Much has been said about Taskmaster's absence in key scenes shown in the trailers and TV spots for Thunderbolts*. The Black Widow villain wasn't exactly a hit with fans in 2021, but Antonia Dreykov was left in an intriguing place, and the hope was that this movie might expand on her arc.
Instead, when the future Thunderbolts first cross paths, Ghost shoots Taskmaster in the head and immediately kills the character played by Olga Kurylenko. There were rumours their relationship was once key in the movie, and it's unclear when and if that changed.
Either way, Taskmaster's story is over, and in an interview with GamesRadar+, Thunderbolts* director Jake Schreier justified the decision to brutally dispatch Antonia in the first act.
"Obviously, it's a big decision," the filmmaker acknowledged. "We felt like a movie like this needed something like that, where you're like, 'Okay, if they'll do that, they could do anything,' you know, and you don't really know exactly where the thing is going to go. It needed a bit of shock or surprise."
In other words, Taskmaster was expendable. The hope now, of course, will be that Tony Masters eventually makes his MCU debut as a comic-accurate version of the villain. We'd be shocked if it happens anytime soon, though.
Asked if he paid attention to the Taskmaster theories while putting the finishing touches to Thunderbolts*, Schreier said:
"Definitely, when we were making it, we ignored all of that. I didn't read anything. I mean, I've read since then, and it's like, yeah, there's a long lead time of getting these movies out there, and people are definitely going to have their theories in the marketing, it's such a part of it."
"But something that my friend [Tom Holland's Spider-Man trilogy director] Jon Watts told me, who has been through this, and I think maybe it was something Kevin [Feige] told him, is that when you sit in the theater and the lights go down, all of that stuff goes away, and you really want to try to not worry too much about what people are going to be bringing to the movie, and make sure that on a story level that stuff works."
It's doubtful that the majority of fans will lose too much sleep about Taskmaster's demise, but it does somewhat feel like there was more to do with the character in the MCU. This is, however, Thunderbolts*'s only major death.
What do you think? As always, let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
In Thunderbolts*, Marvel Studios assembles an unconventional team of antiheroes - Yelena Belova, Bucky Barnes, Red Guardian, Ghost, Taskmaster and John Walker. After finding themselves ensnared in a death trap set by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, these disillusioned castoffs must embark on a dangerous mission that will force them to confront the darkest corners of their pasts.
Will this dysfunctional group tear themselves apart, or find redemption and unite as something much more before it’s too late?
The cast of Thunderbolts* will be led by Florence Pugh as Yelena Boleva, Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes, David Harbour as Red Guardian, Wyatt Russell as U.S. Agent, Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost, Olga Kurylenko as Taskmaster, Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, and Lewis Pullman as "Bob."
Written by Eric Pearson, Lee Sung Jin, and Joanna Calo, and directed by Jake Schreier, Thunderbolts* is currently set to be released in theaters on May 2, 2025.