So…slow day at work and rewatched Black Widow and Thunderbolts. Why the heck did they kill off Taskmaster so fast and easy in Thunderbolts? I thought that was a pretty cool character.
I took it as a sort of self aware joke, recognizing that audiences didnt care much for that movie or the character. It landed for me.
AbsoluteBrutality2025-11-21 19:25
Also, to "raise the stakes." They want you to feel like this could've happened to any of the other characters and might happen again.
Synth-Pro2025-11-21 20:12
*"Anybody* could die at any time... I mean, nobody else is going to, but *they could!"*
aaiceman2025-11-21 20:31
This....right here.
AnonymousFriend802025-11-21 20:40
They killed of May. And it was in no way paralleled with the usual way Ben dies in other media.
They killed off Stark, Yondu, Natasha, Pietro, Frigga, and Jane Foster.
Synth-Pro2025-11-21 20:42
Mmm yes yes... and in what film did those things happen?
Aside from us discussing that it was specifically a move to try and set fake stakes in *Thunderbolts*, those are also all example of characters who died much later in the films, often as either a motivation for other characters or for a greater sacrifice. Taskmaster was merced within 15 minutes and nobody but Yelena even blinked at it. It was just a move to demonstrate how expendable this group was supposed to be, but with zero other casualties in the end.
FX1142025-11-21 21:21
Three of those were because the actors left.
AnonymousFriend802025-11-22 15:36
Actors may leave, but that doesn't mean characters have to die.
N8CCRG2025-11-21 21:34
Also Coulson, Loki, Vision, though some version of them was brought back in television. Also Wanda, though many are begging for her to be brought back.
AnonymousFriend802025-11-22 15:37
I specifically left out characters who didn't stay dead, and characters who's actor died.
Objective-Umpire-9822025-11-21 22:30
budget constraints cut taskmaster arc short
FX1142025-11-21 19:25
To show the stakes of the movie, that people could die at any time (even though nobody did).
Royal-walking-machin2025-11-22 00:35
Basically what Transformers Prime did by killing off Cliffjumper in the first episode to set the stakes but then no other Autobot dies in the show
Then_North_63472025-11-21 19:27
Probably to attempt to give the movie a dark and serious tone.
TheDarkAbove2025-11-21 19:29
To make way for the new taskmaster, Little Alex Horne
Koltronoi2025-11-21 19:41
micksandals2025-11-21 19:54
"And next to me, a man who told me he thinks Thanos did nothing wrong, and that Carol Danvers needs to smile more. It's.... _Little Alex Horne_"
Synth-Pro2025-11-21 20:20
"And next to me, a man who once called the Dora Milaje 'a bunch of chrome-dome pussies' and confided in me that he achieved his first erection after watching Big Bertha hoover down a ham sandwich. It's... *Little Alex Horne!"*
canadiancarlin2025-11-21 20:50
The only Taskmaster worth watching.
No_Choice_63872025-11-21 19:33
Fan reaction to her in BW and to have Thunderbolts* feel like it has stakes
Makes the character itself have tge saddest fucking life on the MCU though
KomturAdrian2025-11-21 19:35
She had one of the coolest designs in the MCU imo and I thought was a badass villain with one of the most interesting movesets. But I do remember people disliking the changes from the comics, so I think her death was just like "didn't like her? Okay, fine, she's dead, let's move on".
PirateBeany2025-11-21 19:48
Her moveset is about mimicking other people's abilities & techniques, though; so I don't know how unique it could really be. (I'm not a connoisseur of hand-to-hand fighting, so perhaps I'm missing something.)
howlesmw2025-11-21 19:56
I think it’s cool that she combines all these different signature moves from other characters fighting styles into a seamless form of her own. There’s like a visual theme (like the score themes) for each character and her portrayal is like weaving them all together.
Healthy-Refuse59042025-11-21 19:34
I had no problem with them killing off taskmaster. I did not like the character very much do to having the Deadpool treatment
As a matter of fact i was surprised when she spoke at all, but it wasn’t enough to make me care
Magnusfyr2025-11-21 19:34
She lived in the original script, but was killed off during the rewrites because they figured the stakes would be more interesting if someone actually died in the movie, instead of letting absolutely everyone live, and I guess she was the top candidate.
I personally didn't mind it as I found the MCU's Taskmaster to be very bland and forgettable (in my opinion, the most memorable thing she did was die). However, I would've preferred it if they turned her into a character I genuinely liked.
howlesmw2025-11-21 19:58
Yeah, it would have been nice to see her develop as her own character after escaping her mind controlling absolute shitbag of a father.
CloseToMyActualName2025-11-21 20:07
I didn't mind the idea of killing her off to raise the stakes, but the execution was terrible.
I honestly didn't remember the character from Black Widow and had no idea who they killed off.
You raise the stakes by killing off a character that is part of the team, not by killing off a random nameless at the start of the movie.
