Click here to sign up for CuriosityStream and get a free Nebula subscription where you can watch the extra bit about the other Val at curiositystream.com/nando What did you guys think of Taskmaster? Good? Bad? Meh?
Bad, the fact that Red Guardian constantly setup his rivalry with Cpt. America and in his "fight" with Taskmaster he never acknowledges that some moves were stolen from his nemesis was a huge waste
Got to disagree with you on this one. The big question I keep asking myself is "Why did this character have to be Taskmaster?" You could've replaced Taskmaster and her another Widow and it would have the same effect on the story and characters. I also don't think it's as possible to make another, more faithful Taskmaster later on, as you presented. The reason why you could do another Mandurian in the MCU is because the one we got in Iron Man 3 is so vastly different from comic Mandurian you could reasonably see them as separate characters. This Taskmaster is way too similar to comic Taskmaster for there to be another one within the MCU (I mean this Taskmaster even sports the same symbol her shield).
Well if their going to make another taskmaster make a better adaptation to comic but I already predicted that they could just create a new one so I wasn’t disappointed but it didn’t have a great start either
As far as replacing Antonia with a new taskmaster, I don’t recall her being called taskmaster herself, the ‘taskmaster protocol’ is mentioned so maybe Ross or val could adopt the concept and apply it to a thunderbolts/dark avengers recruit in the form of tony masters, when that team dissolves then taskmaster can go full mercenary
Didn’t Yelena call her taskmaster or was that just in the trailers? But I do hope we get a “real” taskmaster that has actually abilities than from just a computer chip.
It's not about the powers. It's about Tasky's personality, because MCU Taskmaster due to plot reasons had NO personality. The character works great as an antagonist for the movie, but as a Taskmaster adaptation it really falls short.
Agreed. The actual person behind the mask makes some sense in relation to the story, but really Taskmaster here is basically another drone being controlled when the actual character has about as much personality as Deadpool in some cases
There was a comment on another video comparing this version of Taskmaster to Xmen Origins Wolverine's interpretation of Deadpool. They mentioned how them tossing around the origins and powers would be fine but if they were just going to throw out the personality then the character is being wasted. Same thing applies here. It's like the web shooters vs organic webs argument. No one cared that Sam Raimi Spidey had organic webs because Peter as a character was portrayed well.
The character's still alive and has plenty of time to develop more personality. I'm hoping she and Ghost end up in whatever the heck Val's pulling together.
@@phemsee6838 I understand and sort of agree however how do you expect the character to have the same personality as it’s comic counterpart if the character only broke free from the mind control in the end of the movie, I don’t think the character was wasted like Deadpool in origins cause atleast taskmaster wasn’t killed so they can easily show her personality in future films/shows but if that’s not the case than I agree she was wasted
Taskmaster’s problem: if you’re going to totally reinvent a character, you need to do something really great. They totally re-imagined Thanos’s motivation, and it really worked for the story they told. They totally reimagined Yelena from the comics and it worked for the story they told. Taskmaster not so much. I would have endorsed the reimagining had they given it more development and executed it better.
@greenapplepear i like the idea of the film's Taskmaster a lot, but I feel that idea wasn't developed enough to make it feel any more impactful than "oh you're supposed to feel this way because we're saying Natasha feels this way." I think if the film spent a little more time diving into the moral ambiguity of Natasha's actions involving Antonia as a kid, and showed and explored her conflicted feelings of using a kid as collateral in more than just the quick flashback scene, I think it would've been heavier and the character would've felt more grounded and necessary. But as is, Taskmaster just misses the mark for me. The idea is great, but the execution wasn't done as well as it could've been
@greenapplepear I'll just add another reason why people may not like this Taskmaster is because it is yet another MCU movie where the hero created their villain. So, to people who notice how many times that has happened over the 20+ movies are no longer getting hit by the "emotion" of this trope.
@greenapplepear But that's the point. Because of that trope, this Taskmaster doesn't work as their own villain. It kind of works for the movie. But outside of this movie, this Taskmaster doesn't work. The Taskmaster of the comics isn't just some dude with a cool ability. He trained other villains. Because of this character, we loose that aspect.
@@jerrisatyourwindow Here's what I'm saying: Iron Man - villain introduced in movie, villain defeated in movie, no longer a threat after the movie This has been pretty much the case for every single MCU movie. I think it is boring to see it for the 20th+ time. It's just the same movie, with different characters, over and over and over again.
No. You could’ve replaced him with a widow and it’s the exact same character. Think about it. The relationship to Natasha was cool but that’s not Taskmaster. Also the whole tech thing and the chip being implanted into the back of her neck isn’t as cool as Taskmaster literally just seeing something done right of front of him and being able to copy it. They only used Taskmaster in this movie because they knew a lot of people liked the character and that having him on the movie poster would intrigue more people to see the movie. There’s still a chance they develop her in future project’s but so far it seems like a waste of the character.
@greenapplepear I said so far it’s a waste and I also said there’s still a chance to develop her. Point is you can’t deny that they didn’t do Taskmaster justice. All of the personality that he has in the comics is completely stripped away and relegating his “power” to a chip in the back of her neck and a fancy helmet isn’t nearly as cool. And yes it could’ve literally been another widow as long as she was still Dreykov’s daughter, the connection to Natasha still holds. Let’s just accept that they botched Taskmaster and hope they develop her into something more interesting later.
@greenapplepear it’s very much a failed attempt. He’s supposed to be the selling point and was reduced to trash, regardless if this wasn’t “the actual version we know” stop baiting people
@greenapplepear What makes you claim that Taskmaster had some of the best fight scenes in the MCU? Not an insult or anything, I'm just genuinely curious
@greenapplepear So you would say the choreography and direction in Black Widow surpasses even that of the Captain America: WS fight scenes or the airport battle from Civil War and etc.?
@@9jagnat333 She doesn't really need to have any at this point tho, she has only has a few cameos and is meant to be more mysterious right now. We didn't really have Fury's motivation when he first showed up at the end of Iron Man either
@@charlespuruncajas9663 Their gender doesn't matter, I just didn't like that my favorite villain (after Carnage) had no arc, no dialogue and is arguably the LEAST accurate portrayal of a comic book villain ever imo
I have no problem with the twist aspect of it but honestly Taskmaster is a less interesting Winter Soldier, literally same beats. Not bad but, waaay too similar,
I feel like it wouldve been better if Taskmaster in this movie was replaced with a second Red Guardian, this could show how little Dreykov cared for Alexei and his service and how replacable he was in his eyes, and it would also completely destroy what Alexei thinks of the Red Guardian title since Dreykov now has his own Red Guardian who fight completely under his control and only for his selfish desires, and not for communism or Russia, which could then lead to a better redemption arc for Alexei, and once they break Antonia out of her control, they could keep her as the new Red Guardian for the MCU Winter Guard since Ursa Major has already showed up in the prison scene and they name dropped Crimson Dynamo.
Why bother making the movie about Black Widow if the villain has nothing to do with her and is all about her adopted dad and his feelings? If they wanted to make Taskmaster related to Alexei, it'd be HIS solo movie.
I personally think that Antonia was a serviceable villain, but didn't need to be Taskmaster for the story to work. She could just have easily been some sort of perfected Black Widow with a facemask, and the movie could have proceeded unchanged aside from the fight choreography. The one thing I have against this version of Taskmaster is the memory loss problem. Imagine having a protagonist with a dark, tragic past they wish they could forget, that drives them to be a better person, facing an antagonist with no memory of having any past, and thus lacks any anchor to give them a set of morals, and will work for anyone who pays. I feel like a talented writer could have done so much with that.
@@SeanWheeler100 "Fit the suit"? She didn't even fit the stunts. The lead stunt actor for Taskmaster was straight-up a dude. There's even a height difference.
They should have used another character instead of Taskmaster. They have dozens of characters they could have used that would have been a better fit. They were bound to disappoint comic fans with this portrayal. I have no issue with the gender swap, but the lack of character and personality is irking.
The thing that got me excited about the choice of Taskmaster is that technically it would pit Nat against all her peer "super" characters. If she fought Taskmaster with the shield, she'd essentially be fighting a copy of Captain America, and so proving everyone wrong that she's basically the "weakest/most useless Avenger"... She can go toe to toe with Cap, using HER skills and not just trying to beat him in a regular fight. We see that in the Bridge fight, and then barely for the rest of the movie. At that point like you say, just get someone else to be the brainwashed/brain controlled hench(wo)man/assassin.
This Taskmaster had to be a dud so they could shock us with the gender swap reveal. If she spoke and had a distinct personality, it would've given away her gender to a certain extent unless she just straight up acted and sounded like a dude until her reveal which would be weird. Think the success of CA: Winter Soldier did this movie a disservice too. They thought they needed a mute, terminator like villain to get the same success as that film forgetting that Winter Soldier's character was comic accurate unlike this Taskmaster.
At least the character survived so hopefully they can give her some more character development later. This version of Taskmaster seems to be an amalgamation of the Headmistress marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Headmistress_(Anya)_(Earth-616) and Taskmaster from the comics. Hopefully they'll do something interesting with that in the future.
@@tutorialslave man y’all really can’t handle someone having a different opinion and just right it off as them being paid off which I just find hilarious
I think u missed a very important point that this isn’t the end of taskmasters story I’m sure in the first comic taskmasters whole backstory and personality wasn’t explained this is done in the movies with like Zemo so I don’t think this is the end but the beginning and I enjoyed it as a set up not a finished product
@@flipperflapper609 bruh she was just a damaged girl with daddy issues. She cannot become the Taskmaster we know and love. His entire thing is masculine and macho and Chad. No scarred woman with daddy issues could ever get there.
Taskmaster was just another throwaway villain that will be forgotten by the next Marvel movie. The fact that this movie would be exactly the same without Taskmaster in it just shows how pointless and weak the character is.
