THUNDERBOLTS* Makes A Baffling Decision When It Comes To A Certain Character - SPOILERS

THUNDERBOLTS* Makes A Baffling Decision When It Comes To A Certain Character - SPOILERS

You probably know exactly who we're referring to, but the decision to "sideline" a certain character early on in Thunderbolts* simply makes no sense...

By MarkCassidy - May 02, 2025 03:05 PM EST
Filed Under: Thunderbolts

When the second trailer for Thunderbolts* was released, fans began to notice that Black Widow baddie Antonia Dreykov, aka Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), wasn't featured in the movie's marketing nearly as much as her teammates. This led to speculation that the character would be killed off, which Marvel all-but confirmed when they announced that every other main cast member aside from Kurylenko would be back for Avengers: Doomsday.

There were theories that this might be some kind of deliberate swerve to keep a specific plot point relating to Taskmaster under wraps, but no, Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) blows her head off about four minutes after she shows up on screen.

This take on Taskmaster wasn't exactly what you'd call a fan-favourite, but Kurylenko is a talented actress and the character did have potential after finding redemption at the end of Black Widow. Even leaving that aside, why introduce her just to kill her off so unceremoniously in the first act? Wouldn't it have benefited the story to allow audiences to get to know her first and add a bit of weight to her demise?

Director Jake Schreier had the following to say during a recent interview with Games Radar.

"Obviously, it's a big decision. 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."

This does make a certain amount of sense - even though Thunderbolts* is far from Marvel's take on The Suicide Squad - but something tells us there was more to it.

Though Kurylenko has yet to address her character's fate directly, she did say the following during an interview with Screen Rant last year.

"Well, they changed a couple of things. [Laughs] That's all I can say, but that also doesn't say anything, because obviously every movie is different, and in every movie, things change. But yeah, it will be different, we'll see. There's nothing I can say."

It may also be telling that Kurylenko didn't take part in any promotion for the movie right up until her appearance at the US premiere earlier this week.

We may never get the full story, but as things stand, the movie's throwaway use of Taskmaster really feels like a waste of the character.

Have you seen the movie yet? If so, let us know what you thought in the comments. You can check out our review here.

Marvel Studios recently announced the exciting news that Son Lux will be scoring Thunderbolts*. The three-member, American experimental band was Oscar and BAFTA- nominated for their score for 2022’s best picture, Everything Everywhere All at Once. 

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?

Returning to their Marvel Cinematic Universe roles are Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, David Harbour, Wyatt Russell, Olga Kurylenko, Hannah John-Kamen and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. The cast also includes newcomers to the MCU—Lewis Pullman, Geraldine Viswanathan, Chris Bauer and Wendell Edward Pierce.

Jake Schreier directs Thunderbolts* with Kevin Feige producing. Louis D’Esposito, Brian Chapek and Jason Tamez serve as executive producers.

Marvel Studios’ Thunderbolts* opens in U.S. theaters on May 2, 2025.

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THUNDERBOLTS* Poster Spotlights Sentry/The Void; Florence Pugh Shares New Behind-The-Scenes Photos

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Spidey91
Spidey91 - 5/2/2025, 3:32 PM
It's not really baffling when 99% of the discourse about the character are complaints.
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 5/2/2025, 3:39 PM
@Spidey91 - sure but the benefit of having characters be recurring is that they can grow into someone people can get to know & like , possibly even become a fan favorite which they could have done with this version of Taskmaster but oh well.
SonOfAGif
SonOfAGif - 5/2/2025, 3:33 PM
I don't mind the character being killed off for shock value, But I think it needed to be done by Sentry/Void.
Scarilian
Scarilian - 5/2/2025, 4:12 PM
@SonOfAGif -
Sentry has to be a victim for the heroes to be motivated to save him.

If Sentry does evil stuff, it weakens the Void aspect of the character. So Sentry's actions need to be motivated by defending himself.

Having Sentry kill Taskmaster would make it even more difficult for the characters to justify saving him.

It would be a much more complex/interesting story if Sentry/Void did kill someone people recognized... but in-universe Taskmaster is effectively a child who was abused trapped in a woman's body. You have a character kill that person and the audience, if they cared, should hate whoever killed them.
SonOfAGif
SonOfAGif - 5/2/2025, 4:30 PM
@Scarilian - Except the audience loves Ghost.
Slotherin
Slotherin - 5/2/2025, 10:55 PM
@SonOfAGif - yeah, but Ghost killed her BEFORE they teamed up and characters got more chummy and likeable.
SonOfAGif
SonOfAGif - 5/2/2025, 11:53 PM
@Slotherin - I think what threw me off was how the mask was not bullet proof. Then again Ava was probably equipped with Armor piercing rounds.
TheFinestSmack
TheFinestSmack - 5/2/2025, 3:55 PM
I swear we got this story yesterday.
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MikeyL
MikeyL - 5/2/2025, 4:51 PM
@TheFinestSmack - yup, by Wilding
https://comicbookmovie.com/thunderbolts/thunderbolts-director-jake-schreier-explains-shocking-decision-to-kill-spoiler-a219063

This site likes to milk the same information for all its worth
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 5/2/2025, 3:57 PM
It’s a decision that I am still against but can understand why it happened given Schreier’s comments…

I haven’t seen the film yet but it sounds relatively straightforward so adding this element of surprise or shock to it certainly creates the notion in the mind of the audience that he’s talking about even if nothing else like that happens for the rest of the film.