Wooden-Radish-90082025-11-21 19:37
There's a few reasons really. As many have said, it's to raise some stakes that people in this movie can die, and in fact, it kind of helps the misdirect of Bob getting shot down later in the movie.
It's also there to serve Ava's story of her wrestling with whether she's a good person or not. Her entire demeanor is her trying to pretend she doesnt care, like she's trying to give off the vibe of a bad person, but she cant convincingly do it. She pretends that she's unbothered by offing Taskmaster, but finds herself asking Yelena about her in a later scene
kulitchipon2025-11-22 00:35
I agree. Plus it highlighted how cool and OP her phasing was compared to the others' more common punch and shoot technique
ipodblocks3602025-11-21 19:40
They wanted to show the stakes of the movie. It was a way to show, don't get too attached to any of these characters, this could happen to any one of them as well. Oh and you also were like 1 out of the like 10 people that liked the character.
Robbo_Craigo2025-11-21 20:05
Didn’t “like” the character as much as I would have like to have seen what could be done with what I thought was a cool character. Full disclosure I have very little knowledge of the comic versions.
ipodblocks3602025-11-21 21:40
Well there lies your problem. The character is vastly different in the comics and that's honestly why not a lot of people liked this version of Taskmaster.
Grayx_28872025-11-21 19:41
It's because of the immense backlash that the studio got for making the Taskmaster in the MCU a woman in *"Black Widow."* The actress who played the Taskmaster is not the problem. The studio and Kevin Feige were pushing for more female characters when they should've just backed off from that decision and focused more on making their already-established legacy characters feel like they matter as well as listening to their audience and give them what they want.
What's going to happen now after Doomsday and Secret Wars? We'll, my guess is they are going to hit the soft reboot button and just bring another variant of the Taskmaster from the multiverse and say **"Yeap, this is the real Taskmaster that you wanted. We're sorry for Black Widow (2021). Please don't hate us again. We're desperate."**
BatmanForever232025-11-21 20:47
I could have been fine with Taskmaster being a woman. I was not fine with Taskmaster being brainwashed and having 0 personality, that’s so far away from the comic books you may as well have chosen a different character.
Grayx_28872025-11-21 22:17
Linnus422025-11-22 20:04
Right no one liked Wolverine Origins Deadpool and that version was still a man.
With none of the elements that people like about Wade Wilson...since you know they sewed his mouth shut and then gave him a bunch of random powers.
Obviously some people would be opposed to Taskie getting genderswapped regardless but let us not pretend that genderswapping is the only complaint about this Taskie.
BatmanForever232025-11-22 20:10
Exactly, I’m tired of people acting like it’s bc Taskmaster was a woman. It’s bc that character shared no resemblance to Taskmaster. Completely different background, completely different personality…
searcher44212025-11-22 00:56
I still say that the fan reaction was mostly why they killed her off. They could have easily done more with her character but they chose not to, and they could use the whole "raise the stakes" thing all they want but she was literally the only character in the movie who died, they made her the sacrificial lamb.
Grayx_28872025-11-22 03:00
black14beard2025-11-21 19:50
It was probably a result of the negative reaction from BW.
The character was changed from the comics and most people did not like her new characterization. If anyone had to go to raise the stakes, it was her.
I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if they gave Taskmaster the Mandarin treatment. Reintroduce the character with a more comic accurate depiction later on down the line and just say that this version was inspired by the old one.
WekonosChosen2025-11-21 20:05
Killing Taskmaster led to a series of funny movie posters at least. Even after the movie released they put out a whole bunch of posters treating TM like they were still part of the team.
Robbo_Craigo2025-11-21 20:06
I should have stated that I have limited knowledge of the comic character. Sorry guys…
SinginGidget2025-11-21 20:17
I'm really tired of the trope of having to kill off a character to "raise the stakes". Because we know what that means when it's just the example character that dies and everyone else makes it to the end. Try something knew.
But I also think they killed her off because so many people complained about her in Black Widow so it was fan appeasement (at it's worst, IMO.) But also they said her storyline was that she kept forgetting things and because Bob did too it felt repetative so this was their solution for some reason.
kulitchipon2025-11-22 00:36
I guess her presence has the least impact on the team of they offed her.
SinginGidget2025-11-24 15:49
Well that's exactly what I mean. They kill off someone that is pretty much expendable and pretend it's this dramatic "oh no eveyrone is in DANGER! wooooo" but we know what they're doing, so it comes off as lazy.
eagleblue442025-11-21 20:29
I forgot who mentioned this but taskmaster was originally the character to bring everyone together but when that role shifted to Yelena, they realized there wasn't much for taskmaster to do in the movie anymore so they just killed her off right away instead.
People also hated this adaptation of taskmaster. I got plenty of downvotes mentioning how I wished they would have tried to do something to redeem the character.
AnonymousFriend802025-11-21 20:41
I've never needed the stake of characters dying to increase my enjoyment of a story. But I guess many people do.