I’ve noticed that every phase 4 project has at least one character whose only purpose in the plot is to set them up for future projects, only purpose meaning that their role in the plot could be filled in by literally anyone or just removed entirely. In WV it was Monica, in FatWS it was Zemo, in this it was Taskmaster, in Loki, *SPOILER ALEEEEERT* it’s kid Loki.
@@extremetoast5723 we all know what this means-- kid avengers are coming. And Zemo is the villain Kid loki had the role of pading out the loki's that arrived and greeted main loki
@@extremetoast5723 That's a pretty harsh interpretation of Monica and Zemo's roles. Monica was a foil to Wanda and an early indicator that we were watching a story about grief, and Zemo was meant to add discord in the Sam and Bucky dynamic and add a different perspective to the super soldier debate. Spoiler You're probably right about Kid Loki and I would say that the Wandavision equivalent is the twins (actually basically all the Young Avengers that show up in these projets).
@@sheltondaal6425 yeah that’s true about the twins, and I think I’m just harsh on it because wandavision just generally lacked strong pay off for me. Don’t really know what I was expecting tho, the MCU is just a long running TV show at this point. I want to point out that I’ve enjoyed all of the phase 4 stuff so far!
I don’t believe Taskmaster will be a throwaway character. I was disappointed they didn’t lean more into making her distinct and unique from her comic book counterpart. But another filmmaker can work with that just like how Zemo seemed nothing like his comic book version until Falcon and the Winter Soldier expanded on that. Like Red Guardian and Yelena she is definitely going to show up again probably working under someone else or perhaps for Val. And I did like how he backstory solidified the concepts in the movie on how the Red Room used women as disposable resources and the consequences of Natasha’s actions.
Black Widow's training flashbacks in AOU set her up as a product of a Soviet-era ballet-school-turned-spy-school, where they abused the ballerinas with grueling practice to determine which 'can break': Natasha never broke, and that's what they were looking for, find the 1 in 100,000 who are immune to torture, whose will never fails them, who never neglect the mission - regardless of pain, injury, and death. Then in the comics she receives a variant of the Soviet super-serum that gives her heightened reflexes, slowed aging, etc. I like the idea of giving Taskmaster a similar background, making her another ballerina from the same sort of program. Because if you have ever tried to learn a dance routine with a professional dancer nearby, they'll watch a choreographer throw out 100 steps at full speed and then the pros will repeat those 100 steps at full speed with near-perfect recall. Professional dancers really do have something akin to 'photographic reflexes', the only conceit the MCU would ask for here is that they can also apply it to martial arts. A great example is Michelle Yeoh, who was a professional ballerina until she had a bad injury - now she acts as a martial artist: very convincingly. Summer Glau is another great example, ballerina - acts as a martial artist very convincingly. Neither are martial artists, but as professional dancers, they can pick up fight choreography very quickly and perform it with the grace of a professional martial artist: if perhaps not the power. It makes more sense to me that Taskmaster would be the product of the same 'ballet school' as Natasha, it makes sense to me that she would be a woman with photographic reflexes. Making it about the chip I think weakens the character. The gained benefit of extended continuity "there must always be... a Taskmaster" is pretty dumb. Alternately, it could be the product of genetic manipulation - maybe the Soviets found the gene needed to grant perfect reflexes - and you can make more that way, but you have to raise them from birth. Or maybe there are other Taskmasters but they are rare because the attrition rate on their ballet schools is so high. The more I think about the chip, the more I hate it. It's also something we've seen before - the Iron Man suit can analyze fight behaviour, and the Iron Spider suit can apparently just ragdoll Peter and turn him into a living weapon if needed. I like the MCU Taskmaster, I just dislike that the power is a computer chip.
Honestly I was waiting for the movie to largely feature Black Widow as a young girl and teenager and to show the ballet school and everything in a dark way. We kinda got that in a montage but jeez that would have been so cool, esp. if it featured Yelena and Antonia. Missed opportunity of storytelling imo
"Can't quite tell what Val's deal is" I'll say it here: THUNDERBOLTS. I believe Julia Louis-Dreyfus' version of the Contessa is setting up Marvel's answer to the Suicide Squad
I honestly would’ve been fine with Taskmaster in this movie if they did everything about her the exact same except calling her by that name. The character is fine, connects to Widow’s development... but just really isn’t Taskmaster.
I guess I get that if you're some diehard Taskmaster fan, cuz to me he always seems very one-note every time I see him. Never found Tony Masters interesting. So I liked him (her) in this movie as she was a tragic villain of sorts. Though I feel they should've added a flashback or something to show us her tragedy in becoming augmented by her father rather than just tell us that
@@rainmaker2338 your missing the point. This was taskmaster in name only. The backstory is very interesting. He is a villain henchman ‘coach’ and mercenary. I think it would of made more sense for Taskmaster to be the main villain and the tactical leader and trainer/handler of the widows. And given her backstory a little more screen time instead of having the father there. This wasn’t Taskmaster. There was zero development, very little screen time, and near zero dialogue. She serves as a plot device only. Natasha’s redemption or sorts. She was given worse then the Hawkeye treatment in this film. One saving grace is that this film is in the MCU, with further instalments able to flesh out the character, had this been a one and done we would all call it for what it is. Wasted potential.
@@l.apastore4208 not sure how you could say I missed the point and then say you wanted it to be more like comic Taskmaster, which I literally said I understand if that's what people who like him in the comics wanted lol. You just disagree with me, which is fine
I honestly didn’t expect Taskmaster to ever take off the helmet, I just assumed it was going to be a physical performance. Maybe a voice but I also wouldn’t have been surprised if the character was mute. I was pretty shocked that they took the mask off at all tbh.
I think the issue I have with this Taskmaster is that she didn't NEED to be Taskmaster. I get they wanted to hit us with a twist reveal because we expected Taskmaster to be a guy, but literally it could've been any other character if that was the case. I really hope they bring back Taskmaster and find some ways to flesh out the character in a future property because for what we got I was super disappointed.
Entirely agree. I foresaw this happening. They placed Taskmaster likeness and name for name recognition and hype only. Had they put another villain who looked boring, possibly there wouldn’t be as much hype. They didn’t have faith in this movie seemingly.
@@TheStormbringer8751 Yeah with all the hype about this being the MCU's amazing female-led superhero movie with a female director, people should've seen this coming a mile away. Like they thought they could hide her gender with thick, male-looking armor lol.
@@TheStormbringer8751 With that tight fitting clothes showing that muscular shape, and the chestplate designed to look like a man's chest, it sure seemed like it was more likely for Taskmaster to be a man. In fact, it was later confirmed that Andy Lister did all the stunt work in the suit while actress Olga Kurylenko only played the unmasked Taskmaster. Just so you know who Andy Lister is, he was a stunt double for Chris Evans in Age of Ultron. Yep, for most of Taskmaster's screentime, she was played by a Captain America body double! A muscular man in the suit. How can you see that twist coming? If Olga was really in that suit, her body would be shaped more like Natasha and the other Black Widows and EVERY WOMAN IN THE MCU!
The fake parents were not redeemed in my opinion. Especially the mum. After establishing just how horrific things were for the widows, the people complacent in it needed a lot more legwork to be done to redeem them. And honestly, since endgame natasha doesn't have anyone bar her found family, redeeming the parents actively hurts her arc
That would be a negative ghost rider...negative... Taskmaster talks a lot as he fights and his power comes from observation, plus a creepy cool look. This taskmaster was like getting the computer program from the show Chuck and putting it in a power ranger.
For me no, I did not like the MCU Taskmaster. The twist seemed very obvious as well and in my eyes this is not Taskmaster; similar to Cassandra Cain from Birds of Prey though what they did to her was worse.
@@knightshadowhimself not possible. MCU made their bed. I’m sick of this retconning. They should make the best of the character as is and try salvage some personality and resemblance to comic Taskmaster and never attempt this again. To think after Mandarin they would of learned a lesson.
I feel like their power copying abilities weren't utilized enough in the movie, to the point that Marvel could have just swapped them out with another villian and save Taskmaster's character for future media
@@dj_matanzaa exactly, how did they neglect to reference Red Guardian’s fight with Captain America while he fought someone who IMITATES CAPTAIN AMERICA
I still think the Spider-Man ps4 taskmaster does the best job finding a medium between a straight up skull mask and a practical combat helmet. Like I know it’s just a skull mask in the comics, but translating that to film would not go well. Also fighting him in game gave the best experience of him using your moves back at you. Like yeah seeing him use black widows leg spin thing was cool, but after playing a game for hours and getting very used to the different attacks you have, only to see someone else use YOUR moves is really cool
No. We want tony masters, the cocky, goofy, yet serious mercenary who knows what he’s doing. The whole twist was predictable since you know that if a character has a mask and doesn’t speak they’re going to be a girl. And plus if they were going to make taskmaster a mindless victim, they should have made the “mastermind” more interesting.
I mean how many times are they going to pull the "big bad evil dude wearing a mask is actually a woman" trick, it's just lazy instead of any kind of empowering tbh
This is one of the rare times I disagree with you Nando, respectfully of course. This Taskmaster was a shell of the original in the comics and this character was poorly adapted for me. Let’s be honest most were upset by the gender-swap of the character, I am too but mostly because it seems unnecessary.
My issue with Taskmaster is that Natasha bombing the building was something SHIELD asked her to do. Not the Red Room. So it feels more like the sins of her present, rather than her past.
