Villains Wiki

Hi. This is Thesecret1070. I am an admin of this site. Edit as much as you wish, but one little thing... If you are going to edit a lot, then make yourself a user and login. Other than that, enjoy Villains Wiki!!!

READ MORE

Villains Wiki
Register
Advertisement
NOTE: This article is about the incarnation of Taskmaster from the Marvel Cinematic Universe film series. The mainstream version can be found here: Taskmaster (Marvel).
Villain Overview

When your bomb exploded, it nearly killed my Antonia. I had to put a chip in the back of her neck. In the back of her neck. Look at her. You find it difficult to look at her. I, too! She, she watches everything. And she can do it. She's a perfect mimic. And she fights just like all of your friends.
~ General Dreykov to Black Widow.
Is he gone?
~ Antonia to Black Widow about Dreykov, free from her brainwashing.

Antonia Dreykov, also known as Taskmaster, is the secondary antagonist of the 2021 Marvel Cinematic Universe film Black Widow and will return in some capacity in the upcoming 2024 film Thunderbolts.

She is a commander of the Red Room who is tasked with hunting down Black Widow and bring her home years after her defection from the Soviet Union. She is the (former) right-hand of General Dreykov, who is also her father who placed a chip inside her, giving her full control of her body and mind. Becoming Taskmaster, Antonia is able to mimic and copy the fighting styles of anyone she observes. She and the Black Widows were freed from her father's control upon his death, allowing her to be free from his control.

She is portrayed by Olga Kurylenko, who also played Etain in Centurion, as Andy Lister played the character in suit. As a child, she was portrayed by Ryan Kiera Armstrong.

Biography[]

Background[]

Antonia is the daughter to the Soviet General Dreykov, who was the overseer of the Red Room, which was a top secret program where young women were trained to become assassins. Due to his position, he was a wanted man by the organization S.H.I.E.L.D., who sent agents Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton to eliminate him. Natasha would use Antonia to get to the general, and learned that he moved his base in Budapest.

When her father was in his office in Budapest, Antonia visited him and was nearly killed in a blast set off by Romanoff and Barton. Antonia and her father survived the explosion, but she was left severely disfigured and burnt from the flames. Due to cerebral cortex being damaged, General Dreykov decided to save his daughter by planting a chip in the back of her neck, which allowed Antonia to null her senses and give her complete control over her mind and body. Antonia and her father were believed to have been killed in the explosion by Natasha, who felt guilt for killing an innocent person to eliminate her target.

Becoming Taskmaster[]

After having the chip implanted in her neck, Antonia was able to mimic the fighting styles of anyone she saw in combat by observation. Seeing potential in his daughter for the Red Room, General Dreykov had her brainwashed by Melina Vostokoff's chemical, which gave him full control of Antonia and the Black Widows. Antonia lost her freedom to her father, who could remotely control her to assassinate targets for the Red Room. Antonia was designated "Project Taskmaster", and Dreykov would only deploy her under extreme situations or on top priority missions. Due to her reputation among the Black Widows, Taskmaster was believed to control the Red Room since she was commander, but it was truly her father who was in control.

The Avengers[]

Can you? Can you wipe out that much red? Dreykov's daughter?
~ Loki to Black Widow.

She was mentioned in The Avengers by Loki Laufeyson, who learned of Natasha Romanoff's past when he enthralled her colleague, Clint Barton. During his interrogation, Loki responded to Natasha's statement of wanting wipe her "red ledger", telling her could she wipe out what happened to "Dreykov's daughter".

Black Widow[]

When Red Room operative Yelena Belova escaped with the "red dust", General Dreykov decided to task his daughter to find Yelena and obtain the substance. Taskmaster learned that Natasha Romanoff was given the red dust, and ambushed Romanoff while she traveling through Norway. During their battle, Taskmaster analyzed Romanoff's moves, which allowed her to counter any of Black Widow's attacks, much to the latter's shock. Taskmaster defeated Romanoff by kicking her off of the bridge, but discovered that the red dust was taken. Antonia would learn information of Romanoff and Belova's whereabouts in Budapest, and continued her pursuit of the two assassins with the Black Widows. Taskmaster failed to kill the two, however, as Belova tricked Antonia by having her believe the two escaped via a manhole.

