Although Marvel has access to the majority of their character library for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there are still a few holdouts. The X-Men and Fantastic Four are still with 20th Century Fox and there are still a lot of complicated issues with Namor the Sub-Mariner and Universal. However, as Marvel gets more popular with each year, they’re able to get back some of their heroes and villains, whether it’s due to expired deals or striking up a new deal with another studio. For instance, it’s just been confirmed that supervillain and occasional good guy Taskmaster is back home with the House of Ideas.
Following an interview where Deadpool director Tim Miller said he would have liked to have seen the Merc with a Mouth go up against Taskmaster, Comicbook.com asked around and learned Taskmaster has reverted back to Marvel after years of resting with Fox. This apparently happened around the same time the studio got Daredevil back in 2013. So while we’ll never see Deadpool and Taskmaster fight in the X-Men cinematic universe, this opens the door to Taskmaster being added to a future MCU project.
Taskmaster, a.k.a. Tony Masters, has the ability to mimic the physical movements of anyone he watches. Not only has this helped him become a master in multiple forms of combat, but he is also able to anticipate the moves of nearly any opponent he faces. However, one of the side effects of using his ability is losing "explicit memories," i.e. personal experiences, to compensate for his new "internal memories," i.e. the skills he learns. When not pulling off crimes by himself, he has served as a training instructor in various criminal organizations, although there are times when he’s hired out his services to the good guys, like S.H.I.E.L.D.
So how could Taskmaster be incorporated into the MCU? That’s hard to say. While he would certainly make a good physical threat on the big screen, akin to Batroc the Leaper in Captain America: The Winter Solider, he may not be main villain material against the more powerful movie heroes. Another possibility is he could be saved for the TV side of things. There were rumors earlier this year that Marvel is considering a Thunderbolts TV series for Netflix, and since Taskmaster has part of the group several times, he could be added as one of the main "protagonists." On the other hand, if they want to keep him as a straight up bad guy, he could easily be a major antagonist for the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. folks or for the Defenders to battle when they eventually form.
What do you think? Now that it’s official Taskmaster is back with Marvel, where would you like to see him appear? Let us know in the comments below!