Taskmaster is manipulative and even behind conspiracies around Peter Parker’s parents. This Taskmaster will not have that impact and is probably one and done
Honestly, Kevin Feige doesn’t ask the right questions. I thought he would have learned from the Mandarin Twist. Even the Taskmaster from Ultimate Spider-Man tv show was better. I doubt Feige will learn anything from Taskmaster or Ralph Bohner I wish we were the type of fans that got to ask Kevin Feige questions at Comic Con and D23, or be the ones to interview him and the Marvel Directors because the ones that are already fortunate to ask them questions, don’t ask the right ones
@@Seasonal-Shadow_4674 it's not just the X-Men Marvel has plenty of great female characters it's just unfortunate that they feel like they need to change the gender up a beloved character to a lot of people I'm not saying to . But ultimately they ended up ruining a character and making that character a Mindless cyborg zombie
I’ll be honest with you. Task master is a mess, the initial mandarin was a mess. Having to fix a character in the first place is not something Marvel should have to deal with and it’s not something we should hope for. Failure to represent the essence of a character you’re adapting namely one that already has a significant fan base should not be brushed off lightly. All that weird recasting that the FOX Xmen movies did is a big reason that those movies were garbage. Let’s never look at Fox as an example of how to do anything honestly. Marvel should’ve learnt from all the garbage adaptations FOX made and knew not to do that in their movies. They should have looked at the mess they made with the mandarin and not made that mistake again with task master. Simple as that. Accurate adaptation while creating new and fresh storylines is literally why the core fan base exists. We the comic fans are the people that first introduced our friends and families to these movies and we are the ones that explain where the characters come from and how they typically relate to each other. We are the ones making comic UA-cam channels and advocating the most when we enjoy something. If you disappoint your core fans then you will unfortunately find yourself where Star Wars and DC are and where FOX was with every movie that wasn’t Deadpool. That’s my 2 cents
Taskmaster’s single, small line “is he gone?” (said after Natasha kills Drakov) actually does a lot to show what she has dealt with. Drakov turned her into something that she didn’t want to be. Like the Winter Soldier, Antonia spent years upon years as a merciless assassin forced to do whatever her father wanted her to do; murder, torture, kidnap, and when she was done, they just literally plug her back into the memory room to wait. That’s so effed up, and I find it more interesting than many give it credit for. I guess I didn’t mind the twist as much because I KNEW going in that the Taskmaster was very controversial, so I was prepared, and wasn’t that disappointed. I don’t know or care that much about Taskmaster in the comics (apart from the fun gimmick) so I wasn’t bothered by the changes.
I know that fight scenes aren't super important, at least not in this context, but I think Taskmaster was kind of underutilized there. That power is really cool and it would've been cool to see Widow think on her feet to ways to counter it, but all the Taskmaster scenes are based around escaping her or neutralizing her nonviolently. A straight 1-v-1 probably wouldn't work with this movie but if we do get a future 'fixed' Taskmaster I want at least one scene where they get to milk that combat mimicry for all its worth.
Yeah, I enjoyed it and the actuon was well done, but I really wanted to see more of a “Black Widow Fights The Avengers” type showdown with Taskmaster switching gears between character impersonations some more.
Don't know why so many people are hung up on it being a different person under the mask, I like the personal connection to Natasha. However, there's no reason for this character to be Task Master. They barely use the copying power in any unique or flashy way, even after the movie goes out of it's way to explain the power in exposition. As a villain she works fine, especially if you don't see the twist coming, but make it some other generic villain instead. Don't use an interesting and recognizable villain like this and then not make them anything like their source material
The movie was a resounding meh, for me. Didn't do thing wrong, but also nothing new or great. The lack of Barton felt off, and both the ending and the post credit scene fell super flat for me. Natasha miraculously escaping Ross' caravan of goons and just peacing out on a quinnjet felt wildly anticlimactic. Wasn't much of a send off for a character we'll supposedly never see again(?) who knows, like you said, maybe future information will come out that will make it better. Just like Loki made Thor two more palatable. Over-all, I'd give it a solid 7... If it came out five years ago.
@@extremetoast5723 The whole ending is structured around her helping cap break them out and Clint goes to be with his family after his time in custody, it wouldn't make sense.
@@TheBigWetCoach so restructure it as Clints last favour to her, there’s things you can do here. If we’re expected to believe that there’s yet another villain on the verge of taking over the world we can believe that Hawkeye owes Nat a favour.
This was the one part of the movie that disappointed me. Wasted potential. I agree it worked ok within the story the movie was telling, but I was psyched to see this character I heard was so cool only for it to not be him. Like so many have said, it was an unnecessary marketing gimmick.
i think genderswapping the character in this movie into making her the daughter isn't a bad idea... the thing is though, the twist takes place in the 3rd act, while the winter soldier twist takes place in the 2nd act, which changes steve's pov... it isn't as effective in black widow. also, it would've been cooler (and could've worked) to make her not mindcontrolled... because it would make things alot more personal, because natasha NEARLY killed her.
And another thing that's wrong with the genderswapping reveal, Andy Lister was the one in the suit before the reveal, and he was the Captain America stunt double in Age of Ultron. His shape makes it impossible to believe the twist. No woman in the MCU has ever got that super manly shape. Not even those with super strength.
why didn't they just say the villian instead had a son named tony masters who was 25 and then the bomb went off. They made him a cyborg but he still has full control of his mind and wants revenge on black widow. He trains for his rematch by hunting and killing red room targets. There. Thats how you do tony masters in the context of the movie
Just to slightly improve on that idea, in order to tie up The Avengers' loose end of "Dreykov's daughter" (as we can't go back and change that retroactively): Have both 20-ish Tony and child Antonia (though change her name). Nat still has to live with the guilt of having killed the young girl, while Tony survives the explosion and continues with your scenario.
That wouldn't make sense since we hear about Natasha's past during her conversation with Loki who talks about dreykov's daughter. Wouldn't it be weird to say he has a son out of nowhere?
Okay so listening to this video I agree the character of "taskmaster " works in the movie the idea of Natasha's greatest moral compromise coming back to haunt her is interesting however the problem that many people are pointing out is that the character did not have to be taskmaster nor was she outside of the name. In the context of the movie there's absolutely no reason why this character would one look the way she does why would her colors be orange blue and white, why the skull mask? Why wouldn't she just look like all the other black widows? There's no reason for her to even use the name taskmaster and putting "protocol " after the name doesn't make it make anymore sense lol. It really shows the only reason they made her taskmaster was to bring in fans of the character so they would see the movie instead of actually selling the movie on the character they made there's no reason why they could not have just made her an original character for the movie. As well as just been up front with her being a woman even if they did gender bend taskmaster you could have still made a female version of the character interesting. Instead the look of the character only served the twist not the actual story in any way and that the problem. They completely took away everything interesting and cool about this character and just made them a drone henchmen no different than what they did with dead pool in x-men origins.
Loved the characters outfit and action scenes, but she was clearly made only to subvert the viewers expectations. Everyone thought this character was a man, and they didn't design her suit in any other way. If you saw this person, you'd think that's a guy. That twist seemed dumb, and then she's also barely in the movie. They should have either adapted a different character or made a new villain. I'm not sure if Dreykov's daughter becomes a villain in the comics or is just dead, or if this is only an MCU-made story
yeah, and when she took off the helmet, it looked so big on her, so big that it made no logical sense for her to move the way she did, during her fights. it would be a pain to move in
I know you probably won’t see this Nando (or you’ve already thought of this rewrite), but I would have made Antonia into a version of Iron Maiden. We already have Melina in the film, and there could have been a better misdirect and reveal behind the mask of Iron Maiden instead of wasting taskmaster in this movie. Having the audience believe that Melina is Iron Maiden as she is in the comics only to reveal it to be Dreykov’s daughter would have been much more surprising in my opinion. The Mason character as a red herring didn’t really serve any major importance otherwise in the plot. I’d love to see what you would think about this!!
Antonia did have some innate abilities. She does have perfect recall, the helmet just helps her see what her enemies are most likely to do next. I liked this Taskmaster, but I would love a more accurate Taskmaster in the future, with a voice and being more of a mercenary than a one-off villain
I thought it was a pretty solid implementation- a dark, twisted concept that plays perfectly into Natasha’s story and character arc, and leaves the door open for another Taskmaster down the road somewhere.
I think they could easily make a proper Taskmaster despite what happened in this movie. The idea of other Red Room henchmen surviving and since this Taskmaster was part of a protocol, they could make another taskmaster. Or like you said, someone steals the tech and they become a mercenary. They could also give him a more accurate costume and keep him a villain
I think the thing that makes a great villain is their motivation. Thanos, Killmonger, Ultron... we're great villains because you understood and could somewhat get behind their argument, but not their methods. There is literally no motivation behind taskmaster in this movie because she is just mind controlled.
My only problem with MCU Taskmaster was how it gave Natasha an easy get out of Red Ledger Jail Card. Her decision to take out Dreykov albeit at the cost of an innocent defined her character for better or worse.
I wasn't crazy about the Taskmaster twist, but I'm not a huge fan of the comic character anyway. No problems with her being a female, just missed the personality and the whole "mimic" thing wasn't what I was hoping for. Like it's fun that she mimics all the Avengers, but Taskmaster was always more interesting because his moves would mirror whomever was fighting him at the time. They kind of touched on this on the bridge scene but not really after that.
I usually agree with your takes, but not this one. The movie wasn't terrible, it was in my opinion a serviceable C level Marvel film. The production value was high, the characters were likable, but it was very poorly written.
I was convinced that the muscle memory tech came from the retrieved Stark tech following the Iron Man v Cap fight in Serbia. Thought that would’ve been kind of neat. Oh well
I think the hood is to protect/conceal the chip in the back of her head. That’s the only thing I can think of. But it seems very ineffective considering it falls off all the time.
One thing I think Nando is missing is that the Taskmaster power isn't EXCLUSIVELY from the helmet. There was also a chip that WAS implanted at the brain stem of Antonia.
idk about y’all but knowing that they were fighting some dude’s half charred mind controlled daughter the whole time makes the earlier fight scenes kinda weird to me
The argument "It's OK that what they did with Taskmaster was bad, because they can potentially do something cool next time around" is honestly so dumb.
@@louisbolger4239 "But if you can say 'Yeah, this version was a bad adaptation maybe. But it can lay the groundwork for a more faithful and interesting adaptation down the line.' then maybe gets a pass." That's what Nando said. And I disagree. I think it's dumb. Giving something bad a pass because it can be reimagined to be a more interesting version in a later movie or series makes no sense to me.
