Black Widow: 5 Taskmaster stories to check out before the movie
By Mark Lynch
You should definitely check out these Taskmaster stories before seeing Black Widow.
The Black Widow trailer premiered earlier this month and it showed some characters that haven’t made their debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We saw Yelena Belova (a different Black Widow), Alexei Shostakov (The Red Guardian), and a mysterious character in a mask. Now, the casual fan may not know who this masked character is. Comic book fans, however, might be aware that it is one of the Avengers deadliest enemies called Taskmaster.
What makes Taskmaster so formidable is his photographic reflexes. That means he can do anything that he sees perfectly. He’s spent years watching the best fighters, from Iron Fist to Captain America. He’s also picked up Hawkeye’s ability to never miss with with a bow and arrow, Spider-Man’s agility, and Punisher’s skills with a gun.
When fighting people whose abilities he has acquired, he knows exactly what moves they’re going to use… and when. And with all of those abilities, he’s become a problem for almost everyone.
With that in mind, before you see Black Widow in theaters in May, you should check out these Taskmaster stories in order to learn more about him and why he’s a big deal.
5. The Avengers No. 196
You might as well start at the beginning. Taskmaster’s first appearance was in Avengers No. 195, but it was he following issue in which we got to see what he was really made of.
In Avengers No. 196, he went up against Captain America and Iron Man at the same time. Granted, he ended up running away in the end, but he’s not an idiot. As Taskmaster put it, “There ain’t no buck in feeding an ego–an’ it’d be awful hard runnin’ a business from a jail cell.” He knew there was a chance he wouldn’t win this fight so he thought discretion was the better part of valor.
Taskmaster loves to boast that he took on the Avengers. However, Deadpool loves to ask if he actually beat them. Nevertheless, he did have them on their heels – not something a lot of teams can say. Let alone a guy going into Avengers Mansion by himself and having a chance at winning.