HearTheEkko2025-11-21 20:50
They killed her off to raise the stakes and probably to make room for the “real” Taskmaster in the future since the reception to her character was very poor. Basically they Mandarin-d her.
poppythepupstar2025-11-21 21:03
because women are expendable and they are too lazy to write back stories for them
Street_Mall95362025-11-21 21:11
Just another blip in a mid movie that very few people actually connected with.
Lord_Phoenix952025-11-21 23:57
They killed her off to show that "no one was safe".
But realistically no one liked her "character" so they probably went with a way to ensure that Tony Masters can be introduced. I mean don't get me wrong I think she could've worked out in Thunderbolts but she has no character and that's not the actors fault though just how Antonia Dreykov was written, very poorly.
spidervenom6192025-11-22 00:01
1. To "Raise the stakes".
2. The Dudebros really wanted Comic Tony Masters for some godforshaken reason I will never understand even though that version of Tony sucks and Marvel's Spider version of Tony is a better written character then Generic Cocky Villain 255 would ever be,
InevitableWeight3142025-11-22 07:46
She was a pretty nothing character and nothing like the comics. I thought her action was pretty cool but to have any staying power she should have been like the comics’ Taskmaster. I don’t mind the gender swap but Taskmaster is supposed to be funny, ridiculous, charming and very talkative.
While silent mercenaries can make interesting characters, anyone can fill that role. Why reduce such a popular villain to essentially nothing?
And, as other people said, to raise the stakes
AugustAPC2025-11-22 18:52
One of the worst comic adaptations of all time. On the level of Deadpool in Wolverine Origins, perhaps worse. Fucking embarrassing how shit of a job they did with that character.
Killing her immediately was the best decision they've made in a long time.
marcella98_2025-11-23 12:20
It makes sense that they killed her to raise stakes etc., but man her character had potential and I'm sad that got cut off!
Commentaires
They killed off Stark, Yondu, Natasha, Pietro, Frigga, and Jane Foster.
Aside from us discussing that it was specifically a move to try and set fake stakes in *Thunderbolts*, those are also all example of characters who died much later in the films, often as either a motivation for other characters or for a greater sacrifice. Taskmaster was merced within 15 minutes and nobody but Yelena even blinked at it. It was just a move to demonstrate how expendable this group was supposed to be, but with zero other casualties in the end.
Makes the character itself have tge saddest fucking life on the MCU though
As a matter of fact i was surprised when she spoke at all, but it wasn’t enough to make me care
I personally didn't mind it as I found the MCU's Taskmaster to be very bland and forgettable (in my opinion, the most memorable thing she did was die). However, I would've preferred it if they turned her into a character I genuinely liked.
I honestly didn't remember the character from Black Widow and had no idea who they killed off.
You raise the stakes by killing off a character that is part of the team, not by killing off a random nameless at the start of the movie.
It's also there to serve Ava's story of her wrestling with whether she's a good person or not. Her entire demeanor is her trying to pretend she doesnt care, like she's trying to give off the vibe of a bad person, but she cant convincingly do it. She pretends that she's unbothered by offing Taskmaster, but finds herself asking Yelena about her in a later scene
What's going to happen now after Doomsday and Secret Wars? We'll, my guess is they are going to hit the soft reboot button and just bring another variant of the Taskmaster from the multiverse and say **"Yeap, this is the real Taskmaster that you wanted. We're sorry for Black Widow (2021). Please don't hate us again. We're desperate."**
With none of the elements that people like about Wade Wilson...since you know they sewed his mouth shut and then gave him a bunch of random powers.
Obviously some people would be opposed to Taskie getting genderswapped regardless but let us not pretend that genderswapping is the only complaint about this Taskie.
The character was changed from the comics and most people did not like her new characterization. If anyone had to go to raise the stakes, it was her.
I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if they gave Taskmaster the Mandarin treatment. Reintroduce the character with a more comic accurate depiction later on down the line and just say that this version was inspired by the old one.
But I also think they killed her off because so many people complained about her in Black Widow so it was fan appeasement (at it's worst, IMO.) But also they said her storyline was that she kept forgetting things and because Bob did too it felt repetative so this was their solution for some reason.
People also hated this adaptation of taskmaster. I got plenty of downvotes mentioning how I wished they would have tried to do something to redeem the character.
But realistically no one liked her "character" so they probably went with a way to ensure that Tony Masters can be introduced. I mean don't get me wrong I think she could've worked out in Thunderbolts but she has no character and that's not the actors fault though just how Antonia Dreykov was written, very poorly.
2. The Dudebros really wanted Comic Tony Masters for some godforshaken reason I will never understand even though that version of Tony sucks and Marvel's Spider version of Tony is a better written character then Generic Cocky Villain 255 would ever be,
While silent mercenaries can make interesting characters, anyone can fill that role. Why reduce such a popular villain to essentially nothing?
And, as other people said, to raise the stakes
Killing her immediately was the best decision they've made in a long time.