Taskmaster

* Taskmaster
* Tony Masters

**Taskmaster** (**Anthony "Tony" Masters**) is an antagonist character and boss in *Marvel's Avengers*. He serves as the main antagonist of the prequel comic *MA: Black Widow* and as a secondary antagonist in the game itself.

## Codex Enty

Tony Masters, AKA Taskmaster was once a rank and file SHIELD agent with a special ability of mimicking the abilities of his targets. But because of his aggressive attitude and questionable methods he was dishonorably discharged from SHIELD. Hoping to one day exact revenge on his former employer, Taskmaster sought his fortune on the independent market, selling his skills to the highest bidder.

## Biography

Skilled with mimicking the abilities and fighting styles of his targets, Tony Masters served as an agent for SHIELD. Despite his abilities, his aggressive attitude and questionable methods lead to distrust within the organization. After being called off duty, Masters decided exact revenge on his employers, becoming a mercenary for hire to do so. Coming into contact with the terrorist cell Hydra, Masters accepted a contract to organize a breakout and used his position to plan one.

### Events of *MA: Black Widow*

When Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow joined SHIELD, Nick Fury assigned her to combat train with Masters. During their sessions, the two quickly realized they were equally matched, though he revealed his ability to mimic others' fighting styles. After weeks of training, Masters learned to mimic her fighting styles and ballet-based movements almost perfectly.

When Hydra's agents for interrogation, Masters made preparations to release them. After gaining access to the release codes and organizing a cyber attack on the systems, he mimicked Romanoff's acrobatics to slip past the security lasers and deactivate the locks. During it, Masters burned his shoulder on one of the beams, due to the height difference. After Romanoff subdued the group, he accused her of the jailbreak, presenting his findings to Fury. However, Romanoff quickly deduced he was responsible and, after uncovering the injury he received, revealed his guilt to present members.

As Fury called for his arrest, Masters used a magnesium flare to stun the agents and fled. Chased by Romanoff to the helicarrier, the two fought. Masters was narrowly defeated, but managed to escape by hopping on a hidden Hydra jet plane. Though Fury expected they'd catch him soon, they lost trace of him soon afterwards.

At some point over the next five years, Master took on the identity Taskmaster and began working as a mercenary, hiring his own group of men to help in contracts. By the time the Avengers were in operation, SHIELD made the connection between Masters and the identity.

### Events of *Marvel's Avengers*

#### A-Day

During the preparations for the Avengers Day ceremony, Taskmaster and his mercenaries were hired by Monica Rappaccini to steal a Terrigen reactor on the Chimera. Deciding to distract the Avengers during the event, Masters ordered the main bulk of his forces to attack the Golden Gate Bridge to draw the Avengers away. While the team was distracted, a squadron of the mercenaries would infiltrate the helicarrier and steal the crystal. Taskmaster also acquired various devices and vehicles to help in the conflict, including Pulsar Tanks, Jetpacks and a Sonic Bomb.

After Iron Man's introduction during the main event, Taskmaster's mercenaries began their attack on the Golden Gate Bridge, drawing the members present to the building. After transporting a sonic bomb onto the bridge, Masters made his presence known to the group and armed the detonator. Chased by Romanoff, the two fought across the bridge to gain the detonator. As the duel dragged on, Taskmaster began to gain the upper hand, even toying with Natasha in both armed and unarmed combat. However, Widow used her Veil of Shadows to turn invisible, allowing her to approach him undetected. Caught off guard, Taskmaster was knocked into a crumbling section of the bridge's road, pinning him down. After disarming the bomb, Widow tried to interrogate the defeated Masters, though he refused to answer. He was then knocked unconscious by his former comrade and presumably taken into custody.

Despite this, Masters' distraction ultimately succeeded in drawing the Avengers away, though the group sent to the Chimera were defeated by Captain America. Their presence also activated the Chimera's security protocols, leading it go airborne and react with something in the bay. This ultimately led to the A-Day tragedy.

