We’ve known for months that Taskmaster will be the villain in Black Widow, the kickoff to the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phase Four that fans are still patiently waiting for after it was delayed twice as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic, with the long-awaited solo outing for Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff now not arriving until May 2021.
Despite Taskmaster being all over the movie’s promotional footage, which gives audiences unfamiliar with the character a glimpse into his abilities to mimic the fighting style of virtually everyone he comes into contact with, Marvel have been keeping their cards very close to the chest in regards to confirming who’s actually under the costume.
Most people are expecting O-T Fagbenle’s Rick Mason to fill the role given the MCU’s penchant for having characters close to the title hero at the start of the story eventually revealed to have nefarious designs in mind, but that seems far too obvious given that all the signs are pointing in that direction and it would make the continued secrecy unnecessary after fans guessed the big reveal over a year ahead of time.
Regardless of whether Fagbenle is playing Taskmaster or not, a new image from the official Black Widow tie-in book has given us our best look yet at the highly skilled mercenary, and you can check it out below.
Of course, Rachel Weisz’s Melina Vostokoff has also been touted as a potential Taskmaster candidate, and based on how the villain appears to be familiar with the fighting styles of the various Avengers that Natasha has teamed up with over the years, it can’t be ruled out that Thaddeus Ross and S.H.I.E.L.D. might also be heavily involved in the creation of Black Widow‘s big bad. For now, though, we’ll just have to wait and see.