Disagreed. It's quite clearly a Taskmaster protocol, I don't even think they call the character The Taskmaster. If they decide to bring him back - this is obviously the groundwork for it.
The reveal of Task Master being Dreykov's daughter was pretty obvious, seeing as their face was always obscured by the mask, and Natasha fully believed her to be dead.
The Taskmaster doesn't traditionally have the memory palace issue. That's a late game add by Fred Van Lente in his 2010 Taskmaster mini. Before that, Taskmaster was just awesome. I never understood why people liked hampering him with that weakness. I personally did not.
I would have liked it more if Aleksei knew someone else who worked with the Red Room and the unmasking would have revealed Milena in the Taskmaster armor. It would’ve impacted more because everyone/ her family thought she was dead.
Also I wouldn't think Yelena would know how Natasha died cause in Endgame Tony asked did Natasha have family and Steve said "yeah, us". insinuating that Natasha never mention her other family to the Avengers.
Having Olga Kurylenko's name in the opening credits and then her not showing up throughout the movie was a dead giveaway for me as the runtime went on. Never read the opening credits!
Juggernaut and Taskmaster are exactly the same. Sure, a "true Taskmaster" could appear later, but that'd be the SAME as The Mandarin. It'd be TWICE that the MCU does this.....No. The Mandarin incident hasn't even been fully redeemed yet. The reason you feel Juggernaut and the other examples are different is because you like them more. They just messed Taskmaster up, man. 😏
okay but, she's a part of the taskmaster initiative, she's not THE taskmaster, she's A taskmaster. It's very likely other agents could have escaped the red room, one being a dude and much more comic accurate.
I agree with you. I don’t know a lot about Taskmaster but I always liked his power and thx to your video I want to read his books for sure. I liked Antonia’s connection to Nat and her being “Taskmaster” is fine to me. There’s still room for the OG to show up and I bet he will, there’s a lot the character can offer the MCU for sure. Great video!
No. They just made the BarakaPool treatment from Origins Wolverine. Whoever thought doing that to Taskmaster should be fired from working on Hollywood again
Thank you! Chatted with a friend at my local comic book store about this. Since TM is tech based in this universe makes sense someone else could use his gear for TM 2.0 and something closer to comic book canon. I love TM as a character. One of my favorites so hope this comes to fruition. I did not hate TM in this movie just felt the character was 2 dimensional vs the comic book version. But we shall see as you say. Patience!
I think there is a plan for this Taskmaster, even if just based from the actress - Olga Kurylenko has had plenty of led starring roles (including Quantum of Solace), yet she only appears for 2 unhelmetted scenes and gets a single word of dialogue? With how things end, she has plenty of space to evolve into the mercenary we know and love.
I didn't like Taskmaster. Specifically, undoing Widow's greatest sin felt like it was Disneyfication at play. But this is a brilliant video and made me dislike this Taskmaster less so nice one!
I just felt that we did not get enough Taskmaster's presence or more elaborate fights. Definitely effective. When it's revealed whose under the mask I was kind of surprised and wanted a more comic accurate identity.
Listen, all I want from a movie Taskmaster is a scene of them drowning because they watched an Olympic high dive, copied it perfectly, but forgot to copy the actual swimming part of the process. Is that too much to ask?
The fact that the Taskmaster was just a mind-controlled Black Widow with additional augmentation (so the mimicry stuff wasn't even her own abilities) pretty much means we'll probably never see her again even though she survived the film. She has zero personality and it will take a big leap of retconning just to make her closer to the comic counterpart. Such a waste honestly. Either they should have made Dreykov the Taskmaster (as the comic version does train secret agents) and his daughter could be the Spymaster OR keep her as the Taskmaster but giving her a personality. She could simply be out for revenge for nearly getting killed or actually be the one running the Red Room taking over from her father who really got killed.
Honestly, I would have just made Taskmaster be Tony Masters, a mercenary who was sent by Dreykov (or Antonia) to get the vials back and if they really wanted to bring Antonia in, they could have named her Anya (and her villain name would be Recluse/The Headmistress) like in the comics and just made her be the new leader of the Red Room after what Natasha did to her (so her father would have been dead from the explosion so she becomes the leader of the Red Room)
Watching this Taskmaster, it gave me Michael Myers vibes. From what I read of him in the comics, he's much more vocal and kind of snarky. My favorite thing about Black Widow's Taskmaster was how silent they were. An indestructible villain who's single goal is to destroy the heroes. Unstoppable and deadly silent, like Michael Myers or the T-1000. It's something we haven't seen before in any superhero movie I can think of.
It just makes no sense from a plot perspective. If Dreykov had the technology & capability to give Antonia photographic reflexes then he absolutely would have implemented that across the entire Widow program.
I was so worried when I saw the thumbnail because I'm already so tired of all the discourse over Taskmaster but this is EXACTLY how I felt about this take on the character. Great video!
5:45 Every time I learn something new, it pushes some old stuff out of my brain! Like when I took that home wine making class and forgot how to drive! -Homer Simpson
You know what would be sick? If Taskmaster wasn't mind controlled by her dad. If she was doing this on her own sense of vengeance due to being blown up. Super simple but easy to understand. If some chick blew me up as a kid then gets praised for saving lives I'd get peeved and want revenge y'know.
Shame on me for Expecting an Accurate representation of my favorite Character depicted in Live Action. Turned one of the Most Personality Driven Characters into a Walking Meat Puppet im gettin Deadpool Flashbacks
Click here to sign up for CuriosityStream and get a free Nebula subscription where you can watch the extra bit about the other Val at curiositystream.com/nando
What did you guys think of Taskmaster? Good? Bad? Meh?
Bad, the fact that Red Guardian constantly setup his rivalry with Cpt. America and in his "fight" with Taskmaster he never acknowledges that some moves were stolen from his nemesis was a huge waste
I feel black widow suffered from being overhyped over such a long time being delayed, in the end it was a toned down version of winter soldier
It was alright, I wish the head cgi looked better when we saw her face.
Got to disagree with you on this one. The big question I keep asking myself is "Why did this character have to be Taskmaster?" You could've replaced Taskmaster and her another Widow and it would have the same effect on the story and characters. I also don't think it's as possible to make another, more faithful Taskmaster later on, as you presented. The reason why you could do another Mandurian in the MCU is because the one we got in Iron Man 3 is so vastly different from comic Mandurian you could reasonably see them as separate characters. This Taskmaster is way too similar to comic Taskmaster for there to be another one within the MCU (I mean this Taskmaster even sports the same symbol her shield).
Well if their going to make another taskmaster make a better adaptation to comic but I already predicted that they could just create a new one so I wasn’t disappointed but it didn’t have a great start either
As far as replacing Antonia with a new taskmaster, I don’t recall her being called taskmaster herself, the ‘taskmaster protocol’ is mentioned so maybe Ross or val could adopt the concept and apply it to a thunderbolts/dark avengers recruit in the form of tony masters, when that team dissolves then taskmaster can go full mercenary
Didn’t Yelena call her taskmaster or was that just in the trailers? But I do hope we get a “real” taskmaster that has actually abilities than from just a computer chip.
I agree and I think perhaps we were meant to solidly pick up on it not being her name
So basically this is another fake Mandarin situation?
@@Warren_The_Warrinator257 Not really. This character was still an actual villain. It's more like Jason Todd in Arkham Knight
At this point anything is acceptable as long as they bring the REAL Taskmaster into the MCU
It's not about the powers. It's about Tasky's personality, because MCU Taskmaster due to plot reasons had NO personality.
The character works great as an antagonist for the movie, but as a Taskmaster adaptation it really falls short.
Agreed. The actual person behind the mask makes some sense in relation to the story, but really Taskmaster here is basically another drone being controlled when the actual character has about as much personality as Deadpool in some cases
My thoughts exactly. He was more of a Winter Soldier/ Terminator esque stand in. Quite disappointing considering how entertaining Tony Masters is.
There was a comment on another video comparing this version of Taskmaster to Xmen Origins Wolverine's interpretation of Deadpool. They mentioned how them tossing around the origins and powers would be fine but if they were just going to throw out the personality then the character is being wasted. Same thing applies here. It's like the web shooters vs organic webs argument. No one cared that Sam Raimi Spidey had organic webs because Peter as a character was portrayed well.
The character's still alive and has plenty of time to develop more personality. I'm hoping she and Ghost end up in whatever the heck Val's pulling together.
@@phemsee6838 I understand and sort of agree however how do you expect the character to have the same personality as it’s comic counterpart if the character only broke free from the mind control in the end of the movie, I don’t think the character was wasted like Deadpool in origins cause atleast taskmaster wasn’t killed so they can easily show her personality in future films/shows but if that’s not the case than I agree she was wasted
Taskmaster’s problem: if you’re going to totally reinvent a character, you need to do something really great. They totally re-imagined Thanos’s motivation, and it really worked for the story they told. They totally reimagined Yelena from the comics and it worked for the story they told. Taskmaster not so much. I would have endorsed the reimagining had they given it more development and executed it better.
@greenapplepear i like the idea of the film's Taskmaster a lot, but I feel that idea wasn't developed enough to make it feel any more impactful than "oh you're supposed to feel this way because we're saying Natasha feels this way." I think if the film spent a little more time diving into the moral ambiguity of Natasha's actions involving Antonia as a kid, and showed and explored her conflicted feelings of using a kid as collateral in more than just the quick flashback scene, I think it would've been heavier and the character would've felt more grounded and necessary. But as is, Taskmaster just misses the mark for me. The idea is great, but the execution wasn't done as well as it could've been
@greenapplepear I'll just add another reason why people may not like this Taskmaster is because it is yet another MCU movie where the hero created their villain. So, to people who notice how many times that has happened over the 20+ movies are no longer getting hit by the "emotion" of this trope.
@greenapplepear But that's the point. Because of that trope, this Taskmaster doesn't work as their own villain.
It kind of works for the movie. But outside of this movie, this Taskmaster doesn't work.
