Taskmaster
Taskmaster is a male comic supervillain who features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Tony Masters
From a young age, he demonstrated a trait for being able to copy any moves that he could see with his eyes. He came to utilise this trait when he was a child and by the time he was in high school he came to use the talent to become a pro in American football. By adulthood, he came to seek new uses of his abilities where he considered using them to be a superhero but desired profit leading to him studying the various heroes fighting techniques from broadcasts. He then decided to become a supervillain though did not wish to fight heroes as there was no profit in that and instead he began to establish academies to train a villains henchmen. (Avengers v1 #196)
Masters came to be an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. where he became a skilled operative in the agency. He was deployed on assignment to the Andes to target the headquarters of S.S. Hauptsturmfuhrer Horst Gorscht who was a Nazi scientist that developed a corrupted version of the Super-Soldier Serum. His version had been used to empower a number of Nazi super-powered agents in that time. Upon his relocation, Gorscht came to believe that Nazi Germany's failure in the war was due to not being able to indoctrinate their young quick enough. To solve this, he had created a primer that unlocked the minds potential to absorb knowledge instantaneously. During the attack on the castle, Gorscht was fatally wounded and Masters found his serum which he injected into his body to save it before the knowledge of it was lost forever. The effects of it transformed him allowing Masters to learn physical skills instantly but this came at the cost of his memories. (Taskmaster v2 #3) He was set-up as a super-powered operative where he took the name Taskmaster and was deployed on assignments through a S.H.I.E.L.D. front called the Org with his handler being his wife Mercedes Merced operating as Hub. However, the effects of the serum on his memory caused him to forget his past making him lose track of his mission or nature as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent with him instead becoming a mercenary. (Taskmaster v2 #4)
One of his first jobs for the Org was retraining Mexican Special Forces to take over the operations from the drug cartels. (Taskmaster v2 #2)
Taskmaster
He then established his Taskmaster Academy that was secretly based situated in Southampton, Long Island beneath the façade of the Solomon Institute for the Criminally Insane after recruiting Dr. Pernell Solomon to head its public guise. Taskmaster’s administrator Dr. Pernell Solomon took some liberties with the scientific equipment and staff on-site that had unexpected consequences. In possession of a weak heart, Solomon arranged for a younger clone of himself to be made as a compatible donor. This sentient man, nicknamed Selbe, escaped the institute temporarily and managed to alert the Avengers to his plight. The Wasp traced Dr. Solomon and Selbe back to his institute and was soon followed by her husband Yellowjacket and their friend, Ant-Man. Taskmaster arrived for an on-site visit just in time to find his academy crawling with super-heroes. (Avengers v1 #195) After subduing the trio, Taskmaster amused his captives with a story about his background that he probably made up on the spot. He intimidated Dr. Solomon into a heart attack that solved one problem but failed to anticipate that one Avenger inevitably leads to more. The full roster of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes burst into the Solomon Institute, giving Taskmaster a chance to test out the enhancements provided to Hammerhead’s new goons, Cyber-Squad X. Unfortunately, the goons weren’t up to the challenge. Taskmaster held off Captain America and Iron Man simultaneously and had a moment of moxie, thinking he could beat the whole team. The risk versus the reward was too great, though, and Taskmaster took off running instead. His own weaknesses became apparent when he was nearly stopped by Jocasta, the Avengers’ newest associate. Taskmaster had no footage or data on the robotic woman, leaving him unprepared and outmatched. He used a magnesium flare to blind the rest of the Avengers when they caught up and made his escape. Taskmaster had to abandon a lot of men, equipment and money in Southampton, however, severely setting back his business interests. (Avengers v1 #196)