Taskmaster was given a lead on their whereabouts by Melina Melina Vostokoff, who informed Antonia that the two came to her home alongside Alexei Shostakov to learn more about the Red Room. Arriving to Vostokoff's home, Melina advised that they should take the three to the Red Room Academy so they could be executed by the general. During the interrogation between Dreykov and Romanoff (who was disguised as Vostokoff), the general ordered Antonia to remove her helmet, revealing her scarred face to a shocked Natasha. She was then ordered by her father to kill Vostokoff and Shostakov, as he knew that they were working to free the Black Widows with red dust. Taskmaster encountered the two and battled Alexei, but she was stopped from killing Shostakov by Melina imprisoning her in a cell.

Taskmaster was later freed from her cell by Natasha out of guilt, and the two proceeded to fight as Belova killed General Dreykov in his helicopter. Antonia was defeated by Romanoff, who caused her helmet to come off and proceeded to spray the red dust into her face, freeing her from her father's control. Falling to the ground, Antonia asked Natasha if her father was gone, and left the area with the other Black Widows to have a free life.

Powers and Abilities[]

Powers[]

  • Photographic Reflexes: She can copy any move she sees, being able to replicate her target's fighting style by observing and studying them. After watching the fighting styles of the Avengers, she was able to mimic their skill sets, which she used on top priority missions. Additionally, Taskmaster would mimic anyone's ability via their weaponry, such as mimicking Captain America's shield mastery and Hawkeye's bow mastery.

Abilities[]

  • Master Martial Artist: She is master at hand to hand combat, having copied the fighting styles of the Avengers while watching their clash in 2016. She demonstrated great fighting skills while fighting with Black Widow, whom she had previously mimicked. Antonia was able to handle her own against Natasha on two occasions, and Red Guardian, who's physiology was enhanced by the Soviet version of the super soldier serum.
  • Shield Mastery: After copying Captain America, Taskmaster is highly skilled at using a shield in combat offensive or defensively.
  • Sword Mastery: Taskmaster is highly skilled at using a sword in combat. This best demonstrated during both fights against Black Widow.
  • Knife Mastery: Having studied the Winter Soldier, Taskmaster can use knives in close quarter combat.
  • Master Marksman: Taskmaster is a expert marksman, having studied and mimicked Hawkeye's archery skills and the Winter Soldier's weapon handling.
  • Master Acrobat: Having copied and studied the agility of Black Widow and Spider-Man, Taskmaster is able to use acrobatics during combat.

Equipment[]

  • Shield: She carries a collapsible circular shield to fully mimic the fighting style of Captain America, who wielded a vibranium shield during the course of his superhero career.
  • Sword: Taskmaster carries a collapsible single edge sword similar to a katana or ninjato.
  • Bow: She carried a bow similar to Hawkeye, whom she had mimicked from his clash with Iron Man's faction in 2016. Upon mimicking his fighting style with a bow, Taskmaster carried one to use in combat.
  • Chiappa Rhino: Taskmaster carries this revolver holstered on the right thigh.
  • Combat knife: Taskmaster carries a combat knife holstered on the right leg which was used during the fight with Red Guardian.
  • Suit: Taskmaster wore a tactical armored suit when operating on missions. The helmet is retractable and can be removed by a button on the right gauntlet. The mask also contains a heads up display which analyzes battlefield data.
    • Retractable claws: The gloves contain retractable metal claws similar to Black Panther.
    • Retractable blade gauntlet: The left gauntlet contains a retractable blade similar to Crossbones.

Trivia[]

  • Since the announcement of the film's cast, Taskmaster's actor was never listed in the lead-up to the film. It wasn't until the release of Black Widow that Taskmaster's actor was finally confirmed to be Olga Kurylenko, which in turn revealed that the MCU incarnation of the Taskmaster is female.
  • A different Taskmaster voiced by Crispin Freeman appears in the video game Captain America: The Winter Soldier - The Official Game. This version of the character allies himself with Sin and King Cobra in their conflict against S.H.I.E.L.D., stealing several Iso-8-powered nuclear warheads from Project Pegasus with the intention of bombing major cities. Taskmaster leads Captain America into a trap, planning to kill him, but is ultimately defeated and surrenders, allowing himself to be taken into custody by S.H.I.E.L.D. and interrogated by Black Widow. As of the events of Black Widow, this version of Taskmaster is no longer considered canonical.
  • Despite the fact that Taskmaster is portrayed by a female, most of her stunts and masked scenes were portrayed by her body double, Andy Lister, who is a male.
  • Taskmaster is the ninth gender swapped character from their comic book counterparts, following Jeri Hogarth, the Ancient One, Fenris Wolf, Ghost, Mar-Vell, Morgan Stark, Gabriella Rosetti and Karli Morgenthau.
    • She is also the second incarnation of Taskmaster to be gender swapped with the first version debuting on Deadpool MAX.
  • This incarnation of Taskmaster received mixed reception from fans not only because of her combat suit deemed too generic design-wise that some would find certain aesthetics of it seemingly taking cues from Lord Zedd's appearance, but also her background as a mostly silent technologically-enhanced, brainwashed super-soldier who could match the protagonist's combat abilities effectively the retelling of Bucky Barnes's own specifically during his time as Winter Soldier and also was hated for being a gender swap of the character and not being the real character from the comics.
    • To further drive the point of similarity with Bucky Barnes, both Taskmaster and former Winter Soldier are cybernetically enhanced (Taskmaster with special chip which allows her to copy others' combat abilities while Bucky a cybernetic arm).
  • Taskmaster is shown to have replicated combat skills from the following characters:
    • Captain America - shield combat
    • Crossbones - wrist-knife combat
    • Winter Solider - single blade combat
    • Black Panther - claw and Wakandan combat
    • Spider-Man - line-swinging and dodging acrobatics
    • Hawkeye - bow and arrow
    • Black Widow - assassin technique
    • Falcon - Air combat
    • Iron Man - Analyzing fight patterns to adapt suit
    • Vision - sending person flying with a palm strike

