Taskmaster Reveals His Greatest Tactic (And It's Not A Fighting Move)
Taskmaster has a lot of tricks up his sleeve when it comes to fighting. But his best tactic isn't even what you'd think it is.
Taskmaster is a savant when it comes to fighting and has a photographic memory for copying any superhero’s battle style. But his greatest tactic doesn’t involve any strikes or kicks - unless you count running away as a leg move. His greatest fallback move is to fall back and retreat.
Taskmaster, like a lot of part-time villains, has no qualms with retreat. It’s a classic supervillain move. The good guys get the upper hand, why stick around and get turned into one big purple bruise when you can just escape? Taskmaster started out as a worthy opponent to the Avengers but has since joined the ranks of mercenaries and does dirty work for money with some good-guy caveats like not working with Nazis or hurting women and children.
Taskmaster #5, by Jed MacKay and Alessandro Vitti, concluded with the skull-wearing antihero finding out Maria Hill faked her own death. Taskmaster was the primary suspect in Maria’s death and Black Widow intended to make him pay for it. Widow had been trailing/maiming Taskmaster throughout the series and finally caught up with him at the conclusion.
Taskmaster dreaded fighting Widow (for obvious reasons). She’s basically Marvel’s version of Batman but without that pesky moral code that restricts killing. Taskmaster knew he couldn’t beat Widow even with his assorted catalog of moves from the likes of Shang-Chi, Daredevil, and Iron Fist. So his best option was to beat a hasty retreat. A head-on confrontation with an assassin built to end Captain America is not a smart move.
This comic has been especially playful with Taskmaster making him into a quip-making, rollicking, fun character. It represents a nice change from his supervillain days and it follows the playbook of Deadpool comics that have enjoyed immense success. But the conclusion of this story was a bit lackluster and didn’t keep to the cheeky tone the previous issues have had. Instead, it finishes with Taskmaster being used for a chump.
Taskmaster doesn’t elide the fact that he’s a coward, and in fact, sees it as an attribute. But unlike the tone of the previous books, the conclusion doesn’t even bother to set up a joke about his retreat. What’s funnier than sprinting away from Black Widow and making a “tactical retreat?” Instead, Taskmaster ditches the deadpan and plays it seriously. Highlighting that cowardice can be a positive trait. Widow ends up catching and cutting him anyway so it’s not much of a winning move.