Taskmaster
Taskmaster is a comic book character that first appeared in The Avengers #195
A villain of the Avengers with the ability to copy the physical characteristics of anyone he observes. He has used these skills as a teacher to many supervillains and henchmen, and some heroes.
Origin
When the man known as Taskmaster was a child, he discovered he had photographic reflexes after watching a cowboy program on television. He found out that he could duplicate the rope tricks exactly. He used these powers for his own gain, including becoming the high school star quarterback by watching a single pro football game. After graduation he for a while considered becoming a superhero, but decided being a super-villain was more lucrative.Watching broadcasts of superhuman activity, he executed several successful grand larcenies, but underestimated the dangers involved in such work. He thus used his profits to start up academies where he trained aspiring supervillains to become professionals. He designed a costume and took the name Taskmaster. He remained undetected until the activities of one head of an academy caused the Avengers to become aware of these facilities. Taskmaster was forced to flee, as during his confrontation with Jocasta he was unable to predict her future movements because of her lack of body language.
Becoming a Trainer
He was soon noticed by the terrorist organization, Hydra, and was hired to train their new recruit, Spider-Woman. Taskmaster had several run-ins with superheroes, especially Spider-Man and Scott lang as Ant-Man. Each time he was defeated, he managed to escape. Taskmaster also teamed up with Wizard, Deadpool, and Constrictor to form a new incarnation of the Frightful Four, though this association didn't last long. Taskmaster continued his training business. He even had a hand in training John Walker to become the next Captain America in a scheme run by the Red Skull to disgrace his image. He also began to train henchmen and servants for Red Skull himself.Mercenary
At one point became a mercenary, doing work for both Agency X, the Committee and Triune Understanding, failing most of his missions. Such missions included being hired to kill Moon Knight. This mission failed however, as he was misled with bad information; Moon Knight humiliated him but let him live. Also in an attempt to discredit the Avengers he failed to deceive them, but the overall mission succeeded.Civil War
Deadpool freed him from his imprisonment to show his own potential as a mercenary and bested Taskmaster. When Deadpool thanked him for letting him win, Taskmaster replied, "The truth is... you're that good. You've always been that good. Which won't get you a cup of coffee until you figure out how to be a professional... " After the Super-Human Registration Act and the Fifty State Initiative, Taskmaster reluctantly joined the Thunderbolts in hunting heroes and villains that refused to register. He attempted to shoot Invisible Woman but Mr. Fantastic took the bullet for her and, in outrage, Susan crushed him, knocking Taskmaster unconscious. For his efforts to help the government, he was given a full presidential pardon for when he tested the defenses of the SHIELD helicarrier, which he was able to break in and place Deputy Director Maria Hill in his sights. Though he was allowed to leave, a threatening message left in Hill's private bathroom revealed that if he ever desired, SHIELD is no difficult feat. Taskmaster also became the replacement of Gauntlet as the Drill Instructor at Camp Hammond. When KIA went on a rampage around Camp Hammond, Taskmaster decided to sit the battle out with one of his charges, Ant-Man.Dark Reign
Taskmaster is appointed field leader of Camp HAMMER (formerly Camp Hammond) by Norman Osborn, and assigned to train super-villains in among other things to pose as heroes should the need come.Taskmaster once again aligned himself with Deadpool to help him against the Thunderbolts, now the personal Black Ops of Norman Osborn. Despite being enemies in the past, they worked together to escape them, all the while hitting on their leader, Black Widow.
Norman Osborn, unaware that Taskmaster had aided Deadpol (who was trying to kill Osborn), made Taskmaster head of the Initiative (with Hood there to help him). First, he got Constrictor to give Osborn good press by Constrictor showcasing his cyborg arms and saying he could never pet his dog (which was made up) and that everyone give Osborn a chance. Then, Hood and Taskmaster presented a new Initiative with members like the U-Foes, the Psionex, Razor Blade, a Brother Grimm, Cutthroat, Vampiro, and Mandrill, as well as old members like Diamondback and Sunstreaker. Taskmaster stood by and watched apparently unfazed as Hood devoured recruit Vampiro for eating people, which Hood thought could reveal the Initiative's nefarious actions.
