Taskmaster

"Personally, I think we've done enough of the beating and torture and I'm ready to move straight to the beheading."


"That gig -- the Villain Schools -- I had to get out of it. Think about it. All my clients were guys who needed training. It was always, 'C'mon, Tasky, front me the training. I'll make good after my first job. I'm gonna be huge, man. You just gotta teach me that badass Punisher move I saw on Entertainment Tonight." And the heroes, swinging in to bust up the free enterprise, I'm engaged in. And every time they do? I gotta find a new Abandoned Warehouse or a new abandoned drilling platform or, would it had never been so, a new circus to take over. Overhead? You don't know what overhead is until you've see what a guy gets paid to scoop up elephant %?$#!"
—Taskmaster

Taskmaster is a Marvel Comics character. He first appeared in "Avengers" vol. 1 #195 (May, 1980), created by David Michelinie and George Pérez. He serves as a sometimes hero, sometimes villain of the Marvel Universe. His trademark is the ability to copy the movements, and, therefore, skills of those he watches, which he calls "photographic reflexes". What's interesting about him as compared to other power mimics is that he doesn't copy the powers of those individuals he sees, only their mundane skills. One example of this is when he's working for the 50 State Initative and copies the movement skills of Spider-Man for use in training the Scarlet Spiders.

Comics

  • Taskmaster (2002)
  • Taskmaster v.2 (2010-2011)
  • Taskmaster: Unthinkable

Storylines

Video Games

Taskmaster provides examples of the following tropes:
  • Amnesiac Lover: He's married, but can't even remember it for more than a few minutes after his wife Mercedes Merced tells him. She implies this isn't the first time it's happened.
  • Awesomeness By Analysis / Mega Manning: As described above, he can copy the skills and movements (but not powers) of anyone he sees. Not only that, but he can use this knowledge to predict what his opponent will do next. Too bad it's useless against people who are nuttier than squirrel poo. And it doesn't grant him Required Secondary Powers, like tring out a dive while he didn't know how to swim.
  • Awesome Yet Practical: In addition to the usual combative techniques, Taskmaster has also found use for his copying ability in his off-hours, allowing him to perfect his golf swing and become a world-class chef.
  • Badass Abnormal: Taskmaster has on several occasions copied and used explicitly superhuman physical abilities in a pinch (Shi'ar martial arts, which require a lighter, stronger-than-human skeleton and musculature, and bullet-catching, respectively), and has taught himself to move at "twice the speed the human body was designed for" by watching video of various techniques on fast-forward.
    • Additionally, he once underwent an experimental process to allow himself to copy actual superpowers via observation, but unfortunately, was interrupted before the process could fully "take".
  • Cardboard Prison: He works off his time by teaching heroes.
  • Cloak and Dagger: He's worked for just about every secret agency in Marvel that you've ever heard of. And a few you haven't.
  • Cursed with Awesome: Taskmaster's ability has been retconned so that he can only remember things related to fighting and survival. He can't remember things that he did last week.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Particularly when written by Gail Simone.
  • Depending on the Artist: Oh God, this guy could be the most triumphant example of this trope,even in the same series his mask looks more like a skull or like [dead link] a ghostor something else
  • Downer Ending: His miniseries ends with Mercedes successfully getting him to remember her.. only for him to sacrifice those memories again to save her from the villain of the story. The worst part is she implies this isn't even the first time this has happened and that he's remembered and forgotten her dozens of time.
  • Dual-Wielding: Shows a fondness for doing this with pistols in the Udon mini-series and concurrent issues of Deadpool and Agent X.
  • The Foil: To Deadpool, whenever he shows up. Taskmaster is calm and professional, while Deadpool is unpredictable and just plain crazy.
  • Genre Savvy: Often shows signs of this.
  • Heel Face Revolving Door / Punch Clock Villain: In short, Taskmaster seems to go with whichever side will make him the most reliable, most hassle-free money.
  • Identity Amnesia: He's really an ex-SHIELD agent whose only reason for being a bad guy is the feeling of guilt he can't escape of abandoning his wife Mercedes. Even after the rest of his memories are gone, he can't escape it.
