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?

I can't wait for the, "Taskmaster isn't Taskmaster" video.

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.

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

I think Val's "deal" is pretty clear: she is a foil to Nick Fury

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.

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.

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 completely disagree with your idea that it adapted the comics character well because there's far more to the character than just his powers

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

"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

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

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 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.

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.

Taskmaster, the “cover band of super villains”. Always thought that was hilarious.

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.

"Deadpool lives in his own space" That's a deep Weekly Planet cut. Great job nando

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

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

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.

*reads title* Me: No

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.

My first thought when I saw the sword style Taskmaster used was Blade, especially when they put the sword away.

This is ironman 3's mandarin all over again

BW’s Taskmaster felt like a riff on Olga and Gray Fox’s roles as the cyborg ninja from MGS1&2

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.

Enjoyed the “Deadpool exists in his own space” reference.

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.

Short answer, no. Tasky lacks everything that makes him fun on the comics

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.

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.

I had the biggest hopes for Taskmaster. Was a disappointment for sure.

MEMENTO STYLE TASKMASTER STORY ps. I can't believe I missed that Winter Soldier knife flip

Its TASK MA'AM

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 KZfaq 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

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!

In the words of Steven Rogers "no... no i don't think it did..." PS still loved the movie

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

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

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

Dude I’m the opposite. I hated everything BUT the costume

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 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.

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

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

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.

I like the shout out to Mr. Sunday Movies h8 mail segment with deadpool living in his own space

I love that Ursa Major has a cameo in this movie

I love this taskmaster I feel like I'm the only one love the suit and just how cool I think the character is

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.

So I haven't seen this movie and have no background with the comics, but your description of Taskmaster's powers was interesting. In the comics, is he consciously choosing to forget past memories to learn something new? Seems like that could have the potential for some cool emotional moments that wouldn't be possible with the movie version. Did they ever do that in the comic stories?

I really hope they give him his personality he’s one of my favorite marvel character. I don’t care if it’s Antonia but I want the Tasky I know. I would love an NY accent but that’s unlikely.

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.

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.

This was perfect timing, I literally came out of the theater as this video was released.

Haven't watched yet so maybe you mentioned it but this Taskmaster seemed more like the Super-Adaptoid to me

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.

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.

this is the first positive taskmaster opinion ive seen

Love this new MCU phase. Everything is a mantle to be passed on. Even the B/C list villains. Go Girl.

Ah. Like how CW Flash has multiple villains with the same names

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

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 love Nando’s little references to Mr. Sunday Movies… ;)

DEADPOOL EXSISTS IN HIS OWN SPACE

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'm watching this right after watching someone else's video with the complete opposite take - super interesting what you've got to say about it. I'm sure lots of people would appreciate your idea that the character could be re-tooled later. I really appreciate the positive outlook.

Thank you! I enjoyed the twist a lot and i felt like it matched the films themes and story excellently.

I wish this taskmaster is "Black Widow's Mandarin"

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

Taskmaster was fine for a minute there i was afraid it was gonna be an android

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

No. They just made the BarakaPool treatment from Origins Wolverine. Whoever thought doing that to Taskmaster should be fired from working on Hollywood again

I think the best thing someone can do (and how the movie should have been advertised) is to imagine it cam out right after civil war. To rewatch the movies and just stick it in that narrative order. Then it becomes a really standard marvel movie for that period. The only problem would be red guardian and the widows missing from the Infinity War battlefield. Task Master was mishandled though. I imagined this cocky and really capable villain. Demonstrating the skills of the avengers in extent. And how HE adepts to any enemies fighting style. And that in the end he would survive and actually, really become a trainer for SHIELD agents.

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!

Love the Mr. Sunday reference!

“Deadpool exists in his own space” Mr. Sunday Movies would be proud 🥲

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

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.

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.

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.

I liked this Taskmaster, and we can always get a different (or "real") one in the MCU ala the Mandarin.

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.

I wish Taskmaster in the MCU was a hired mercenary instead of being the main villain’s daughter.

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

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

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.

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.

no

it’s also not just tech. it’s her internal programming and wiring that allows her to block out unnecessary info