Taskmaster is a minor antagonist in Marvel's Spider-Man. He is a mysterious well-funded mercenary with the ability to mimic the physical movements of others, making him a dangerous foe in combat. Taskmaster was hired to monitor and possibly recruit Spider-Man, learning his moves and antagonizing him.
Taskmaster sets up a series of Taskmaster Challenges around New York City that Spider-Man must complete.
History[]
Marvel's Spider-Man[]
Taskmaster was hired by a secret client to monitor and possibly recruit Spider-Man. To study him, he set up a series of challenges throughout New York City, ranging from facing waves of enemies to deactivating bombs on the city. In "What's in the Box?", because Taskmaster's mercenaries posed a threat to New Yorkers forcing Spider-Man to compete, he completed them while finding the challenges highly disturbing, but nonetheless wished to prove himself.
Taskmaster ambushed Spider-Man twice. First after completing half the challenges, and then after Spider-Man completed all of them. Following his defeat, he revealed his purpose to Spider-Man with no further information about his identity, and vanished.
Marvel's Spider-Man 2[]
While not appearing or mentioned by name, Taskmaster's profile does make a brief appearance on Kraven's map.
Characteristics[]
Appearance[]
Concept art
Taskmaster wears a militarized body suit, wields an energy blade, and dons a helmet that resembles a stylized skull. He also wears a gray hood, and the costume has darker colors overall.
Personality[]
Being a contract mercenary, the mysterious Taskmaster prides himself on professionalism and completing his job. He shows patience as he is not content until he has learned everything about his target before completion and adding their abilities to his already vast skillset. Taskmaster is entirely mysterious, responding vaguely to any questions about his identity, and being quiet about his motives other than having a well-paid client.
Taskmaster appears both intrigued and enjoyed about watching and learning from Spider-Man. He also repeatedly looks down on his abilities and on his decision to pull punches in battle. Even after he is defeated by the wall-crawler, Taskmaster casually implies that he is not worth his client's time nor money.
Abilities and equipment[]
Taskmaster is a highly skilled mercenary whose main ability is his incredible reflexes, and his "photo-reflexive memory". He is able to observe, assess, and then replicate his target's combat maneuvers, as well as develop his own countermeasures against them through anticipating their movements. Watching Spider-Man deal with his bombs taught Taskmaster that he favored his right leg, and watching him in battle not only taught Taskmaster his moves, but the fact that Spider-Man was pulling punches.
Taskmaster is a master combatant, acrobat, and marksman, who claims he has gone toe-to-toe with the Avengers. He has access to a vast array of advanced weapons, mercenaries, and monetary funds. His primary weapon is a photogenic energy sword, and he is also capable of using a grappling device, and an array of high-powered firearms and explosives. Taskmaster also employs drones which drop spy cameras around the city.
Original appearance[]
Taskmaster first appeared in Avengers #195 (May 1980).
His real name is Tony Masters in mainstream continuity, most alternate reality comic timelines, and other media.