Was There Ever a Different Individual Hiding Beneath Taskmaster’s Guise in the Black Widow Comics? 

Okay, so most of us have already seen Black Widow, and while it wasn’t the best Marvel Cinematic Universe film (that award goes to The Winter Soldier), it was still a fun diversion.

Nonetheless, it is best remembered for introducing several new characters into the Marvel cinematic mythos, the most notable of which being David Harbour’s Red Guardian and Florence Pugh’s Yelena (also known as the new Black Widow).

Taskmaster, whose part was significantly reduced to the point that it was practically unrecognizable, and whose identity as the daughter of the main antagonist, played by Ray Winstone, was only revealed at the very end, was one of the most disappointing new characters. In the film’s last act, Olga Kurylenko, who played Antonia Dreykov in Quantum of Solace, is revealed to be the person hiding behind the mask. Even though this reveal makes sense in the context of the film, we can’t help but think it was done to tie into Loki’s quip from the first Avengers film – remember this one?

And we believe this because, well, it’s evident that Taskmaster is portrayed by a man in the film (and he is); the movement, walk, and size all point to the character being performed by a man rather than Kurylenko or someone of her build. If I were a betting guy, I would have gone to Australian Pokes Online after seeing the trailers to bet that this was a man behind the mask.

Of fact, this is meaningless because males are regularly cast in action scenes, regardless of whether the person being depicted is male or female if the actor’s face cannot be seen… However, there is one more piece of evidence that indicates the character was a man. Taskmaster is portrayed in the comics as Anthony “Tony” Masters, a former SHIELD agent.

To be clear, we do not have any issues with the change that is being suggested… As I have already indicated, it was logically sound in the movie that we watched… Even though it appeared to be identical to the very first time we saw Deadpool on the big screen (left), shudder:

On the other hand, there is an increasing body of evidence that points to Masters or a variant of him as being the most likely candidate for the original Taskmaster. To put it another way, it is most likely that Masters was Taskmaster.

Mason, who was portrayed by OT Fagbenle, was a fascinating character, but in the grand scheme of things, he had a rather insignificant role. Despite this, he was given his character poster, which, after viewers saw the movie, left a lot of fans scratching their heads… As I have already mentioned, he was an endearing main character; however, a poster? Really?

After that, in the course of an interview, Fagbenle revealed that the character he was ultimately cast in was not the one he had initially auditioned for. At all. He also stated that there were no plans for him to reappear in an ending scene with Johannson’s Natasha, which would make sense if he was the antagonist and was either dead or had vanished by that point. He said that this was because he wasn’t supposed to be in the scene with Natasha in the first place, and that’s why it happened.

The actor stated about the job opportunity that she was offered, “I was up for a completely different character.” My audition was for a completely different version of the character of Mason from the one that was ultimately cast in the role. This is because there were alterations made to the screenplay and different people had different ideas about how things should be. As a direct consequence of this, the written version of Mason that we interact with is not the same as the one for which I tried out. I have several questions. It is highly unlikely that anyone who witnessed that audition could correctly identify the participant.

“At first, I wasn’t going to be in that last scene,” he stated. “I thought it was going to be someone else.” It was explained to me that test audiences find it entertaining to watch Natasha and my personas interact with one another. The fact that this was a factor was taken into consideration, regardless of whether or not Marvel’s actions are influenced by other factors that are significantly more significant. The most important part of the scene then occurred. That is an extremely thoughtful compliment.

Moving components? UnrecognisableUnrecognizable? Mason’s position in Masters? Hmm

Then, on the internet, another piece of proof surfaced

Taskmaster’s eyes behind the mask are unmistakably modeled on Fagbenle from the mobile Black Widow game (source), leading us to believe that Dreykov’s daughter was a late addition to the plot. At this point, I’d say that betting on him becoming the Taskmaster from the start is analogous to gambling with actual money.

We already know that at the end of the film, the character of Antonia Dreykov is liberated from Taskmaster’s programming, and the world awaits her beyond (though Kurylenko has remarked that she would love to return to the role, adding, “Of course, I would. It would be a fantastic thing to do. I’d be delighted.”)

We also believe that somewhere along the way, Fagbenle was denied the role he agreed to play, leaving his character of Mason essentially dead in the water and left in the history of the MCU with little to do in the franchise’s future. And, yes, we believe Taskmaster will appear in future Marvel Cinematic Universe films, and this time he may be more authentic to the comic character. However, we believe that Fagbenle was denied the role he agreed to take on at some point.

Anyway… I was curious about what everyone thought of the film. What do you believe caused the Taskmaster’s character to change? Or do you think our inexperienced investigation is utterly off the mark? Please share your opinions with me, everyone.