Navigation[]

           Marvel Cinematic Universe Logo Villains

Ten Rings
Mandarin | Raza Hamidmi Al-Wazar | Abu Bakaar | Ahmed | Omar | Ten Rings Agent | Jackson Norriss | HYDRA Buyer | Death Dealer | Razor Fist | Gao Lei

Strategic Operations Command Center
Abomination | Thunderbolt Ross | Kathleen Sparr

Hammer Industries
Justin Hammer | Jack | Hammer Drones

Frost Giants
Loki Laufeyson | Laufey | Grundroth | Hailstrum | Raze | Jotunheim Beast

HYDRA
Leaders: Hive | Red Skull | Arnim Zola | Daniel Whitehall | Baron Strucker | Grant Ward | Gideon Malick
Centipede Group: John Garrett | Ian Quinn | Raina | Edison Po | Deathlok | Debbie | Vanchat | Scorch | Kaminsky
STRIKE: Alexander Pierce | Crossbones | Jack Rollins
Winter Soldiers: Vasily Karpov | Winter Soldier | Josef | Wilfred Nagel
Others: Aida | General Hale | Wilfred Malick | Heinz Kruger | HYDRA Lieutenant | Velt | Jasper Sitwell | Russo | Senator Stern | List | Scarlet Witch | Quicksilver | Mitchell Carson | HYDRA Buyer | Sunil Bakshi | Absorbing Man | Agent 33 | Blizzard | Kebo | Werner von Strucker | Giyera | Lucio | Alisha Whitley | Primitives | Hero Mercs | Dr. Leopold Fitz | Alistair Fitz | Ruby Hale | Qovas | Senator Atwood | HYDRA's Champion

Nazis
Adolf Hitler | Roeder | Hutter | Schneider

Black Order
Thanos | Ebony Maw | Cull Obsidian | Proxima Midnight | Corvus Glaive | Nebula | The Other
Chitauri: Leviathans | Chitauri Gorillas
Others: Outriders | Sakaaran Mercenaries

A.I.M.
Aldrich Killian | Eric Savin | Trevor Slattery | Ellen Brandt | Sweat Shop Agent | Ponytail Express | Maya Hansen | Vice President Rodriguez | Extremis Soldiers

Dark Elves
Malekith the Accursed | Kurse the Strong

Marauders
Duhg | Kronan Marauder

Kree Empire
Leaders: Supreme Intelligence | Ronan the Accuser | Dar-Benn
Starforce: Yon-Rogg | Minn-Erva | Korath the Pursuer | Att-lass | Bron-Char
Kree Watch: Kasius | Sinara | Faulnak | Vicar | Tye
Others: Vin-Tak | Soh-Larr | Papp-Tonn | Ty-Rone | Sakaaran Mercenaries | Exolon Monks

Ravagers
Yondu Udonta | Kraglin Obfonteri | Horuz | Vorker | Tullk | Oblo | Taserface | Gef | Retch | Halfnut | Brahl | Narblik | Huhtar

Inhuman Afterlife
Jiaying | Gordon | Calvin Zabo | Raina | Alisha Whitley

Red Room
General Dreykov | Taskmaster | Madame B | Dottie Underwood | Black Widows