#### Working with AIM

Sometime after the events of A-Day, Taskmaster escaped confinement and was hired by AIM. Once again hired by Rappaccini, he was hired to help develop their Adaptoids and used as a base for their photographic reflex abilities. Masters seemed to be angered by the lack of progress during development, going as far as to request that their behavior protocols be disabled.

*Missing information.*

#### Reigning Supreme

Shortly after the defeat of MODOK, Taskmaster was ordered to seize SHIELD's hidden protocols and files for AIM to bolster its resources. Whilst the Avengers attempted to retrieve a set from the Pacific Northwest, Masters intercepted the transmission to SHIELD and obtained all of the protocols for AIM. Tracking him down to a secure AIM facility, the Avengers and SHIELD forces led by Maria Hill attacked the base to both arrest Masters and retrieve the protocols, before they could be decrypted and uploaded to AIM's database.

As they infiltrated the facility, Taskmaster decided to confront them personally until they could decrypt the data. Despite putting up a fierce fight and holding his own against the present Avengers, Masters was eventually defeated by the team. His efforts allowed the data to be decrypted, but Hill destroyed his systems with a rocket launcher before it could be transmitted to AIM. Masters was then taken into SHIELD's custody. After his arrest, the Avengers learned that Taskmaster had been used as a subject of Rappaccini's cloning process on multiple occasions. Many of these had several confrontations with the team during their battles against AIM.

## Relationships

† denotes deceased characters
MIA denotes "Missing In Action" / current fate unknown

### Allies

* Tony Masters / Taskmaster (Kree Timeline) - Future Counterpart
* Mercenaries - Employees
* Hydra - Employers
* Advanced Idea Mechanics (AIM) - Employers
	+ Monica Rappaccini - Scientist Supreme and Employer
	+ George Tarleton / MODOK - Former CEO and Employer †
	+ Emil Blonsky / Abomination - Chief of Security
* Watchdogs

### Enemies

* Avengers
	+ Steve Rogers / Captain America - Leader of Avengers
	+ Tony Stark / Iron Man
	+ Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow - Former Colleague turned Rival
	+ Thor Odinson / Thor
	+ Bruce Banner / Hulk
	+ Kamala Khan / Ms. Marvel
	+ Kate Bishop
	+ Clint Barton / Hawkeye
* SHIELD - Former Employers
	+ Maria Hill - Director and Former Colleague
	+ Nick Fury - Former Director and Supervisor (MIA)
	+ Dum Dum Dugan - Former Colleague
	+ Alisande Morales - Former Colleague
	+ Chastity McBryde - Former Colleague
	+ Sidney Levine - Former Colleague
	+ James Woo - Former Colleague
* Resistance
	+ Hank Pym - Leader
	+ Theo
	+ Cerise
	+ Sarah Garza
	+ Maddy Cho
	+ Dante Pertuz
	+ Roy (Model-G)
	+ Roy (Model-B)
	+ Roy (Model-I)

## Notes

* In Marvel Comics, Taskmaster first appeared in *The Avengers* #195 (May 1980) and is an central enemy of the Avengers. Through photographic memory training, he can learn and mimic the fighting styles of his enemies, though at the cost of his memories. Taskmaster frequently serves as an villain to Captain America, Black Widow, Moon Knight and the Avengers. Despite this, he was once part of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Secret Avengers during 2012's *Marvel NOW!*.
* During Villain Sector fights and the mission Bad Blood, Taskmaster's size is somewhat larger than he appears in The Light that Failed. This is likely changed to accommodate for multiple characters fighting him at the same time.
* While the game states Masters became a mercenary after being discharged from SHIELD, the comics show that he was actual hired by Hydra to infiltrate the organization: an error in continuity.

## Also See

* Taskmaster (Kree Timeline)
* Bosses
* Characters
* Taskmaster on the Marvel Comics Database