Still, Taskmaster had designed his Academies with raids like this in mind, and he was prepared to restart his operations at new locations when the heat got too strong. Taskmaster rebuilt, setting up a discreet new academy in Manhattan at a seemingly abandoned warehouse. He began recruiting from local gangs and street toughs to replenish his stock of pupils. The location came to the attention of Spider-Man, who infiltrated the base. However, Taskmaster saw an opportunity and the web-slinger was turned into a training dummy for the edification of Taskmaster’s students. Once Taskmaster lured Spider-Man onto the training floor, he put on a full demonstration of his skills for his class in order to establish his credentials. Taskmaster could only duplicate Spider-Man’s agility and acrobatic maneuvers up to the human threshold, but he could still read and anticipate familiar moves which he could not mimic himself. Taskmaster beat Spider-Man with style and earned the applause of his trainees and the "proof of concept" that his training program could work. Instead of killing Spider-Man, Taskmaster trussed him up on display for the new class of goons as “proof of concept.” However, Taskmaster’s prior foe Ant-Man was also snooping around, and he managed to free Spider-Man while Taskmaster was off on a field exercise. Spider-Man and Ant-Man caught Taskmaster overseeing the theft of nuclear materials and worked over his class of trainees. When Taskmaster kept anticipating Spider-Man’s moves, Scott Land realized he was too new at being Ant-Man for the villain to have studied him much. He reasoned Taskmaster was prepared for what Hank Pym would do, but not a brazen ex-con like him. Ant-Man suddenly turned his Pym Particles towards summoning a giant ant, a surprise which led Spidey to get the upper hand long enough for Taskmaster to cut his losses and flee once more. (Marvel Team-Up v1 #103)
In the aftermath of the Skrull invasion, Taskmaster came to be appointed as the new field leader of the Shadow Initiative. Their first mission was to hunt down Hardball after he revealed his loyalties to Hydra. (Avengers: The Initiative v1 #20)
Masters came to learn of Avengers Academy that was a school being run to train young new heroes. Among the students was a woman named Finesse who showed similar abilities as Taskmaster with him wondering if she was perhaps his child. He had no memory of fathering a child but knew that his faulty memory might have forgotten him having a daughter. Meanwhile, Finesse herself was convinced Taskmaster was her father and wanted to confront him with this information. With Quicksilvers aid, the pair struck at one of Taskmasters bases with Finesse meeting the supervillain mercenary though he had no intention of confirming this as he felt it would be used as leverage against him by others. Before departing, he gave a word for advice to Finesse where Taskmaster said that Avengers Academy was a good thing where she could develop her skills for the future. (Avengers Academy v1 #9)
Secret Avengers
He was later hired by Baron Zemo to join his Hydra High sect where Helmut intended to deploy a sterilisation bomb against the human race with only loyal Hydra members being provided the cure. Their operation was uncovered by the new Captain America Sam Wilson and the new Nomad Ian Rogers. Taskmaster was dispatched to one of the bomb sites where he was ordered to detonate it at the appropriate time. However, he was confronted by Misty Knight who made him a counter-offer and provided him more money if he switched sides. Thus, Taskmaster sided himself with Captain America and refused to detonate the bomb when Baron Zemo gave the order. (All-New Captain America v1 #5)
Trapped in Bagalia, he was left in prison where Crossfire allowed Nick Fury, Jr. to have access to the mercenary. This was because S.H.I.E.L.D. was assembling a covert team to handle threats and intended to recruit Taskmaster for the initiative. However, Crossfire revealed that he had only allowed access to Taskmaster as a trap to capture the agent. However, Fury managed to defeat the villain and attempted to flee with Taskmaster but Bagalia's entire supervillain population chased after them. This caused Fury to abandon Taskmaster to the villains to flee the island leading to the mercenary being taken by Alyosius Thorndrake. However, it was revealed that Thorndrake was simply a disguise used by Mockingbird who smuggled Taskmaster off the island to join the Secret Avengers. (Secret Avengers v2 #2)
Secret Empire
He later moved his base of operations to Bagalia, becoming the sheriff of the small lawless country. (Captain America: Steve Rogers v1 #3) Around this time, Captain America had been secretly supplanted by an evil version of himself from an alternate timeline. In this time, he came to be involved in an operation in Bagalia. (Captain America: Steve Rogers v1 #1) Taskmaster managed to obtain a recording of him showing his loyalty for Hydra. It was then that Taskmaster and Black Ant had attempted to sell the recording to Maria Hill. However, Elisa Sinclair, an ally of the evil Captain America, intercepted them. (Captain America: Steve Rogers v1 #12) This saw the pair being forced them to become the new bodyguards of the reigning Madame Hydra. (Captain America: Steve Rogers v1 #14)
By the time Hydra rose to power and conquered the United States, the duo had become members of Hydra's own Avengers. (Secret Empire v1 #1) Both Taskmaster and Black Ant decided to switch allegiances during the final battle between Hydra and the resistance as soon as Hydra started losing. They freed some of Hydra's prisoners, namely the Champions, in hopes that the young heroes would later put in a good word for them. (Secret Empire v1 #8) Following Hydra's fall and the return to normalcy, Taskmaster returned to operating as a mercenary. (Spider-Men II v1 #1)