The Taskmaster of the comics isn't just some dude with a cool ability. He trained other villains. Because of this character, we loose that aspect.
@@Deception975 I think you made your opinion too out of reach to what your trying to do
@@jerrisatyourwindow Here's what I'm saying:
Iron Man - villain introduced in movie, villain defeated in movie, no longer a threat after the movie
This has been pretty much the case for every single MCU movie. I think it is boring to see it for the 20th+ time.
It's just the same movie, with different characters, over and over and over again.
No. You could’ve replaced him with a widow and it’s the exact same character. Think about it. The relationship to Natasha was cool but that’s not Taskmaster. Also the whole tech thing and the chip being implanted into the back of her neck isn’t as cool as Taskmaster literally just seeing something done right of front of him and being able to copy it. They only used Taskmaster in this movie because they knew a lot of people liked the character and that having him on the movie poster would intrigue more people to see the movie. There’s still a chance they develop her in future project’s but so far it seems like a waste of the character.
@greenapplepear I said so far it’s a waste and I also said there’s still a chance to develop her. Point is you can’t deny that they didn’t do Taskmaster justice. All of the personality that he has in the comics is completely stripped away and relegating his “power” to a chip in the back of her neck and a fancy helmet isn’t nearly as cool. And yes it could’ve literally been another widow as long as she was still Dreykov’s daughter, the connection to Natasha still holds. Let’s just accept that they botched Taskmaster and hope they develop her into something more interesting later.
this problem similar with blitzwing that looklike starscream in BB movie.
@greenapplepear it’s very much a failed attempt. He’s supposed to be the selling point and was reduced to trash, regardless if this wasn’t “the actual version we know” stop baiting people
@greenapplepear What makes you claim that Taskmaster had some of the best fight scenes in the MCU? Not an insult or anything, I'm just genuinely curious
@greenapplepear So you would say the choreography and direction in Black Widow surpasses even that of the Captain America: WS fight scenes or the airport battle from Civil War and etc.?
I think Val's "deal" is pretty clear: she is a foil to Nick Fury
And maybe his love interest like in the comics? Could be an interesting dynamic
I think he was referring to "Val's deal" as her motivation, not just general purpose as a character or to be a foil for Fury.
@@9jagnat333 She doesn't really need to have any at this point tho, she has only has a few cameos and is meant to be more mysterious right now.
We didn't really have Fury's motivation when he first showed up at the end of Iron Man either
He's just being disingenuous to hype up his subpar streaming service.
Yeah, how Fury put together the avengers, Val is putting together the thunderbolts. Pretty straightforward deal.
I can't wait for the, "Taskmaster isn't Taskmaster" video.
Funny enough, there is an alternate universe (Deadpool MAX comics) where there is a Lady Taskmaster
Okay but that one would be valid
Literally my thought after I left the theater
@@charlespuruncajas9663 Their gender doesn't matter, I just didn't like that my favorite villain (after Carnage) had no arc, no dialogue and is arguably the LEAST accurate portrayal of a comic book villain ever imo
@@noahlisious7890 Batman 89 Joker would like a word.
I have no problem with the twist aspect of it but honestly Taskmaster is a less interesting Winter Soldier, literally same beats. Not bad but, waaay too similar,
I was thinking that as well.
I’m pretty sure you even hear the first few notes of the Winter Soldier theme when that Bridge fight scene happens.
I feel like it wouldve been better if Taskmaster in this movie was replaced with a second Red Guardian, this could show how little Dreykov cared for Alexei and his service and how replacable he was in his eyes, and it would also completely destroy what Alexei thinks of the Red Guardian title since Dreykov now has his own Red Guardian who fight completely under his control and only for his selfish desires, and not for communism or Russia, which could then lead to a better redemption arc for Alexei, and once they break Antonia out of her control, they could keep her as the new Red Guardian for the MCU Winter Guard since Ursa Major has already showed up in the prison scene and they name dropped Crimson Dynamo.
yo this is actually great
Ngl that's infinitely better than having Red Guardian be a comedic (and literal) punching bag for 2 hours.
Red Guardian and Melina are still around so you get your Winter Guard.
Why bother making the movie about Black Widow if the villain has nothing to do with her and is all about her adopted dad and his feelings? If they wanted to make Taskmaster related to Alexei, it'd be HIS solo movie.
I personally think that Antonia was a serviceable villain, but didn't need to be Taskmaster for the story to work. She could just have easily been some sort of perfected Black Widow with a facemask, and the movie could have proceeded unchanged aside from the fight choreography.
The one thing I have against this version of Taskmaster is the memory loss problem. Imagine having a protagonist with a dark, tragic past they wish they could forget, that drives them to be a better person, facing an antagonist with no memory of having any past, and thus lacks any anchor to give them a set of morals, and will work for anyone who pays. I feel like a talented writer could have done so much with that.
And a talented writer still can do so much with that.
@@drewnolde2674 I mean, not with Natasha, unless they give us a second flashback movie.
Yeah, she didn't need to be Taskmaster. The actress didn't even fit the suit at all.
@@SeanWheeler100 "Fit the suit"? She didn't even fit the stunts. The lead stunt actor for Taskmaster was straight-up a dude. There's even a height difference.
@@ultimamage3 Exactly what I meant.
They should have used another character instead of Taskmaster. They have dozens of characters they could have used that would have been a better fit. They were bound to disappoint comic fans with this portrayal. I have no issue with the gender swap, but the lack of character and personality is irking.
The thing that got me excited about the choice of Taskmaster is that technically it would pit Nat against all her peer "super" characters. If she fought Taskmaster with the shield, she'd essentially be fighting a copy of Captain America, and so proving everyone wrong that she's basically the "weakest/most useless Avenger"... She can go toe to toe with Cap, using HER skills and not just trying to beat him in a regular fight. We see that in the Bridge fight, and then barely for the rest of the movie.
At that point like you say, just get someone else to be the brainwashed/brain controlled hench(wo)man/assassin.
@@Slimshadow457 If Tasky had been his normal boastfull self, it would have enforced the fact that BW stood up to the challenge.
This Taskmaster had to be a dud so they could shock us with the gender swap reveal. If she spoke and had a distinct personality, it would've given away her gender to a certain extent unless she just straight up acted and sounded like a dude until her reveal which would be weird. Think the success of CA: Winter Soldier did this movie a disservice too. They thought they needed a mute, terminator like villain to get the same success as that film forgetting that Winter Soldier's character was comic accurate unlike this Taskmaster.
At least the character survived so hopefully they can give her some more character development later. This version of Taskmaster seems to be an amalgamation of the Headmistress marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Headmistress_(Anya)_(Earth-616) and Taskmaster from the comics. Hopefully they'll do something interesting with that in the future.
I saw a theory a while ago that it might be Melina and I really wanted that to happen 😭
I completely disagree with your idea that it adapted the comics character well because there's far more to the character than just his powers
He's clearly getting paid off to spew that nonsense.
@@tutorialslave man y’all really can’t handle someone having a different opinion and just right it off as them being paid off which I just find hilarious
@@tutorialslave no, he’s just being an idiot. Everyone has at least one idiotic take.
I think u missed a very important point that this isn’t the end of taskmasters story I’m sure in the first comic taskmasters whole backstory and personality wasn’t explained this is done in the movies with like Zemo so I don’t think this is the end but the beginning and I enjoyed it as a set up not a finished product
@@flipperflapper609 bruh she was just a damaged girl with daddy issues. She cannot become the Taskmaster we know and love. His entire thing is masculine and macho and Chad. No scarred woman with daddy issues could ever get there.
Taskmaster was just another throwaway villain that will be forgotten by the next Marvel movie. The fact that this movie would be exactly the same without Taskmaster in it just shows how pointless and weak the character is.
I’ve noticed that every phase 4 project has at least one character whose only purpose in the plot is to set them up for future projects, only purpose meaning that their role in the plot could be filled in by literally anyone or just removed entirely.
In WV it was Monica, in FatWS it was Zemo, in this it was Taskmaster, in Loki, *SPOILER ALEEEEERT*
it’s kid Loki.
@@extremetoast5723 we all know what this means-- kid avengers are coming. And Zemo is the villain
Kid loki had the role of pading out the loki's that arrived and greeted main loki
@@extremetoast5723 That's a pretty harsh interpretation of Monica and Zemo's roles. Monica was a foil to Wanda and an early indicator that we were watching a story about grief, and Zemo was meant to add discord in the Sam and Bucky dynamic and add a different perspective to the super soldier debate.
Spoiler
You're probably right about Kid Loki and I would say that the Wandavision equivalent is the twins (actually basically all the Young Avengers that show up in these projets).
@@sheltondaal6425 yeah that’s true about the twins, and I think I’m just harsh on it because wandavision just generally lacked strong pay off for me. Don’t really know what I was expecting tho, the MCU is just a long running TV show at this point.
I want to point out that I’ve enjoyed all of the phase 4 stuff so far!
I don’t believe Taskmaster will be a throwaway character. I was disappointed they didn’t lean more into making her distinct and unique from her comic book counterpart. But another filmmaker can work with that just like how Zemo seemed nothing like his comic book version until Falcon and the Winter Soldier expanded on that. Like Red Guardian and Yelena she is definitely going to show up again probably working under someone else or perhaps for Val. And I did like how he backstory solidified the concepts in the movie on how the Red Room used women as disposable resources and the consequences of Natasha’s actions.
Black Widow's training flashbacks in AOU set her up as a product of a Soviet-era ballet-school-turned-spy-school, where they abused the ballerinas with grueling practice to determine which 'can break': Natasha never broke, and that's what they were looking for, find the 1 in 100,000 who are immune to torture, whose will never fails them, who never neglect the mission - regardless of pain, injury, and death. Then in the comics she receives a variant of the Soviet super-serum that gives her heightened reflexes, slowed aging, etc.