However personally I feel once the shock wears off and the film ends , it will just seemed like a missed opportunity in not having Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster be given the opportunity to grow like everyone else because she certainly had potential coming off of BW where she was a brainwashed weapon…

You could have had her deal with the fallout of that or exploring why she went back to being an assassin after she got her free will back amongst other arcs , perhaps even have Bucky help her along the way since he had been in a similar place as her?.

Anyway it is what it is now , I just hope we can get someone like Tony Masters to pick up the mantle in the future given this version was moreso tech based.

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Slotherin
Slotherin - 5/2/2025, 10:55 PM
@TheVisionary25 - you're doing yourself a disservice engaging spoilers before seeing this. It was pretty good.
Mercwitham0uth
Mercwitham0uth - 5/2/2025, 3:58 PM
Good. Now give us the real Taskmaster aka Tony Masters.
SonOfAGif
SonOfAGif - 5/2/2025, 11:56 PM
@Mercwitham0uth - I already figured out who and how. It should be Mason from Black Widow. He created the Task Master technology which was designed to replicate the fighting patterns of a combatant while storing the data in the heads up display. He sold the technology to Dreykov and to other black market groups to obtain combat data of various criminals, gangs, and fighters. And once he has obtained enough he creates his perfected suit with tech he has gathered from his time at SHIELD and the Black Market.
Blergh
Blergh - 5/2/2025, 4:25 PM
Killing Taskmaster is a waste obviously but that waste started in Black Widow when the character was turned into a thrall to Dreykov instead of a self-motivated villain with goals and ambitions.

He’s a gun for hire, much like Deathstroke he has a very compelling character with a certain snark and overachieviness.

The gender swap was not the problem, the problem was turning her into a thrall
Slotherin
Slotherin - 5/2/2025, 10:57 PM
@Blergh - while I'm not against the decision to kill her in this, in fairness BW did leave off with the option to let her be more in line with comics.
Superheromoviefan
Superheromoviefan - 5/2/2025, 4:27 PM
her design got better and waste her
lame
good movie though
MyCoolYoung
MyCoolYoung - 5/2/2025, 5:08 PM
I didn't think the movie needed it. We've already seen John kill a guy, Ava be a villain, and Tasky. They all have one thing in common: they've been redeemed to a degree, or you at least understand why they were antagonists. Personally, I don't think the movie had to remind us that these are bad guys, because honestly, they aren't. Whereas, say, Suicide Squad had to constantly tell us, 'Hey, trust me, these are bad people,' and they themselves said, 'We're bad guys, it's what we do,' because A. they were, and B. we had never seen any of them in anything else.

In my opinion, at no point in the movie did they really sell to us that they would do anything. It was just used as a way to move the plot along. It allowed them to stop fighting long enough to realize they'd been played, and that's okay, but they didn't have to kill her.

TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 5/2/2025, 5:16 PM
@MyCoolYoung - I’m seeing the movie on Sunday but I heard iher death does play a bit into Yelena’s arc…

Is that true because if so , that might make me feel a bit better about her death?.
MyCoolYoung
MyCoolYoung - 5/2/2025, 5:36 PM
@TheVisionary25 — Maybe I'd have to see it again, but I don't remember it factoring in that much. If you see it in the movie let me know because I had to of missed it.

There's something in Yelena's past that she sees and that haunts her throughout; it's a kind of guiding light.
Slotherin
Slotherin - 5/2/2025, 10:58 PM
@TheVisionary25 - it moreso plays into her interactions with Ava.
NinnesMBC
NinnesMBC - 5/2/2025, 5:35 PM
I'll just say the same thing I said in a different article from yesterday: All for shock value and just used her to expand more Yelena's character. Sorry Schreier but that is such a bullshiet tier of an "explanation" to excuse that. I expected something better from one of the creatives of the Beef miniseries as I'm making my way through it before seeing this.

What a damn, shameful waste of Olga Kurylenko's time and talent to take somewhere new and interesting this iteration of the character that fitted nicely in this scrappy anti-hero team as the rest of the cast.

Why even bother to bring her back in the first place then if it was just gonna amount to that?

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I'm sure I'll love the movie when I see it in it's totality but because of this stupid ass decision I'm already set on rating the film with a solid 9/10 and just leave it at that. Shame.
Slotherin
Slotherin - 5/2/2025, 11:00 PM
@NinnesMBC - you're already set on a rating despite not having seen the film?
HeavyMetal4Life
HeavyMetal4Life - 5/2/2025, 6:31 PM
I agree, it was a bit of a shocking decision and I felt completely unnecessary. A waste of what could have been made into a better character.

Hope the real Taskmaster comes back down the road.
Feralwookiee
Feralwookiee - 5/2/2025, 10:22 PM
@HeavyMetal4Life - Have you seen the "real" Nick Fury in the MCU yet? Or the Ancient One? Or Baron Mordo? Or the High Evolutionary? Or Kang? Or Heimdall? Or MJ? Or Valkyrie?
The list could go on for much longer, but I'll spare you the time.

The point is, you've never seen the "real" versions of any of these characters in the MCU, so what makes you think they'd bother with Taskmaster?
Forget about Norrin Radd too while we're at it.
MrDandy
MrDandy - 5/2/2025, 11:20 PM
Who cares. Secret Wars is on the horizon. They will keep whatever character they want/ actor that will renew their contract and reboot whoever they want. They likely wanted to kill Taskmaster and make way for a more accurate version on soft reboot.

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