Jake Schreier’s Thunderbolts* features what could be the MCU’s worst character death, which is only made worse in retrospect thanks to a Black Widow deleted scene. Thunderbolts* brings back several secondary MCU anti-heroes and transforms them into the franchise’s next generation of Avengers. Unfortunately, not all of them get the same treatment.
To say the least, Thunderbolts* kills off Olga Kurylenko’s Taskmaster unceremoniously. Antonia Dreykov’s premature death raises the stakes for the rest of the Thunderbolts, but ultimately, it carries little to no dramatic weight. After looting her gear and addressing her dead body, Ghost and the rest of the team promptly forget about Taskmaster’s existence.
Black Widow’s Alternate Ending Sets Up A Redemption Arc For Taskmaster
Within MCU canon, Black Widow ends with Natasha Romanoff and Taskmaster fleeing the Red Room’s crash site before Thaddeus Ross and the authorities arrive. In one of Black Widow‘s deleted scenes, Natasha stays and gets captured by Ross. While addressing Black Widow‘s Red Room aftermath, Natasha sees an unconscious Taskmaster getting transported away and immediately asks Ross to take special care of her.
Natasha Romanoff goes out of her way to tell Ross, “take care of her; she’s been through more than all of us.” Despite her actions, Taskmaster had the potential to redeem herself after recovering her freedom, and Natasha knew it. Fast-forward a few years, and Taskmaster briefly got to utter a few words before she was shot in the head.
While General Dreykov turned his own daughter into a killing machine, it was Natasha Romanoff who drove Antonia Dreykov to her fate. Natasha’s botched Budapest mission left Antonia on the brink of death, which directly led to Antonia becoming Taskmaster. Breaking Taskmaster’s programming in Black Widow was a personal victory for Natasha, but it ultimately resulted in another tragedy.
Thunderbolts* Taskmaster Twist Doesn’t Do The Character Justice
Taskmaster’s lack of a defined personality and her drastic differences to the comics made it difficult for fans to connect with her. However, Taskmaster’s death doesn’t suit her character. Antonia Dreykov wasn’t developed enough for her death to be shocking, and at the same time, her arc was clear enough that her abrupt murder seems insulting.
Eventually, Olga Kurylenko’s Taskmaster could have evolved into a more familiar version of the Marvel Comics assassin-for-hire. But even if she didn’t, the least she deserved was a personality of her own after the events of Black Widow. The fact that Natasha Romanoff advocated for Antonia Dreykov’s well-being only makes Taskmaster’s Thunderbolts* an even worse tragedy for both characters.