Hood then explained to Taskmaster and Baron von Blitzlag that the Negative Zone prison created during Civil War had been overrun by aliens, and was a portal to earth. Hood suggested that instead of using up the major Initiative members in an attack, washed-out recruits, ex-cons with a chance of freedom, and people reluctant to serving Osborn, be promised success and get tricked into being cannon fodder in an attack to wear down the enemy before the real soldiers came in. Taskmaster agreed, and created a new Shadow Initiative with many members to do the task. Taskmaster is now in the Cabal since it has lost two members, Namor, and Emma Frost due to their betrayal on Osborn.
Trainees
Taskmaster is very good at training others. Among those he has trained is: Agent-X, Crossbones, Cutthroat, Deadpool, Diamondback, Hauptmann Deutschland, Spider-Woman, Spymaster and U.S.Agent. Taskmaster specially trained the Scarlet Spiders by having his mind connected to theirs and relaying recordings of Spider-Man's moves collected by SHIELD.Powers
Taskmaster has what he calls "photographic reflexes". After seeing someone perform an action once, he can perfectly copy the action. He has used this ability to copy the fighting styles and skills of many heroes and villains, mixing them up and turning them into his own style. The people he has copied styles/skills from include: Beast, Black Widow, Bullseye, Captain America, Cat, Daredevil, Deadpool, Elektra, Hawkeye, Hulk, Iron Fist, Mister X, Ms. Marvel, Porcupine, Photon (Genis-Vell), Puma, Punisher, Quicksilver, Razorfist, Scarlet Witch, Silver Samurai, Spider-Man, Swordsman, Thing, Thor, Tigra, Toad, Vision, Wolverine and Zaran. (In crossovers he has learned the skills of Batman and Huntress but it is unknown if he retains them in the normal Marvel Universe.) This is just a short list, but it is impressive. He can only mimic actions to the extent that his body will allow. For example, he can copy the way Spider-Man fights, but can't copy the super strength that he has. He can copy the way the way Daredevil moves to avoid danger, but he can't copy his radar. Copying skills doesn't give him an understanding of what is needed to do them either. He could copy a famous pianist's performance, but wouldn't be able to read sheet music. In a flashback he demonstrated something like this: when he was a child, he almost drowned after perfectly duplicating a swimmer's dive, forgetting that he couldn't swim.To add to his abilities when he can't find someone to watch, Taskmaster uses the television. He watches movies and TV to study superhumans, athletes, stuntmen, archers, soldiers, wrestlers, etc. In this way, he has gained a wide range of combat as well as acrobatic skills including aerial acrobatics, gymnastics, boxing, martial arts (all the ones presently used and some historical ones), wrestling, swordsmanship, marksmanship, archery, car-jacking, and sleight of hand. By watching a video in fast forward, Taskmaster picked up the ability to move in "double time", giving him super speed for short periods of time. He also learned how to catch bullets during his mini-series. Another skill Taskmaster has that is unconnected to his photographic reflexes is his ability to mimic voices. With just a couple hours of practice, Taskmaster can fully mimic another persons voice and speech patterns, a tool he uses for impersonation and breaking voice-activated locks.
Taskmaster has a lot of gear that he usually carries on him. He stole a wrist-mounted device from SHIELD that would let him create simple shapes out of energy. He used it to mimic weapons that go with styles he's stolen: Captain America's shield, Spider-Man's Web Shooters, Daredevil's billy clubs, Wolverine's claws, etc. Before he had the device he just carried all the extra weapons on him. Currently he is back to doing that instead of using the device, but there is no explanation as to why. He also uses an advanced image-inducer that allows him to take on the physical appearance of whomever he wishes.
Alternate Realities
Earth-58163On Earth-58163 (House of M) Taskmaster was part of the Brotherhood because he was thought to be a mutant. On one of their missions when they were sent to take out Luke Cage and the Avengers, he was to snipe Cage but ended up killing Tigra instead. When Taskmaster met up with the Avengers in the precinct he interrupted the meeting between Cage and Punisher. He then taunted Cage about Tigra's death and in a fit rage Cage broke every bone in his body after running through an array of attacks. Now in the hospital wrapped up like a mummy, he was abandoned by Thunderbird and Blob for not being a mutant but an enhanced human.
Earth-8909
In this reality Taskmaster was a mutant.
#45 in
Power Rank
Rank Game
| Super Name: | Taskmaster |
| Real Name: | None |
| Aliases: |
Tony Masters Captain America Contingency T Barney Toastmaster |
| Publisher: | Marvel Publishing |
| Gender: | Male |
| Character Type: | Human |
| 1st Appearance: | The Avengers #195 |
| Appears in: | 129 issues |
| Birthday: | |
| Died: |
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