[3] Possessing photographic reflexes that allow him to mimic any fighting style at the cost of his long and short-term memory, he has served as an adversary of Marvel Universe superheroes such as Captain America, Ant-Man, and Spider-Man.

A female version of Taskmaster named Antonia Dreykov appears in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Black Widow (2021), portrayed by Olga Kurylenko.

[7] He then began a program of observing the fighting techniques of numerous costumed heroes and villains (using archival television news broadcasts).

Designing a costume with a white cowl and skull mask, Masters takes the name "Taskmaster" and begins training thugs at criminal academies across the United States.

However, while it was playing a small town in Ohio, the Thing and Vance Astrovik (who would later take the name Justice) assisted a government agent in foiling Taskmaster's activities.

[citation needed] Through Douglas Rockwell (the head of the President's Commission on Superhuman Activities), Mr. Smith arranged for Taskmaster to train John Walker to make him appear to be the real Captain America.

[13] To conceal the Red Skull's involvement, Rockwell had the Commission work out a deal to have years taken off Taskmaster's sentence in return for training Walker.

[volume & issue needed] Taskmaster's more skilled, successful, and notable students include such characters as Crossbones and Cutthroat (both the Red Skull's henchmen), U.S.

[14] Taskmaster continued to train numerous villains and thugs until the Avengers began to search out and shut down some of his academies across the United States.

[16] When the "Civil War" broke out, Taskmaster was hired by the government and enrolled into a team of Thunderbolts and given temporary amnesty to take down the Secret Avengers.

[18] He was sent to the Negative Zone Prison with the other "Major-League" members of the Thunderbolts army such as Lady Deathstrike,[volume & issue needed] but was apparently freed by Deadpool.

[19] To regain his own reputation as a mercenary, Deadpool frees Taskmaster from his imprisonment to have a showdown with him while potential merc contractors watched from their captive position in a nearby prison.

Which won't get you a cup of coffee until you figure out how to be a professional..."[19] Taskmaster was given a full presidential pardon for his efforts in testing the security of the S.H.I.E.L.D.

[volume & issue needed] Taskmaster replaces Gauntlet as Camp Hammond's drill instructor and is tasked with training registered superheroes for the Fifty State Initiative.

[21] During the "Dark Reign" storyline, Taskmaster is chosen to lead the Shadow Initiative after the Skrull invasion, with their first mission to take down Hardball's HYDRA cell in Madripoor.

The hordes of AIM, HYDRA, the Secret Empire, ULTIMATUM, the Cyber Ninjas, the Black Choppers, the Trenchcoat Mafia, the Legions of the Living Lightning, the Militiamen, the Sons of the Serpent, and the Inquisition take up the chase to claim the money.

agent Tony Masters that had been sent to Bolivia to terminate Horst Gorscht, the Nazi scientist responsible for a corrupted version of the super-soldier serum.

Miles above the Wewelsburg castle in an airship, the Minions' International Liberation Front (a secret group composed of henchmen from all of the major terrorist organizations), led by Redshirt the Uber-Henchman, reveal their deception and plot to rule the criminal underground by using Taskmaster to lead them straight to the Org.

After much sparring, Taskmaster finally relents to tell Finesse that he very well might be and most likely is her father, but that the powers to learn so much about others’ movements and techniques have caused him to forget important things in life.

[40] After the mission goes south and Mockingbird is left stranded on AIM Island,[volume & issue needed] Taskmaster works undercover to free her.

[43] At the time when Captain America was brainwashed into being a Hydra sleeper agent by Red Skull's clone using the powers of Kobik, Taskmaster later move to Bagalia where he became its sheriff.

During his fight with Black Ant and Taskmaster, Spider-Man is exposed to the Isotope Genome Accelerator that splits him from his Peter Parker side.

[50] During the "King in Black" storyline, Taskmaster is among the villains recruited by Mayor Wilson Fisk to lead his Thunderbolts at the time of Knull's invasion.

[57] Taskmaster was later seen at Empire Unlimited getting reprimanded by Killionaire for not bringing all of Super-Adaptoid to him so that Shannon Stillwell can rebuild it into a suit that would give him the powers of the Avengers.

[59] Taskmaster injected himself with SS-Hauptsturmführer Horst Gorscht's primer, an elaborate modification of the adrenal steroid cortisol designed to unlock the mind's procedural memory potential.

These "photographic reflexes" have made Taskmaster highly skilled in various forms of combat: martial arts (mimicking Elektra, Iron Fist, Shang-Chi), swordfighting (Black Knight, Silver Samurai, Swordsman), marksmanship (Captain America with a shield, Hawkeye with a bow and arrow, the Punisher with firearms, and Bullseye with various projectiles); he also displays a strenuously honed athletic ability (Black Panther, Daredevil, Spider-Man).

He most commonly uses a sword and a replica of Captain America's shield, but also carries a bow and a quiver of arrows, a billy club, a lasso, nunchaku, throwing darts, and various firearms.

[75][76][77] In the Marvel Universe Millennial Visions 2001 (2002) storyline Thunderbolts: Give a Guy a Break, Hawkeye takes it upon himself to force supervillains to seek redemption.

He briefly appears in Latveria, having been hired by Doctor Doom to aid in the invasion of the second Earth and grows increasingly impatient due to Albert Wesker's inability to fully link the two worlds.

Hired by Phillip Roxxon,[83] he confronts Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, Cloak & Dagger and Bombshell, and displays the ability to absorb and re-channel energy-based superpowers.