Villain Profile: Taskmaster

Well, there’s been a bit of big news from the Marvel pipeline this week. Marvel and Sony have finally come to an agreement that allows our favorite Friendly Neighborhood Spider-man to be part of the main Marvel Cinematic Universe. Spider-man with Captain America, Iron Man and the rest. The ONLY way things get better is when the X-men and Fantastic Four get back in Marvel’s hands. Fingers crossed that it happens one day. But enough of that, we’re here to talk about Taskmaster.

Scary skull face.

There are a number of famous Hero and Villain pairs, Superman and Lex Luthor, Batman and the Joker, Green Lantern and Sinestro, Spider-man and the Green Goblin, Wolverine and Sabertooth, Mr. Fantastic and Dr. Doom, Red Skull and Captain America, just to name a few. But, there are some villains that don’t have a set hero. These guys are the Merc Villains, Mercenaries that are hired for various purposes. Gangster needing extra muscle, legit Supervillain needing a distraction, or the like, then these are the guys for you. Sometimes guys like this make the shift over to the Anti-hero side of things, but they almost always fall back into bad habits. And one of the best Merc Villains around is Tony Masters, aka the Taskmaster. Let’s get to it.

From a young age Tony Masters presented unique skills. When he was still in his early years he demonstrated the ability to perfectly mimic the crazy complex rope tricks on a cowboy program that he used to watch. His mother took him to a psychologist that diagnosed this unique ability as Photographic Memory. Essentially, if he sees a physical skill performed just one time, he’s able to reproduce it perfectly. Now, Tony is the smart sort of young man that learned how to use his skills for his own personal gain. The most glaring example was when he was in High School, he watched a pro quarterback play, mimicked his moves and became his team’s all-star.

He'll throw both of those at you. Watch
out.

After High School, Tony considered his possible futures. He toyed with the idea of being a costumed hero, but decided to be a criminal, deciding it would be a much more lucrative career. In preparation he watched hours and hours of super smack downs between various heroes and villains, to diversify his move pool. Then he created a costume and took on the moniker of Taskmaster. He made a fortune with several well executed robberies, but was a little freaked out by the dangers involved with such a life style. Instead of continuing with the more dangerous aspects of villainy, he opted to starting his own School for lackeys. You want to join HYDRA, or be an enforcer for criminal gangster Hammerhead, or looking for your own set of Goons? Then Taskmaster’s Academy is the place to go.  Things worked real well for Taskmaster, he made a TON of money on this venture, and set up training schools around the world. Things would have continued well if one of the heads of his School hadn’t used the resources at his disposal to make a clone of himself. He needed an organ transplant and had a rare blood type. The clone, upon learning why he was created, called in the Avengers. Taskmaster was able to capture three members, Yellowjacket, Wasp, and Ant-man II, before the rest of the team arrived. He battled well, but the reformed robot villain Jocasta proved too difficult an opponent. No body language meant that Masters’ couldn’t copy her moves. Taskmaster escaped, and this meant the end of his large scale training program. He continues to operate smaller programs, but is often discovered and foiled after too long. Taskmaster is probably one of the most skilled villains of the Marvel-verse. Like most of the best baddies he occasionally flirts with being a hero, they actually do an entire revelation story line where he remembers he’s actually a deep cover SHIELD Agent, but at his core the one that matters most to Tony Masters is Tony Masters. Not the best world view for a superhero.

He can use all of the weapons you see like a
master.

Taskmaster can mimic a fighting style only after seeing it one time. As such, he’s become a master of nearly all forms of combat. The one major downside to this is that there simply isn’t enough room in Masters’ brain for all that information. As such, major parts of Masters’ life have been overwritten as he gains new information. It’s gotten to the point where he might not even remember the details of his life that I wrote above. It’s gotten to the point where he has a personal assistant that handles all of his “memories” for him. His mimicking has also affected his arsenal. He’s got a shield after copying Captain America, a bow and arrow after seeing Hawkeye in action, a sword ala Black Knight, and various firearms modeled after the Punisher. The fact that he can mix and match these skills for every situation that arises is what makes him a devastating opponent. He also has a cape and cowl, because they’re awesome.

Taskmaster is an underutilized villain. As far as I know he’s only been used in one TV show, a poor one at that.

He appears as a recurring antagonist in the TV show Ultimate Spider-man. He’s portrayed by voice actor Clancy Brown. In it, he’s initially recruited by Doctor Octopus to find out if Spider-man does attend Midtown High School. Masters poses as a gym teacher, watching each student in turn to figure out if they have the right body type and skills for Spider-man. He chooses Flash Thompson, and Danny Rand (aka Iron Fist) as the best candidate, tossing out Peter Parker because the wall crawler intentionally sucked at Masters obstacle course to keep his secret ID. Using his Photographic Memory Masters beat Spider-man and team-mate White Tiger, but is overpowered once they turn out the lights and switch gear. Since, Masters has developed an obsession with Spider-man, often appearing to offer the Wall Crawler a change to join him in a very lucrative career. Spider-man obviously declines.

While he hasn’t appeared yet in the expanded Marvel-verse, I’d love to see him appear in a later movie. Again, a perfect explanation for the tons of Henchmen that run around all the various supervillains out there.

I really like Taskmaster. His skill set is unique, his goals are rather unique, and his costume is pretty awesome. Technically he doesn’t have a superpower, he pushes his body to physical perfection and mimics all the skills he needs to be deadly. Also, his skills are real necessary to explain a phenomena of the Superhero filled universe, how the hell does one get goons? Easy, Taskmaster trains whomever shows up and sells them to the highest bidder. He’s a character that I think deserves a lot more attention and use. And while he does occasionally tries out being a hero, he’ll always be the Tricky, Terrible, Troublesome, Taskmaster. Next time, we’ll be starting my next theme week, centered on the Green Lantern Corps. 

 http://villains.wikia.com/wiki/Taskmaster

 http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120503074614/marveldatabase/images/1/1a/Taskmaster_No_1_by_AlexGarner.jpg

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taskmaster