Hunted
Kraven the Hunter came to hire Taskmaster and Black Ant to capture all animal-inspired criminals to be imprisoned in Central Park for him. In addition, their job was to fight against poachers so that everyone he thought acted dishonorably would annihilate each other. (Amazing Spider-Man v5 #20)
He was later hired by a Maggia member to help him win in a game of golf against a comrade who had hired Bullseye. It was then that Taskmaster was targeted by an assassin and had to go on the run. Tony was saved by the intervention of Nick Fury, Jr. who revealed that Maria Hill had been killed with Taskmaster believed to be the culprit as his shield was found at the scene. He was informed that the Black Widow was the assassin chasing him and that he believed Taskmaster was innocent with Fury attempting to uncover the truth about his mentors murderer. Fury had determined that this was traced to the mysterious Rubicon Trigger but not access the information as it required the kinesic signature of four people that included Phil Coulson, Okoye and Ami Han. (Taskmaster v3 #1) He managed to ambush Coulson at a comic shop where Taskmaster was nearly killed by Hyperion but managed to defeat his foe barely and escaped after watching the kinesic signature of his target. (Taskmaster v3 #2) Taskmaster then went to South Korea where he infiltrated the nation's superhero headquarters where he had to evade both the White Fox and Black Widow who was pursuing him. He only managed to escape them with a telepathic bomb that knocked everyone around him after having copied the kinesic signature of Director Han. (Taskmaster v3 #3) After that, he infiltrated Wakanda but was captured by the Hatut Zeraze where he claimed that he was looking for asylum. Upon insulting the Dogs of War, he was forced to battle them but managed to defeat them in combat leading to a match against General Okoye. This allowed him to copy her kinesic signature whereupon Okoye decided to have Taskmaster sent to U.S. authorities to be charged for his crimes during the Hydra regime. However, in reality, Nick Fury, Jr. had arranged for the exchange so that he could recover Taskmaster where they went to find the truth about the Rubicon Trigger. (Taskmaster v3 #4)
During Knull's onslaught, Taskmaster came to be one of a number of villains recruited by Mayor Wilson Fisk to part of his new Thunderbolts Unit to fight off the Symbiote invasion. In that time, he came to be the de facto field leader of the team whilst having many arguments with Mister Fear. During their mission, Ampere and Snakehead were both killed with Taskmaster unable to stop Rhino from walking away. The Thunderbolts came to make their way to Ravencroft where they met with Norman Osborn who Mayor Fisk claimed could help them defeat Knull. (King in Black: Thunderbolts v1 #1)
Mayor Fisk came to declare the passing of a law that banned superheroes in the city with him deputising the Thunderbolt Unit that would arrest any active vigilantes. Taskmaster was with Whiplash as they went to the Daily Bugle taking them hostage in order to draw out Spider-Man. The Thunderbolts only had an incomplete file on the hero with them being confronted by the new Spider-Man. The pair managed to injure and capture Spider-Man with Taskmaster placing a power dampener on the Wall-Crawler where he threw him out the window. It was only his webbing that helped slow the hero's descent to the ground allowing him to be surrounded by NYVP operatives. (Devil's Reign v1 #2)
Overview
Personality and attributes
In appearance, Tony Masters was an imposing, athletically built Caucasian male who possessed a grim, intimidating physical presence explicitly designed to strike fear into his trainees and adversaries alike. Taskmaster appeared as a menacing, skeletal-themed mercenary wearing an elaborate and highly distinct combat costume. His face was entirely concealed beneath a stark white, bone-like replica of a human skull mask. Over his head and shoulders, he wore a sweeping white tactical hood and a matching cape that contrasted against a dark blue and orange tunic bodysuit. He wore heavy orange combat gloves and matching knee-high boots, alongside a utility belt equipped with a circular buckle featuring a stylized 'T' insignia. He carried a diverse arsenal of weapons visibly strapped to his person, including a large broadsword, a high-tech circular shield, a solid-wood bow with a matching quiver of arrows, and a sidearm pistol. (Avengers v1 #196) He would list his name as being T. Master on his business cards. (Taskmaster v1 #1)
After gaining powers, he initially considered becoming a superhero but was more motivated by the money and noticed that villains tended to get paid for their works. He quickly then determined that whilst being a supervillain was lucrative that it was also painful on account of fighting heroes. It was then that he decided to change tactics and instead decided to help train henchmen for supervillains. (Avengers v1 #196) He came to believe that he dealt in a rather unique business which was task fulfilment. (Taskmaster v1 #1)