Kingpin's Criminal Empire
Leaders: Kingpin
Tracksuit Mafia: Echo | William Lopez | Clown | Ivan Banionis | Tomas | Enrique | Dmitri
Black Knife Cartel: Zane
Others: James Wesley | Leland Owlsley | Christian Blake | Carl Hoffman | John Healy | Bullseye | Vanessa Fisk | Tammy Hattley | Felix Manning | Eleanor Bishop

The Hand
Madame Gao | Nobu Yoshioka | Bakuto | Alexandra Reid | Elektra Natchios | Murakami | Sowande

IGH
Karl Malus | Miklos Kozlov | Leslie Hansen

Stokes Crime Family
Cottonmouth | Black Mariah | Shades

Maggia
Joseph Manfredi

Watchdogs
Felix Blake | Holden Radcliffe | Superior | Tucker Shockley | Ellen Nadeer | Victor Ramon | Hellfire

Zealots
Kaecilius | Lucian Aster

Orgocorp
Leaders: High Evolutionary | Theel | Vim
Hell Spawn: Behemoth and War Pig | Octo-Hyena
Soldiers: Controller | Karja | Kwol | Bletelsnort | Carrot Head | Phlektik | Orgosentries
Sovereign: Ayesha | Sovereign Admiral | Zylak | Sovereign Chambermaid | Adam Warlock

Celestials
Arishem the Judge | Eson the Searcher | Ego the Living Planet | Tiamut the Communicator

Bestman Salvage
Vulture | Tinkerer | Jackson Brice | Shocker | Randy Vale

Berserker Army
Hela Odinsdottir | The Executioner | Fenris Wolf

Sakaaran Guards
The Grandmaster | Topaz | Sakaaran Mercenaries

Fire Demons
Surtur | Fire Dragon

Cerberus Squad
Agent Orange | Blacksmith | Jigsaw | Morty Bennett | Carson Wolf | The Punisher

The Pride
Magistrate | Leslie Dean | Tina Minoru | Robert Minoru | Geoffrey Wilder | Catherine Wilder | Victor Stein | Janet Stein | Dale Yorkes | Stacey Yorkes

Sambisan Militants
Sambisan Captain

Skrull Resistance
Talos | Norex | Gravik | Pagon | Brogan | Raava | Zirksu | Nuro | Kreega

Mysterio's Crew
Mysterio | William Ginter Riva | Victoria Snow | Gutes Guterman | Janice Lincoln | Doug | Shanice
Elementals: Molten Man | Hydro-Man | Sandman | Elemental Fusion

Roxxon Corporation
Peter Scarborough | Terrors

Sarge's Squad
Sarge | Snowflake | Jaco | Pax

Chronicom Hunters
Sibyl | Atarah | Malachi | Luke | Baal-Gad | Abel | Isaiah

Sonny Burch's Gang
Sonny Burch | Uzman | Anitolov | Knox | Stoltz

The Coven
Morgan le Fay | Cassandra | Bronwyn

LAF
Georges Batroc | Ferdinand Lopez | Gerald Durand | Louie

Flag Smashers
Flag-Smasher | Dovich | Gigi | DeeDee | Lennox | Nico | Matias | Diego

Time Variance Authority
He Who Remains | Ravonna Renslayer | Miss Minutes | General Dox | Hunter D-90 | Hunter X-05 | Minuteman 90018371

Soul Eaters
Dweller-In-Darkness

Eternals
Ikaris | Sprite

Deviants
Kro | Enkidu

Disciples of Ammit
Arthur Harrow | Ammit

Clan Destine
Najma | Fariha | Aadam | Saleem

Intelligencia
Leader: Todd Phelps
Wrecking Crew: Bulldozer | Piledriver | Thunderball | Wrecker
Others: Ulysses Klaue | Josh Miller

Monster Hunting Cabal
Ulysses Bloodstone | Verussa Bloodstone | Joshua Jovan | Azarel | Liorn | Barasso

Talokanil Armed Forces
Namor | Attuma | Namora

Council of Kangs
Immortus | Rama-Tut | Scarlet Centurion | Kang the Conqueror | Mister Gryphon

