.

Barely even mimicked anyone.
— Drake (@TrailerDrake) July 9, 2021

Super-Skills

No spoilers for Black Widow (since they confirmed this from the first trailer) but I’m gonna miss my boy Tony Masters as Taskmaster. He would’ve been great in the MCU pic.twitter.com/EBDyg2AEi2
— Derek Sands 📻 (@kerednayrsdnas) July 9, 2021

RIP to taskmaster (not a spoiler, RIP to the potential of him being a great villain)
See you in 5-10 years in a better costume when the MCU brings you back for redemption. pic.twitter.com/9LxybloQWU
— Mercury loves spaceshit (@theeSNYDERVERSE) July 9, 2021

Sooo disappointed in the version of taskmaster we got. #Taskmaster pic.twitter.com/rvZhpEuAkO
— J.I.P (@theonlyJIP) July 9, 2021

Task Failed?

Taskmaster barely getting any screen time + that twist pic.twitter.com/rEGJeMqH2z
— Cole Piper (@cj_piper64) July 9, 2021

I love that Marvel looked at Taskmaster’s costume and said “how can we make this as generic as possible🤔” pic.twitter.com/mI1vCubdsx
— Pyromaticidiot🃏 (@Pyromaticidiot) July 9, 2021

Taskmaster 2.0

Im hoping this setups Tony Masters to come in and become the actual Taskmaster because the actual one in the movie was kinda mehhh pic.twitter.com/1NDgMIJOOR
— Trashyy (@RverseTrashyy) July 7, 2021

Sad to see that the early reviews for Black Widow are saying Taskmaster was a big disappointment. Hopefully like the Mandarin he gets a second chance. I think it would be cool if he got that in a Disney+ tv show. pic.twitter.com/IN0xdtlG02
— Kaiden (@Kaiden825) July 3, 2021

Take to Task

Marvel could've done so much more with this character but sadly the character was just used for one movie and didn't really have a satisfying ending but who knows Taskmaster could make a return and hopefully done right. 2/2
— Matthew Hall Fitzsimons (@HalllMatthew) July 8, 2021

I liked #BlackWidow it’s a solid 7.5/10….but damn do I have some strong mixed feelings about #Taskmaster. That was the thing I was the most excited for about this movie, and I was kinda hoping for more. pic.twitter.com/ura06s3jfv
— Tad Brock (@AuteurIndy) July 9, 2021