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The character Taskmaster was first introduced to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the 2021 film Black Widow. In that film, we found out that, unlike in the comics, her name is Antonia Dreykov and she is the daughter of the Russian Army General that had Natasha Romanoff and Yelena Belova taken to the Red Room for training as children.
Antonia Dreykov, in addition to receiving the same chemical mind control process that Romanoff, Belova and other Black Widows were forced to undergo, had technology implanted into her head by her father that gave her the ability to mimic the fighting style of anyone she sees. By the end of the film, she had been freed from her father’s control and left with Belova, her and Natasha’s parents and the other freed Widows. It was the last time she was seen on film until the trailer for Thunderbolts*.
Spoilers ahead…
In Thunderbolts* it was expected that Taskmaster was going to be part of the team as she appeared numerous times alongside all of the other anti-heroes in the film’s marketing. Once the film begins, it is made quickly apparent that since the events of Black Widow, Taskmaster has become a mercenary for Valentina Allegra de Fontaine.
Unfortunately, that’s about all we end up learning about those years between Black Widow and Thunderbolts* as far as Taskmaster is concerned. Olga Kurylenko, the actress who plays Taskmaster, gets one line of dialogue and her face is shown just once very briefly before catching a point-blank bullet to the head courtesy of Ghost, who we last saw in Ant-Man and the Wasp.
As it turns out, that wasn’t the original plan. At least not according to Thunderbolts* writer Eric Pearson.
In an interview with Polygon, Pearson revealed that in his story, Taskmaster actually had “a pretty big subplot.” In fact, the person who killed her, Ghost, was supposed to bond with Taskmaster over their similar traumas.
“Ava, having won her autonomy earlier in the chronology than Taskmaster, was kind of big-sistering her a little bit, in a way of ‘how to break free and be your own person,’” Pearson said.
“I mean, everyone in there has suffered a ton of tragedy,” he continued. “But she was kind of the ultimate tragedy. In the old tragedy rankings, she was at the top, and the other, bigger personalities — no one could get out of line, because no one could say ‘I had it worse than you.’”
In another interview with ComicBook.com, Eric Pearson also shared that John Walker, AKA U.S. Agent, could have also had a very different story arc in Thunderbolts*.
“There are a couple of versions where part of Valentina’s manipulation of them, for John Walker, she convinced him that his Super Soldier Serum was deteriorating and he needed updates,” Pearson explained. “He needed to have monthly shots. What she was actually doing was implanting a ‘Hulk Bomb’ or I think she even called them ‘A Bomb,’ which is a very obscure character from the comics. But if she needed to create an event, she could set him off, so he would rage out into this big monster. It was fine, but it didn’t work the same.”
Content shared from brobible.com.