I like the idea of giving Taskmaster a similar background, making her another ballerina from the same sort of program. Because if you have ever tried to learn a dance routine with a professional dancer nearby, they'll watch a choreographer throw out 100 steps at full speed and then the pros will repeat those 100 steps at full speed with near-perfect recall. Professional dancers really do have something akin to 'photographic reflexes', the only conceit the MCU would ask for here is that they can also apply it to martial arts. A great example is Michelle Yeoh, who was a professional ballerina until she had a bad injury - now she acts as a martial artist: very convincingly. Summer Glau is another great example, ballerina - acts as a martial artist very convincingly. Neither are martial artists, but as professional dancers, they can pick up fight choreography very quickly and perform it with the grace of a professional martial artist: if perhaps not the power.
It makes more sense to me that Taskmaster would be the product of the same 'ballet school' as Natasha, it makes sense to me that she would be a woman with photographic reflexes. Making it about the chip I think weakens the character. The gained benefit of extended continuity "there must always be... a Taskmaster" is pretty dumb. Alternately, it could be the product of genetic manipulation - maybe the Soviets found the gene needed to grant perfect reflexes - and you can make more that way, but you have to raise them from birth. Or maybe there are other Taskmasters but they are rare because the attrition rate on their ballet schools is so high. The more I think about the chip, the more I hate it. It's also something we've seen before - the Iron Man suit can analyze fight behaviour, and the Iron Spider suit can apparently just ragdoll Peter and turn him into a living weapon if needed.
I like the MCU Taskmaster, I just dislike that the power is a computer chip.
Honestly I was waiting for the movie to largely feature Black Widow as a young girl and teenager and to show the ballet school and everything in a dark way. We kinda got that in a montage but jeez that would have been so cool, esp. if it featured Yelena and Antonia. Missed opportunity of storytelling imo
Fantastic explanation for how they could have done. Right down to the Summer Glau and Michelle Yeoh examples.
"Can't quite tell what Val's deal is"
I'll say it here: THUNDERBOLTS. I believe Julia Louis-Dreyfus' version of the Contessa is setting up Marvel's answer to the Suicide Squad
I'm thinking dark avengers instead of thunderbolts
So far she's got Yalena & John Walker/US agent.
It's she going to recruit someone in the final episode of Loki I wonder?
@@SwatBeatsOfficial lady loki
@@SwatBeatsOfficial How ?
I honestly would’ve been fine with Taskmaster in this movie if they did everything about her the exact same except calling her by that name. The character is fine, connects to Widow’s development... but just really isn’t Taskmaster.
I also wished she had more fight scenes in this movie, the bridge fight was pretty cool but so short
I guess I get that if you're some diehard Taskmaster fan, cuz to me he always seems very one-note every time I see him. Never found Tony Masters interesting. So I liked him (her) in this movie as she was a tragic villain of sorts. Though I feel they should've added a flashback or something to show us her tragedy in becoming augmented by her father rather than just tell us that
It felt like they had Taskmaster for marketing
@@rainmaker2338 your missing the point. This was taskmaster in name only. The backstory is very interesting. He is a villain henchman ‘coach’ and mercenary. I think it would of made more sense for Taskmaster to be the main villain and the tactical leader and trainer/handler of the widows. And given her backstory a little more screen time instead of having the father there. This wasn’t Taskmaster. There was zero development, very little screen time, and near zero dialogue. She serves as a plot device only. Natasha’s redemption or sorts. She was given worse then the Hawkeye treatment in this film. One saving grace is that this film is in the MCU, with further instalments able to flesh out the character, had this been a one and done we would all call it for what it is. Wasted potential.
@@l.apastore4208 not sure how you could say I missed the point and then say you wanted it to be more like comic Taskmaster, which I literally said I understand if that's what people who like him in the comics wanted lol. You just disagree with me, which is fine
I honestly didn’t expect Taskmaster to ever take off the helmet, I just assumed it was going to be a physical performance. Maybe a voice but I also wouldn’t have been surprised if the character was mute. I was pretty shocked that they took the mask off at all tbh.
why would you be shocked at a MCU film where character's take their masks off In the MCU they ALWAYS remove their masks
I think the issue I have with this Taskmaster is that she didn't NEED to be Taskmaster. I get they wanted to hit us with a twist reveal because we expected Taskmaster to be a guy, but literally it could've been any other character if that was the case. I really hope they bring back Taskmaster and find some ways to flesh out the character in a future property because for what we got I was super disappointed.
Absolutely NO ONE thought this Taskmaster would be a man.
Entirely agree. I foresaw this happening. They placed Taskmaster likeness and name for name recognition and hype only. Had they put another villain who looked boring, possibly there wouldn’t be as much hype. They didn’t have faith in this movie seemingly.
@@TheStormbringer8751 Yeah with all the hype about this being the MCU's amazing female-led superhero movie with a female director, people should've seen this coming a mile away. Like they thought they could hide her gender with thick, male-looking armor lol.
I think the original plan was to make Rick Mason actually the Taskmaster (Tony Masters)
@@TheStormbringer8751 With that tight fitting clothes showing that muscular shape, and the chestplate designed to look like a man's chest, it sure seemed like it was more likely for Taskmaster to be a man. In fact, it was later confirmed that Andy Lister did all the stunt work in the suit while actress Olga Kurylenko only played the unmasked Taskmaster. Just so you know who Andy Lister is, he was a stunt double for Chris Evans in Age of Ultron. Yep, for most of Taskmaster's screentime, she was played by a Captain America body double! A muscular man in the suit. How can you see that twist coming? If Olga was really in that suit, her body would be shaped more like Natasha and the other Black Widows and EVERY WOMAN IN THE MCU!
The fake parents were not redeemed in my opinion. Especially the mum. After establishing just how horrific things were for the widows, the people complacent in it needed a lot more legwork to be done to redeem them. And honestly, since endgame natasha doesn't have anyone bar her found family, redeeming the parents actively hurts her arc
That would be a negative ghost rider...negative...
Taskmaster talks a lot as he fights and his power comes from observation, plus a creepy cool look. This taskmaster was like getting the computer program from the show Chuck and putting it in a power ranger.
For me no, I did not like the MCU Taskmaster. The twist seemed very obvious as well and in my eyes this is not Taskmaster; similar to Cassandra Cain from Birds of Prey though what they did to her was worse.
She is a glorified henchman with a backstory.
I’m hoping that Taskmaster will become more of a mantle and we will see another person take on the role.
@@ager6823 They need to get Tony Masters
@@knightshadowhimself not possible. MCU made their bed. I’m sick of this retconning. They should make the best of the character as is and try salvage some personality and resemblance to comic Taskmaster and never attempt this again. To think after Mandarin they would of learned a lesson.
@@l.apastore4208 They keep virtue signaling & failing.
Taskmaster, the “cover band of super villains”. Always thought that was hilarious.
"Deadpool lives in his own space" That's a deep Weekly Planet cut. Great job nando
The real answer is that he's in the MCU, and Deadpool has historically dabbled in in-universe continuity alteration
which episode of the Weekly Planet? Asking for a friend.
Mason said it, didn't he?
I feel like their power copying abilities weren't utilized enough in the movie, to the point that Marvel could have just swapped them out with another villian and save Taskmaster's character for future media
Too true, other than a few interchangeable close combat scenes she just threw the shield a few times and shot the arrows here and there.
@@dj_matanzaa exactly, how did they neglect to reference Red Guardian’s fight with Captain America while he fought someone who IMITATES CAPTAIN AMERICA
I still think the Spider-Man ps4 taskmaster does the best job finding a medium between a straight up skull mask and a practical combat helmet. Like I know it’s just a skull mask in the comics, but translating that to film would not go well.
Also fighting him in game gave the best experience of him using your moves back at you. Like yeah seeing him use black widows leg spin thing was cool, but after playing a game for hours and getting very used to the different attacks you have, only to see someone else use YOUR moves is really cool
No. We want tony masters, the cocky, goofy, yet serious mercenary who knows what he’s doing. The whole twist was predictable since you know that if a character has a mask and doesn’t speak they’re going to be a girl. And plus if they were going to make taskmaster a mindless victim, they should have made the “mastermind” more interesting.
Plus TM got like two fight scenes and that was it.
@@fortniteblackmanta1098 I agree.
#justiceforTonyMasters
I mean how many times are they going to pull the "big bad evil dude wearing a mask is actually a woman" trick, it's just lazy instead of any kind of empowering tbh
This is one of the rare times I disagree with you Nando, respectfully of course. This Taskmaster was a shell of the original in the comics and this character was poorly adapted for me. Let’s be honest most were upset by the gender-swap of the character, I am too but mostly because it seems unnecessary.
Yeah I'm hopeful that they can use that she'll to build an interesting character in the future
@@NandovMovies let’s hope so🙏🏾, love your videos and please keep up the great work.
unnecessary and innacurate of its original counterpart that the comicbook reader/fans loved.
Same
@@hklrzki4618 exactly, what’s hard to understand about people wanting to see the character they know and like?
*reads title*
Me: No
Same here XD
My issue with Taskmaster is that Natasha bombing the building was something SHIELD asked her to do. Not the Red Room. So it feels more like the sins of her present, rather than her past.
I had the biggest hopes for Taskmaster. Was a
disappointment for sure.
Fr
It's Trevor Slattery all over again
@@hellraiser338 And then Ralph Bohner 😭
Taskmaster is manipulative and even behind conspiracies around Peter Parker’s parents.
This Taskmaster will not have that impact and is probably one and done
BW’s Taskmaster felt like a riff on Olga and Gray Fox’s roles as the cyborg ninja from MGS1&2
Honestly, Kevin Feige doesn’t ask the right questions. I thought he would have learned from the Mandarin Twist. Even the Taskmaster from Ultimate Spider-Man tv show was better.
I doubt Feige will learn anything from Taskmaster or Ralph Bohner
I wish we were the type of fans that got to ask Kevin Feige questions at Comic Con and D23, or be the ones to interview him and the Marvel Directors because the ones that are already fortunate to ask them questions, don’t ask the right ones
I loved that Taskmaster!