He later began to branch out into more general mercenary work which he found more lucrative and interesting where he engaged in a variety of tasks for the right price. (Taskmaster v1 #1)
It was shown that he was more willing to escape capture rather than keep fighting as he reasoned that he could not do his business if he ended up in jail. (Avengers v1 #196)
Powers and abilities
Tony Masters possessed an extraordinary level of metahuman kinetic mimicry, allowing his brain to instantly replicate any physical movement, martial arts technique, or athletic feat he observed. By analyzing hours of security footage and battlefield engagements, he flawlessly duplicated the expert swordsmanship of the Swordsman, the Olympic-level acrobatics of Spider-Man, and the masterful shield-slinging tactics of Captain America. This total muscle-memory control granted him an unmatched combat versatility, enabling him to accurately predict an opponent's physical movement patterns and execute flawless counters using a diverse arsenal that included a broadsword, a high-tech energy shield, and a custom recurve bow. Furthermore, he could intentionally accelerate his physical reaction times to match superhuman velocities, pushing his biological limits to blitz entire rooms of armed adversaries at the severe cost of temporary physical exhaustion. (Avengers v1 #196)
According to himself, he had photographic memory since childhood where he found that he could copy any movements he saw on television. (Avengers v1 #196)
Much of his powers came as a result of a variant of the super-soldier serum that was developed as a primer designed to allow him to absorb information and skills instantaneously. (Taskmaster v2 #3) He came to claim that he was born with these photographic reflexes allowing him to duplicate any moves that he was able to see. This allowed him to achieve a range of physical skills from those of Captain America, Hawkeye, Daredevil, Iron Fist and Spider-Man. (Avengers v1 #195)
Taskmaster possessed an extraordinary neurological mutation known as photographic reflexes, which granted him the immediate ability to duplicate any physical movement he observed. By watching broadcast footage and live action, he perfectly replicated the flawless archery of Hawkeye, the precise shield-throwing physics of Captain America, the master swordsmanship of the Black Knight, and the extreme athletic agility of Spider-Man. He utilized this sensory mimicry to effortlessly anticipate and block incoming strikes in close-quarters combat, turning an opponent's own martial arts styles directly against them. Additionally, Taskmaster possessed advanced corporate intelligence and pedagogical skills, allowing him to systematically break down superhuman fighting styles into structured training regimes to efficiently transform ordinary street thugs into highly disciplined strike forces. (Avengers v1 #196)
He utilised a mnemonic technique called a memory palace where he built a palace within his mind with rooms that contained items he wanted to remember. These rooms were stocked with objects and associations that triggered the information he was looking for which needed to be recollected. It was said to work best if the rooms of the memory palace were placed the person had been in during his life. (Taskmaster v2 #1) This allowed him to retain skills, random facts and even allowed him to speak eight languages. (Taskmaster v2 #2)
According to him, his photographic reflexes operated by implicit memory making them operate differently from brain maps that controlled his actual memory of past events as this was explicit memory. (Taskmaster v2 #3)
Through muscle memory, his fingers were incapable of inputting passwords without him thinking about it. (Taskmaster v2 #2)
Among his equipment included holographic disguises allowing him to appear as anyone even when he was wearing his armor. (Taskmaster v1 #1)
He made use of a range of different arrows for his bow such as disruptor arrows. For an escape, he could make use of a special magnesium flare to blind his opponents thus allowing him a chance to make his getaway. (Avengers v1 #196) Sometime ago, he came to steal a unique S.H.I.E.L.D. device that was a small generator which could produce solid shapes composed of pure energy that he used to make a replica of Captain's Shield for himself. (Taskmaster v1 #1)
Taskmaster had set up an operation where he aided in the training of henchmen for supervillains. (Avengers v1 #195) Publicly, one of these was known as the Solomon Institute for the Criminally Insane though in reality served as a ground to brainwash people to serve as henchmen. (Avengers v1 #195) This led to him establishing training academies where he took criminals from the streets and taught them skills to improve their work. Taskmaster then rented these criminals out as hired guns for supervillains and thus earned a fortune in the process. (Marvel Team-Up v1 #103)
Notes
- Taskmaster was created by David Michelinie and George Pérez where he made his first appearance in the Avengers v1 #195 (May, 1980).