Assorted Variants
Zombies: Iron Man | Captain America | Hawkeye | Falcon | Doctor Strange | Wong | Happy Hogan | Sharon Carter | Scarlet Witch
Earth-96283: Green Goblin | Doctor Octopus and his tentacles | Sandman
Earth-120703: The Lizard | Electro
Earth-29929: Infinity Ultron | Arnim Zola
Loki's variants: Loki Laufeyson (Variant L1130) | Loki Laufeyson (What If...?) | Sylvie Laufeydottir | Boastful Loki | President Loki | Glamshades Loki | Pokey Loki | Bicycle Loki
Doctor Strange's variants: Strange Supreme | Sinister Strange
Ego's variants: Ego the Living Planet (T'Challa Star-Lord) | Ego the Living Planet (What If...? Peter Quill)
Others: Red Skull | The Collector | Yellowjacket | Vision | Prince Killmonger | Venom | Baron Mordo | Nova Corps (Irani Rael, Garthan Saal) | Yon-Rogg | Ronan the Accuser | Yondu Udonta | Justin Hammer | Hydra Agent | Rustam and Sergei | Grandmaster | Topaz | Thanos | Red Room (Melina Vostokoff, Hydra Stomper, Black Widows) | Surtur | Spanish Armed Forces | Rodrigo Gonzolo | Queen Isabella I of Spain | Hela | Odin | Xu Wenwu | King Thor (1602) | Happy Hogan (1602) | Royal Yellowjackets

Others (Films/Disney+)
Phase 1
Iron Monger | Samuel Sterns | Tough Guy Leader | Whiplash | Anton Vanko | The Destroyer | Georgi Luchkov
Phase 2
Herman | White Power Dave | The Collector | Garthan Saal | Moloka Dar | Monstrous Inmate | Ultron | Ultron Sentinels | Yellowjacket
Phase 3
Baron Zemo | Karl Mordo | Dormammu | Abilisk | Mac Gargan | Prowler | Erik Killmonger | W'Kabi | Linbani | Linda | Dave | N'Jobu | Ghost | Goliath | Elihas Starr | Akihiko
Phase 4
Agatha Harkness | Tyler Hayward | Valentina Allegra de Fontaine | Power Broker | Alioth | Khonshu | Anton Mogart | Wendy Spector | Raoul Bushman | Ribbon Demon | Gargantos | Darkhold Castle Guards | Chthon | Sadie Deever | Gorr the God Butcher | Zeus | Black Berserkers | Habooska the Horrible | Hercules | Rapu | Iwua | Titania | Runa | Donny Blaze | Leapfrog | Leap Squad
Phase 5
Lord Krylar | Quantumnauts | Killer Snowbot | Vickie Tyson

Others (Pre-Disney+ TV)
Camilla Reyes | Franklin Hall | Lorelei | Blackout | Christian Ward | Jakob Nystrom | Lash | Katya Belyakov | Johann Fennhoff | Turk Barrett | Bill Fisk | Whitney Frost | Kilgrave | Will Simpson | Dorothy Walker | Audrey Eastman | Diamondback | Eli Morrow | Lucy Bauer | Harold Meachum | Jim Pierce | Maximus | Lewis Wilson | Auran | Mordis | Tony Gnucci | Lance | Paulie | Leo | Frank Dean | Darius Davis | Detective Flores | Graviton | Grill | Samuel Voss | Alisa Jones | Pryce Cheng | Detective Connors | Bushmaster | Steel Serpent | Typhoid Mary | Chen Wu | Joy Meachum | Ryhno | Ho | Rosalie Carbone | Topher | Anthony Wall/AWOL | Anderson Schultz | John Pilgrim | Eliza Schultz | Krista Dumont | Baker | D'Spayre | Mayhem | Lia Dewan | Izel | Shrike | Id Simmons | Hellcat | Foolkiller | Nathaniel Malick | Kora | Marduk Helstrom | Kthara | Basar | Magoth | Raum

          AhoqYeM3RVlkSmJN477BEA6ux5Y Villains

Comics
A.I.M. | Arcade | Baron von Strucker | Baron Zemo | Black Lotus | Black Spectre | Black Widow | Bullseye | Crimson Dynamo | Crossbones | Damon Dran | Doctor Doom | Femizons | Galactus | Graviton | Hand | HYDRA | Iron Maiden | Kingpin | Lady Bullseye | Madame Masque | Madame Viper | Mandrill | M.O.D.O.K. | Kono Sanada | Norman Osborn | Punisher | Puppet Master | Red Guardian | Red Skull | Sabretooth | Scarlet Witch | Silver Samurai | Skrulls | Snapdragon | Taskmaster | Terrax the Tamer | Ultron | Vindoktor | Watchlord | Whiplash | Winter Soldier | Wrangler | Yelena Belova

Movies
Avengers Confidential: Black Widow & Punisher: Black Widow | Punisher | Orion | Egghead | Grim Reaper | Graviton | Griffin | Taskmaster | Count Nefaria | Baron Zemo
Black Widow: Red Room (General Dreykov, Taskmaster & Black Widows) | Thunderbolt Ross | Valentina Allegra de Fontaine

Advertisement