Unfortunately that's the reason why Scarlett Johansson said the future of Marvel is female
@@rayray9865 well use the x-men right!! they have a plethora of great female characters
@@Seasonal-Shadow_4674 it's not just the X-Men Marvel has plenty of great female characters it's just unfortunate that they feel like they need to change the gender up a beloved character to a lot of people I'm not saying to . But ultimately they ended up ruining a character and making that character a Mindless cyborg zombie
@@rayray9865 I know and I don’t like it, I wouldn’t like it if they gender swapped female characters
I’ll be honest with you. Task master is a mess, the initial mandarin was a mess.
Having to fix a character in the first place is not something Marvel should have to deal with and it’s not something we should hope for. Failure to represent the essence of a character you’re adapting namely one that already has a significant fan base should not be brushed off lightly.
All that weird recasting that the FOX Xmen movies did is a big reason that those movies were garbage. Let’s never look at Fox as an example of how to do anything honestly. Marvel should’ve learnt from all the garbage adaptations FOX made and knew not to do that in their movies. They should have looked at the mess they made with the mandarin and not made that mistake again with task master. Simple as that.
Accurate adaptation while creating new and fresh storylines is literally why the core fan base exists. We the comic fans are the people that first introduced our friends and families to these movies and we are the ones that explain where the characters come from and how they typically relate to each other. We are the ones making comic UA-cam channels and advocating the most when we enjoy something. If you disappoint your core fans then you will unfortunately find yourself where Star Wars and DC are and where FOX was with every movie that wasn’t Deadpool.
That’s my 2 cents
Well said
Taskmaster’s single, small line “is he gone?” (said after Natasha kills Drakov) actually does a lot to show what she has dealt with. Drakov turned her into something that she didn’t want to be. Like the Winter Soldier, Antonia spent years upon years as a merciless assassin forced to do whatever her father wanted her to do; murder, torture, kidnap, and when she was done, they just literally plug her back into the memory room to wait. That’s so effed up, and I find it more interesting than many give it credit for. I guess I didn’t mind the twist as much because I KNEW going in that the Taskmaster was very controversial, so I was prepared, and wasn’t that disappointed. I don’t know or care that much about Taskmaster in the comics (apart from the fun gimmick) so I wasn’t bothered by the changes.
My first thought when I saw the sword style Taskmaster used was Blade, especially when they put the sword away.
Short answer, no. Tasky lacks everything that makes him fun on the comics
Exactly
Not everything. This character is halfway there.
I know that fight scenes aren't super important, at least not in this context, but I think Taskmaster was kind of underutilized there. That power is really cool and it would've been cool to see Widow think on her feet to ways to counter it, but all the Taskmaster scenes are based around escaping her or neutralizing her nonviolently. A straight 1-v-1 probably wouldn't work with this movie but if we do get a future 'fixed' Taskmaster I want at least one scene where they get to milk that combat mimicry for all its worth.
Yeah, I enjoyed it and the actuon was well done, but I really wanted to see more of a “Black Widow Fights The Avengers” type showdown with Taskmaster switching gears between character impersonations some more.
Don't know why so many people are hung up on it being a different person under the mask, I like the personal connection to Natasha. However, there's no reason for this character to be Task Master. They barely use the copying power in any unique or flashy way, even after the movie goes out of it's way to explain the power in exposition. As a villain she works fine, especially if you don't see the twist coming, but make it some other generic villain instead. Don't use an interesting and recognizable villain like this and then not make them anything like their source material
You summed my thoughts up perfectly
This is ironman 3's mandarin all over again
Nah, that was at least interesting and the character was memorable.
MEMENTO STYLE TASKMASTER STORY
ps. I can't believe I missed that Winter Soldier knife flip
Enjoyed the “Deadpool exists in his own space” reference.
I scrolled down a lot to find a comment about this!
In the words of Steven Rogers "no... no i don't think it did..."
PS still loved the movie
The movie was a resounding meh, for me. Didn't do thing wrong, but also nothing new or great. The lack of Barton felt off, and both the ending and the post credit scene fell super flat for me. Natasha miraculously escaping Ross' caravan of goons and just peacing out on a quinnjet felt wildly anticlimactic. Wasn't much of a send off for a character we'll supposedly never see again(?) who knows, like you said, maybe future information will come out that will make it better. Just like Loki made Thor two more palatable. Over-all, I'd give it a solid 7... If it came out five years ago.
Barton was in a jail cell post Civil War
@@TheBigWetCoach so rewrite the movie to take place just after he escaped. It’s fiction, they could have done anything.
@@extremetoast5723 The whole ending is structured around her helping cap break them out and Clint goes to be with his family after his time in custody, it wouldn't make sense.
@@TheBigWetCoach so restructure it as Clints last favour to her, there’s things you can do here. If we’re expected to believe that there’s yet another villain on the verge of taking over the world we can believe that Hawkeye owes Nat a favour.
Jordyn Fields I'm referring to Barton during Budapest flashbacks.
I think it would have been better if taskmaster was a mercenary who what’s his face hired to get the vials so his black widows weren’t at risk
This was the one part of the movie that disappointed me. Wasted potential. I agree it worked ok within the story the movie was telling, but I was psyched to see this character I heard was so cool only for it to not be him. Like so many have said, it was an unnecessary marketing gimmick.
I honestly feel like they couldn't decide whether they wanted the tone to be funny or serious. It didnt balance those 2 things well IMO
I think they handled both well. The comedy was funny, and the serious moments hit for me.
@@rocklopster9966 ok.
I felt they nailed that better than most MCU films
@@rainmaker2338 maybe I think that the mcu is done, they aren't doing so well now. Time to move on.
@@JordanWheeler1999 yup go for it dc
i think genderswapping the character in this movie into making her the daughter isn't a bad idea... the thing is though, the twist takes place in the 3rd act, while the winter soldier twist takes place in the 2nd act, which changes steve's pov... it isn't as effective in black widow. also, it would've been cooler (and could've worked) to make her not mindcontrolled... because it would make things alot more personal, because natasha NEARLY killed her.
At this point taskmaster is name and there’s always a possibility the he comes back but just someone else.
@TheTyping Avocado I agree with some of your points, I still enjoyed the taskmaster reveal
And another thing that's wrong with the genderswapping reveal, Andy Lister was the one in the suit before the reveal, and he was the Captain America stunt double in Age of Ultron. His shape makes it impossible to believe the twist. No woman in the MCU has ever got that super manly shape. Not even those with super strength.
why didn't they just say the villian instead had a son named tony masters who was 25 and then the bomb went off. They made him a cyborg but he still has full control of his mind and wants revenge on black widow. He trains for his rematch by hunting and killing red room targets. There. Thats how you do tony masters in the context of the movie
Perfect
Just to slightly improve on that idea, in order to tie up The Avengers' loose end of "Dreykov's daughter" (as we can't go back and change that retroactively): Have both 20-ish Tony and child Antonia (though change her name). Nat still has to live with the guilt of having killed the young girl, while Tony survives the explosion and continues with your scenario.
That wouldn't make sense since we hear about Natasha's past during her conversation with Loki who talks about dreykov's daughter. Wouldn't it be weird to say he has a son out of nowhere?
@@charlesevanshughes3638 oh yeah. Maybe taskmaster will blame black widow for the death of his sister to! Great idea/ addition
@@icewidows5552 I would add that he had a little sister. Who died in the explosion the commenter who replied to me gave me that idea
Okay so listening to this video I agree the character of "taskmaster " works in the movie the idea of Natasha's greatest moral compromise coming back to haunt her is interesting however the problem that many people are pointing out is that the character did not have to be taskmaster nor was she outside of the name. In the context of the movie there's absolutely no reason why this character would one look the way she does why would her colors be orange blue and white, why the skull mask? Why wouldn't she just look like all the other black widows? There's no reason for her to even use the name taskmaster and putting "protocol " after the name doesn't make it make anymore sense lol. It really shows the only reason they made her taskmaster was to bring in fans of the character so they would see the movie instead of actually selling the movie on the character they made there's no reason why they could not have just made her an original character for the movie. As well as just been up front with her being a woman even if they did gender bend taskmaster you could have still made a female version of the character interesting. Instead the look of the character only served the twist not the actual story in any way and that the problem. They completely took away everything interesting and cool about this character and just made them a drone henchmen no different than what they did with dead pool in x-men origins.
Loved the characters outfit and action scenes, but she was clearly made only to subvert the viewers expectations. Everyone thought this character was a man, and they didn't design her suit in any other way. If you saw this person, you'd think that's a guy. That twist seemed dumb, and then she's also barely in the movie. They should have either adapted a different character or made a new villain. I'm not sure if Dreykov's daughter becomes a villain in the comics or is just dead, or if this is only an MCU-made story
Yeah like i find it hilarious how her head without the helmet does really show that this suit doesn't fit her body figure
yeah, and when she took off the helmet, it looked so big on her, so big that it made no logical sense for her to move the way she did, during her fights. it would be a pain to move in
@@thetypingavocado574 lol XD Yea
I hated the outfit and the plot twist, red guardian couldve bn better too we’ve seen characters far to many times in movies before like him.
@@moonknight4053 indeed, let's stop watching the mcu to teach them a listen
I know you probably won’t see this Nando (or you’ve already thought of this rewrite), but I would have made Antonia into a version of Iron Maiden. We already have Melina in the film, and there could have been a better misdirect and reveal behind the mask of Iron Maiden instead of wasting taskmaster in this movie. Having the audience believe that Melina is Iron Maiden as she is in the comics only to reveal it to be Dreykov’s daughter would have been much more surprising in my opinion. The Mason character as a red herring didn’t really serve any major importance otherwise in the plot. I’d love to see what you would think about this!!
I was JUST saying this to myself when I saw your comment. Totally agree!
