This MCU Character Absolutely Needs a Reboot After Avengers: Secret Wars

The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Multiverse Saga has opened up near limitless possibilities for retcons, re-casting, and do-overs for characters that were not adapted faithfully up to this point. The franchise absolutely needs to use this window of opportunity to reboot the hero Taskmaster to be more faithful to the comics. The MCU’s take on Taskmaster was first introduced in Black Widow, and her real name is Antonia Dreykov, the daughter of the Russian general who oversaw the Red Room. The Marvel Comics character, Anthony Masters, is very different, and he’s too fun to be left out of the mainstream adaptation.

The MCU’s Taskmaster is a tragic figure. Raised in privilege, she was nearly killed when Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton tried to assassinate her father, and she survived only through dubious medical intervention by her father. Dreykov had Antonia fitted with a biochip that dulled the constant pain from her injuries, while giving him complete remote control over her body, making her his personal Black Widow assassin. She went through Red Room Academy training and discovered a talent for mimicking her opponents’ moves. She worked for Dreykov until his death, when she was freed by Natasha and her family.

Tony Masters does not share much in common with this character besides the codename and some abilities. Masters is a former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent with the innate ability to perfectly mimic other people’s movements. This is generally referred to as “photographic reflexes,” and it’s not regarded as a mutant ability or any other familiar category of superpower. However, Tony did take an experimental version of the Super-Soldier Serum developed by the Nazis, which somewhat enhanced his physical abilities.

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One major catch to Tony’s physical abilities is that they take up a lot of memory and processing power within his brain, and new physical skills automatically overwrite personal memories for him. This leads to some tragic scenarios, like when he entirely forgot his wife and field agent partner, Mercedes. It also led him away from S.H.I.E.L.D. to become an independent mercenary and assassin.

The comics version of Taskmaster eventually established a base called Taskmaster’s Academy, where he trained criminals to fight against heroes whose moves he had memorized. He took other jobs and established himself as a relatively neutral party within the Marvel universe, sometimes siding with heroes and sometimes with criminals, but never acting truly evil. As it stands now, Taskmaster tends to act on personal loyalty and friendship, not any real allegiance.

What’s Next for Antonia?

Fans may want the Tony Masters version of Taskmaster to come to the MCU, but there’s still a lot of Antonia Dreykov on the slate right now. Last we saw her, she was taken into custody by Russian authorities at the end of Black Widow, but the promo material for Thunderbolts* has already made it clear who she’s working for now. In the trailer, we see her on a mission for Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, and it looks like she’ll join the team or at least fall into it for most of the story.

Unlike some of her Thunderbolts* castmates, Taskmaster actress Olga Kurylenko was not officially announced for the cast of Avengers: Doomsday last month. That could be bad news for the character, but we can’t say for sure right now. Speculating about Antonia’s future in the MCU is difficult, as it requires speculating about the broader plot of the upcoming Avengers crossovers as well. There are too many moving parts to keep track of, even with photographic reflexes.

Hopefully, we’ll have a better idea of what’s ahead for Taskmaster after we see Thunderbolts*, which hits theaters this Friday in the U.S. Those who want to revisit her debut in Black Widow can find it streaming now on Disney+.