Alternate Versions
- In House of M: Avengers v1 #2 (2007), an alternat eversion of Taskmaster appeared in the House of M reality that was designated as Earth-58163 in the Multiverse.
- In Ultimate Comics Spider-Man v1 #26 (2013), an alternate version of Taskmaster appeared in the Ultimate Marvel reality that was designated as Earth-1610 in the Multiverse.
- In Age of Ultron v1 #3 (2013), an alternate version of Taskmaster appeared in the Age of Ultron reality that was designated as Earth-61112 in the Multiverse.
- In Master of Kung Fu v2 (2015), an alternate version of the character named Laughing Skull appeared in the Battleworld realm of K'un-Lun that was designated as Earth-13116 in the Multiverse. Laughing Skull was a master of the Ten Rings who was summoned by the emperor, Zheng Zu, after the emperor's son, Shang-Chi returned from exile. Laughing Skull and the Iron Fist set out to track him down, but had no luck until Callisto revealed the hideout of the Outcasts. Laughing Skull and the Iron Fist then went to confront the group and found Shang-Chi was hiding, during the ensuing fight, Laughing Skull killed Cy before he was stopped by Shang-Chi. He stood alongside, the emperor when he announced the start of the tournament of the thirteen chambers. After Shang-Chi won, he was one of the many masters to submit to their new emperor.
- In M.O.D.O.K. Assassin v1 #4 (2015), an alternate version of Taskmaster appeared in a Battleworld domain named Killville designated as Earth-11131 in the Multiverse. Taskmaster was a resident of Killville who took the weapons of the fallen heroes killed by M.O.D.O.K.. He attacked both M.O.D.O.K. and Angela when they were escaping the Mindless Ones and were figuring out who had set this whole plan in motion. Taskmaster kept trying to rile them up but the pair were too busy thinking to pay attention. M.O.D.O.K. then requested Taskmasters assistance with something when the Mindless Ones attacked and vaporized Taskmaster.
- In Old Man Hawkeye v1 (2018), an alternate version of Taskmaster appeared in the Old Man Logan reality of the Wastelands that was designated as Earth-807238 in the Multiverse. This version lived in a world where the Red Skull had led a supervillain uprising against the world's superheroes that were largely killed. He was shown as being an enforcer for the Red Skull who dispatched him to retrieve the rogue Marshal Bullseye.
- In Spider-Punk v1 #1 (2022), an alternate version of called Ta$kma$ter appeared in the Spider-Punk reality that was designated as Earth-138 in the Multiverse.