  • Improbable Aiming Skills: Observation of Hawkeye, the Punisher, Bullseye and others has given him this with a variety of implents ranging from the usual bows and guns to lead pencils.
  • Lamarck Was Right: Finesse of Avengers Academy has his powers and is implied to be his daughter, though he can't remember if it's true.
  • Katanas Are Just Better: Implied to be the reason for his carrying one in the Udon mini-series. Outside of UDON books however, he prefers double edge swords.
  • Laser-Guided Amnesia: Justified a little better than most cases in fiction. It is explained in his mini-series that all of his explicit memories, which makes up his past, have been wiped out because of damage to the hippocampus. This leaves only the implicit ones, which contain his skill set, left.
  • Made of Iron: Has shrugged off multiple bullet wounds, getting drop-kicked through a wall by an enraged Spider-Man and being run over by speeding cars.
  • The Mentor: Due to knowing the movesets of many heroes and villains, he's often hired for teaching others how to fight. For example, Agent X, in the eponymous mini-series, and the Iron Spiders, whom he imprinted with Spider-man's movesets.
  • Mood Whiplash: His miniseries has a severe case. It goes from scenes involving a South American village full of Adolf Hilters trying to kill each other to Taskmaster's inner monologues reflecting on how horrible life is being unable to have an identity thanks to his memory loss.
  • Mundane Utility: He uses his powers to impress women, gambit, cook and perfect his golf swing.
  • Only in It For the Money: He'll work for goddamn anyone if they pay him enough.
  • Photographic Memory: Taken Up to Eleven.
    • So much so that there's been some debate on whether it makes him super-human, mutant, or just "gifted".
    • Supposedly, learning new moves overwrites other memories. However, this is a case of Did Not Do the Research. Sure, the "Learning moves erases my memories" bit sounds believable, but it's false. The human brain can store a vritually unlimited amount of information. And even Taskmaster's amnesia is portrayed unrealistically. In real life, there is a condition where people lack the ability to form new memories, or at least, long term memories. Because of this they have no concept of time. A man who obtained the amnesia in, say, 1980, would always think it's 1980. Yet, when Taskmaster's amnesia is shown, its effects are nowhere near as extensive as this.
      • Speaking of not doing to research, Taskmaster has shown to clearly remembers his past in previous comics and keeps it a secret in order to keep a low profile.
      • That one can probably be handwaved, though. If he doesn't remember his past beyond a certain point, it would be right in line for him to just make one up, and keep it vague enough that no one could disprove it.
  • Punny Name: Taskmaster's real name is Anthony "Tony" Masters. Slur Tony and Masters together and what does it start to sound like?
    • His wife Mercedes Merced also counts.
  • Sadist Teacher: Often seems like this to his students.
  • Stupid Jetpack Hitler: The latest mini-series makes his copying powers out to be the result of taking a formula devised by German scientists towards the end of WWII.
  • Super Senses: Is capable of perceiving and reacting to the world around him at faster-than-human levels, allowing him to function consciously while using his double speed ability and to perceive bullets in flight and catch them with his hands or otherwise deflect them.
  • Super Speed: In addition to the aforementioned bullet-catching, he's also been seen shooting multiple arrows near-simultaneously (from a bow, which, being a direct copy of Hawkeye's, requires more arm-strength than the average fit, adult male human possesses to even pull back to its full draw-length even once) and killing half a dozen men standing yards apart from each other with a sword in less than a second. When other characters fight him it can seem like he's everywhere around them all at once.
  • Super Strength: Seems to exhibit a low level of this (despite ostensibly only being "peak human"), being able to generate enough force through a shield throw to temporarily short out Iron Man's armour, knock giant characters off their feet despite being a dozen or so times smaller, casually punch a grown man several times his body-length through the air and hold his own against the superhumanly powerful Asgardians.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: With Deadpool
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