Antonia did have some innate abilities. She does have perfect recall, the helmet just helps her see what her enemies are most likely to do next. I liked this Taskmaster, but I would love a more accurate Taskmaster in the future, with a voice and being more of a mercenary than a one-off villain
I thought it was a pretty solid implementation- a dark, twisted concept that plays perfectly into Natasha’s story and character arc, and leaves the door open for another Taskmaster down the road somewhere.
I like the shout out to Mr. Sunday Movies h8 mail segment with deadpool living in his own space
1:49 I thought the hood was pretty cool, He kinda looks like the terminator in a way, I don't think he really needed the cape.
I think they could easily make a proper Taskmaster despite what happened in this movie. The idea of other Red Room henchmen surviving and since this Taskmaster was part of a protocol, they could make another taskmaster. Or like you said, someone steals the tech and they become a mercenary. They could also give him a more accurate costume and keep him a villain
I think the thing that makes a great villain is their motivation. Thanos, Killmonger, Ultron... we're great villains because you understood and could somewhat get behind their argument, but not their methods. There is literally no motivation behind taskmaster in this movie because she is just mind controlled.
My only problem with MCU Taskmaster was how it gave Natasha an easy get out of Red Ledger Jail Card. Her decision to take out Dreykov albeit at the cost of an innocent defined her character for better or worse.
Its TASK MA'AM
TASK MRS.
Taskmistress
I love that Ursa Major has a cameo in this movie
I wasn't crazy about the Taskmaster twist, but I'm not a huge fan of the comic character anyway. No problems with her being a female, just missed the personality and the whole "mimic" thing wasn't what I was hoping for. Like it's fun that she mimics all the Avengers, but Taskmaster was always more interesting because his moves would mirror whomever was fighting him at the time. They kind of touched on this on the bridge scene but not really after that.
it’s also not just tech. it’s her internal programming and wiring that allows her to block out unnecessary info
I usually agree with your takes, but not this one. The movie wasn't terrible, it was in my opinion a serviceable C level Marvel film. The production value was high, the characters were likable, but it was very poorly written.
I agree
I find it hilarious how when Antonya removes the helmet it's so clear that the helmet is so big for her head and the costume doesn't fit her body type
I was convinced that the muscle memory tech came from the retrieved Stark tech following the Iron Man v Cap fight in Serbia. Thought that would’ve been kind of neat. Oh well
I think the hood is to protect/conceal the chip in the back of her head. That’s the only thing I can think of. But it seems very ineffective considering it falls off all the time.
Dude I’m the opposite. I hated everything BUT the costume
One thing I think Nando is missing is that the Taskmaster power isn't EXCLUSIVELY from the helmet. There was also a chip that WAS implanted at the brain stem of Antonia.
idk about y’all but knowing that they were fighting some dude’s half charred mind controlled daughter the whole time makes the earlier fight scenes kinda weird to me
‘Deadpool lives in his own space’ 😂😂😂
The argument "It's OK that what they did with Taskmaster was bad, because they can potentially do something cool next time around" is honestly so dumb.
Woah big man listen to the video next time
@@louisbolger4239 "But if you can say 'Yeah, this version was a bad adaptation maybe. But it can lay the groundwork for a more faithful and interesting adaptation down the line.' then maybe gets a pass." That's what Nando said.
And I disagree. I think it's dumb. Giving something bad a pass because it can be reimagined to be a more interesting version in a later movie or series makes no sense to me.
I totally agree with this! Like why not do it right the first time.
Disagreed. It's quite clearly a Taskmaster protocol, I don't even think they call the character The Taskmaster. If they decide to bring him back - this is obviously the groundwork for it.
In hindsight, task master(Tony Masters) would’ve been a fun villain for Brave New World, Defenders, and/or some other street level NY stuff.
The reveal of Task Master being Dreykov's daughter was pretty obvious, seeing as their face was always obscured by the mask, and Natasha fully believed her to be dead.
The Taskmaster doesn't traditionally have the memory palace issue. That's a late game add by Fred Van Lente in his 2010 Taskmaster mini. Before that, Taskmaster was just awesome. I never understood why people liked hampering him with that weakness. I personally did not.
this is the first positive taskmaster opinion ive seen
I would have liked it more if Aleksei knew someone else who worked with the Red Room and the unmasking would have revealed Milena in the Taskmaster armor. It would’ve impacted more because everyone/ her family thought she was dead.
They did say it was Project Taskmaster, so it's not the definitive Taskmaster and similar to the Mandarin, they take the same approach with that
Also I wouldn't think Yelena would know how Natasha died cause in Endgame Tony asked did Natasha have family and Steve said "yeah, us". insinuating that Natasha never mention her other family to the Avengers.
I wish this taskmaster is "Black Widow's Mandarin"
You get what I'm talking about?
ArnoldiiSaurus I get it basically the real taskmaster is stepping up
@@superthorc6894 that's what I'm saying
I hope. Maybe the technology is based on the real Tony Masters
@@darthinfinte7047 taskmaster helmet designs will change to skull
Having Olga Kurylenko's name in the opening credits and then her not showing up throughout the movie was a dead giveaway for me as the runtime went on. Never read the opening credits!
Juggernaut and Taskmaster are exactly the same. Sure, a "true Taskmaster" could appear later, but that'd be the SAME as The Mandarin. It'd be TWICE that the MCU does this.....No. The Mandarin incident hasn't even been fully redeemed yet. The reason you feel Juggernaut and the other examples are different is because you like them more. They just messed Taskmaster up, man. 😏
okay but, she's a part of the taskmaster initiative, she's not THE taskmaster, she's A taskmaster. It's very likely other agents could have escaped the red room, one being a dude and much more comic accurate.
@@andrewstepke7779 😏...Uh huh...That's basically Nando's point. I refer back to my comment. 😉😊
I also don't get how a cyttorak powered Juggernaut would've made the story of X-Men 3 better. Would've been the same garbage tbh.
I agree with you. I don’t know a lot about Taskmaster but I always liked his power and thx to your video I want to read his books for sure. I liked Antonia’s connection to Nat and her being “Taskmaster” is fine to me. There’s still room for the OG to show up and I bet he will, there’s a lot the character can offer the MCU for sure. Great video!
No. They just made the BarakaPool treatment from Origins Wolverine. Whoever thought doing that to Taskmaster should be fired from working on Hollywood again
Thank you! Chatted with a friend at my local comic book store about this. Since TM is tech based in this universe makes sense someone else could use his gear for TM 2.0 and something closer to comic book canon.
I love TM as a character. One of my favorites so hope this comes to fruition. I did not hate TM in this movie just felt the character was 2 dimensional vs the comic book version. But we shall see as you say.
Patience!
I think there is a plan for this Taskmaster, even if just based from the actress - Olga Kurylenko has had plenty of led starring roles (including Quantum of Solace), yet she only appears for 2 unhelmetted scenes and gets a single word of dialogue? With how things end, she has plenty of space to evolve into the mercenary we know and love.
I didn't like Taskmaster. Specifically, undoing Widow's greatest sin felt like it was Disneyfication at play.
But this is a brilliant video and made me dislike this Taskmaster less so nice one!
Ah. Like how CW Flash has multiple villains with the same names
Both the CW Flash and this film (especially "Taskmaster") are meh
I just felt that we did not get enough Taskmaster's presence or more elaborate fights. Definitely effective. When it's revealed whose under the mask I was kind of surprised and wanted a more comic accurate identity.
DEADPOOL EXSISTS IN HIS OWN SPACE
IN HIS OWN SPACE!!!
Listen, all I want from a movie Taskmaster is a scene of them drowning because they watched an Olympic high dive, copied it perfectly, but forgot to copy the actual swimming part of the process. Is that too much to ask?
Nah
MCU taskmaster isn’t as fun or as cool as their comic book counterpart
"Deadpool exists in his own space."
I understood that reference!
A fellow wackadadoo
The fact that the Taskmaster was just a mind-controlled Black Widow with additional augmentation (so the mimicry stuff wasn't even her own abilities) pretty much means we'll probably never see her again even though she survived the film. She has zero personality and it will take a big leap of retconning just to make her closer to the comic counterpart. Such a waste honestly. Either they should have made Dreykov the Taskmaster (as the comic version does train secret agents) and his daughter could be the Spymaster OR keep her as the Taskmaster but giving her a personality. She could simply be out for revenge for nearly getting killed or actually be the one running the Red Room taking over from her father who really got killed.
Honestly, I would have just made Taskmaster be Tony Masters, a mercenary who was sent by Dreykov (or Antonia) to get the vials back and if they really wanted to bring Antonia in, they could have named her Anya (and her villain name would be Recluse/The Headmistress) like in the comics and just made her be the new leader of the Red Room after what Natasha did to her (so her father would have been dead from the explosion so she becomes the leader of the Red Room)
Watching this Taskmaster, it gave me Michael Myers vibes. From what I read of him in the comics, he's much more vocal and kind of snarky. My favorite thing about Black Widow's Taskmaster was how silent they were. An indestructible villain who's single goal is to destroy the heroes. Unstoppable and deadly silent, like Michael Myers or the T-1000. It's something we haven't seen before in any superhero movie I can think of.
It just makes no sense from a plot perspective. If Dreykov had the technology & capability to give Antonia photographic reflexes then he absolutely would have implemented that across the entire Widow program.
I was so worried when I saw the thumbnail because I'm already so tired of all the discourse over Taskmaster but this is EXACTLY how I felt about this take on the character. Great video!
5:45 Every time I learn something new, it pushes some old stuff out of my brain! Like when I took that home wine making class and forgot how to drive! -Homer Simpson
I felt him and red garuardian were underutilized. Think a D+ show would've been better.
You know what would be sick? If Taskmaster wasn't mind controlled by her dad. If she was doing this on her own sense of vengeance due to being blown up. Super simple but easy to understand. If some chick blew me up as a kid then gets praised for saving lives I'd get peeved and want revenge y'know.
Shame on me for Expecting an Accurate representation of my favorite Character depicted in Live Action. Turned one of the Most Personality Driven Characters into a Walking Meat Puppet im gettin Deadpool Flashbacks