In other media
Television
- In Ultimate Spider-Man, Taskmaster appeared as an antagonist in the animated television series where he was voiced by actor Clancy Brown. At some point, Taskmaster joined S.H.I.E.L.D. and took training from them and acquired equipment. He then was betrayed by Nick Fury and Phil Coulson. From that point, he decided to someday take revenge on the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Taskmaster was hired by Otto Octavius to capture Spider-Man. He infiltrated Midtown High School under the guise as 'Coach Yaeger' since he had purposely injured the original coach. Taskmaster used deductive reasoning to come to the idea that Spider-Man was one of the boys who passed his fitness exam, telling some of them to report back to school the next day. Taskmaster then subdued Phil Coulson to use Coulson's access to activate the school's S.H.I.E.L.D. security system. While trying to see if Harry Osborn and Flash Thompson will turn into Spider-Man, he captures Harry yet Flash escapes, making Taskmaster assume the latter over the former as the web-slinger. Taskmaster then fights Spider-Man and White Tiger, he beating the two young superheroes through the stealing of their abilities. When the two lured him into a dark room and swapped abilities, he was finally defeated. After realizing that Spider-Man and Flash were actually two different people, he escaped and left his fake "Yaeger" mask behind. He then reported back to Octavius about the school being a 'dead end'. At some point, Taskmaster set up a training camp for his Acolytes, an elite force that he personally trained. He then met Deadpool and managed to steal Deadpool's stolen list that contained the secret identities of superheroes. When Spider-Man and Deadpool go after "Agent MacGuffin" for having stolen encrypted information about the secret identities of every superhero, they travel to Taskmaster's training camp and are attacked by his Acolytes, but his Acolytes are defeated and a missile is destroyed. At his training compound, Taskmaster encounters Spider-Man and then Deadpool. Unable to copy Deadpool's moves, Taskmaster's attacks are to no avail due to Deadpool's unpredictable fighting style. Spider-Man then manages to web up Taskmaster as it turns out that Taskmaster actually stole the S.H.I.E.L.D. list from Deadpool who planned to sell it for money and made up the "Agent MacGuffin" scenario.
- In Avengers Assemble, Taskmaster appeared in the animated television series fourth season Secret Wars in the episode "Show Your Work" where he was voiced again by actor Clancy Brown.
Films
- In Avengers Confidential: Black Widow & Punisher, Taskmaster appeared in the setting of the anime film in a non-voiced role.
- In Heroes United: Iron Man and Captain America, Taskmaster appeared as a supporting antagonist in the 2014 animated film where he was voiced by actor Clancy Brown. He was shown as a mercenary that was hired by the Red Skull who had sought Captain America's blood and Iron Man's Armour. During this time, he acquired a set of Iron Man Armour and adopted the name of Ironmaster.
Video games
- In Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds, Taskmaster appeared in the setting of the fighting video game where he was voiced by actor Steve Blum.
- In Marvel Heroes, Taskmaster appeared as a playable character in the setting of the MMORPG where he was voiced again by actor Steve Blum.
- In Marvel: Avengers Alliance, Taskmaster appeared as a boss antagonist and an unlockable character in the Facebook video game.
- In Captain America: The Winter Soldier - The Official Game, Taskmaster appeared as a boss character in the setting of the video game where he was voiced by actor Roger Craig Smith.
- In Marvel Avengers Academy, Taskmaster appeared as an unlockable character in the setting of the Facebook video game where he was voiced by actor Adam Montoya.
- In Marvel's Spider-Man, Taskmaster appeared in the setting of the video game where he was voiced by actor Brian Bloom.
- In Marvel: Future Fight, Taskmaster was introduced as a playable character in the Secret Empire update for the mobile video game.
- In Marvel's Avengers, Taskmaster appeared in the setting of the video game where he was voiced by actor Walter Gray IV. Anthony Masters was an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D training Natasha Romanoff before they discharged him for being too aggressive and having questionable methods. Wanting to get revenge on S.H.I.E.L.D., Tony sold his skills on the market to make profit. Later, during a Hydra jailbreak, Tony accused Natasha of opening the cells, but Natasha eventually managed to reveal that that it was in fact Masters who had done it. Before S.H.I.E.L.D was able to take him into custody however, he escaped. On A-Day, Anthony Masters was hired by Monica Rappaccini to lead an attack on the Golden Gate Bridge, attempting to distract the Avengers from the Chimera. After fighting Romanoff, Taskmaster was defeated and taken into custody. Years later, Taskmaster, out of prison, starts working for A.I.M.. He was later captured by the Avengers. Later, his clones, created by Monica Rappaccini, continued to antagonize the Avengers.
Appearances
- Avengers v1: (1980)
- Captain America v1:
- Taskmaster v1:
- Taskmaster v2:
- Avengers: The Initiative v1:
- Avengers Academy v1:
- All-Captain America v1:
- Secret Avengers v2:
- Captain America: Steve Rogers v1:
- Spider-Men II v1:
- Old Man Hawkeye v1:
- Amazing Spider-Man v5:
- Taskmaster v3: (2020)
- Devil's Reign v1:
External Links
This article is a stub. You can help Multiversal Omnipedia by expanding it.
