Marvel’s Black Widow: Let’s Talk About Taskmaster

Flight. Invisibility. Super energy. All three are frequent solutions when requested about the very best comedian e book superpower. But Marvel’s Taskmaster—who seems within the newly launched Black Widow—has one that ought to rank proper up there. The character has the power to imitate something they see completely, which makes them a near-impossible foe for many heroes to defeat: they’re combating themselves.

Taskmaster debuted in Marvel Comics over 40 years in the past, in 1980′s Avengers #195, and in recent times has gained a lift of recognition because of appearances in video video games like Marvel’s Avengers and Marvel’s Spider-Man. Both of these nearly actually occurred as a result of the powers that be knew the character was coming to the large display screen in Black Widow. But now that Black Widow is right here, it’s come as a shock simply how totally different the brand new model of the character is from the unique, and there are actually deeper implications due to it.

Time to speak spoilers. One of the massive revelations in Marvel’s Black Widow is that Taskmaster—a personality whose identification is hidden for 80% of the film—is revealed to be Antonia Dreykov, performed by Olga Kurylenko (Quantum of Solace, Oblivion). If we’re being sincere, it most likely wasn’t that large of a revelation contemplating Kurylenko’s well-known identify is within the opening credit and but she doesn’t seem till the ultimate act. Natasha (Scarlett Johansson) believed she killed Antonia years earlier throughout an try and kill the younger woman’s father, the chief of the evil Red Room performed by Ray Winstone. Somehow (we’re by no means advised how) General Dreykov and Antonia survived Natasha blowing up a constructing with them inside it. In the various years since then, Dreykov brainwashed and skilled his daughter into changing into his primary murderer, the Taskmaster, who can mimic the combating kinds of anybody she sees. Which, through the years, she’s completed with Captain America, Black Panther, Hawkeye, and possibly extra. In the comics, Taskmaster was born with an eidetic reminiscence and grew into it organically however within the movie, she’s brainwashed and makes use of some form of tech that’s by no means defined.

Based on powers alone, each the unique model of Taskmaster and the movie model are pretty related—however actually that’s the top of any adaptation and we don’t study that a lot about her right here minus what’s wanted for the plot to maneuver ahead. Of course, some sexist idiots are mad that the unique character, Tony Masters, is ignored in favor of Antonia Dreykov, however altering the character’s gender and immediately linking her to Natasha’s previous is likely one of the most fascinating issues about Black Widow. Her very existence is all twisted up with Natasha’s general MCU arc which handled bodily autonomy—one thing the movie digs into closely with its Red Room plot and the sisters’ particular person methods of coping with what occurred to them. She additionally exists as a bigger instance of Dreykov’s want for energy over girls—this father subjugating his daughter to infinite battles and continued trauma makes him that rather more of a despicable villain. Together, that each one serves to make the battles Taskmaster has with the titular hero that rather more complicated; killing Antonia was one among Natasha’s largest, deepest regrets. That she now has an opportunity to proper that improper or make it a actuality this time, is an interesting thread to probably pull at for the viewers and the characters.

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And but, Black Widow doesn’t discover these depths too nicely, which turns into the largest failing for Taskmaster. Everything about her is shoved into the large, action-heavy third act, giving a newly freed Antonia no time to course of what’s occurred to her life, and giving Natasha little or no time to grasp the scope of the revelation. The complete factor feels prefer it’s there to shock as a substitute of inform. Also, that Dreykov controls Taskmaster (and the remainder of his Red Room Black Widows) undercuts the elemental energy of the character. Taskmaster isn’t her personal particular person, she’s this outdated white man’s device, and although he will get his comeuppance and she or he will get a little bit of redemption, all of it feels under-serviced, particularly with regard to Natasha. So a lot occurs so quick it’s onerous to imagine she’s been capable of course of altering this basic private constructing block of her life.

Though there have been some missteps alongside the best way, the Marvel Cinematic Universe often offers its villains simply as a lot gravitas as its heroes: Loki, Thanos, Killmonger, Red Skull, and so on. But Taskmaster—and to an extent, Dreykov himself—completely falls wanting that, and it holds Black Widow again from being the top-tier Marvel film it actually strived to be. What did you consider Taskmaster in Black Widow?

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