#taskmaster mcu

[unstableomni]

Headcanon that Antonia always lingers in the background observing everything in the avengers tower because that’s usually what she did in the red room. It takes repeated efforts by the team to bring her to do something besides training. (like eating, doing recreational activities, etc)

[salve-sono-giulia]

Some silly mcu taskmaster bloopers

[kanerallels]

I must say it is SO nice to see people on the Internet who also feel mildly outraged at what Thunderbolts did with Taskmaster

[konako]

They would have gotten along, I promise.

[justa-personn]

getting sick of taskmaster being left out of almost all the group shots in the thunderbolts trailers and barely having any screen time in them overall, where is my girl :( istg if it’s because she dies early on in the movie or gets separated from them and not seen again until the end i’m gonna riot

[florencebirdsong]

I’m not liking this trend of randomly shooting a woman character at the start of a marvel project

[abbeysquidd]

I drew Toni because she deserved better...in my heart she was an official member of The Thunderbolts*

She had so much potential to be an interesting character, but I feel like they just wasted her :(

[scottishaccentsareawesome]

Not to brag, but I can recite all of Taskmaster’s lines from the new “Thunderbolts” movie

[troidvoid]

Thunderbolts* as things me and my best friend have said in texts (@vinterhawke)

----------------------------------------------------

Yelena: Alexei told me about his Russian family

Yelena: And then

Yelena: To quote him:

Yelena: "If you look at pictures of my Russian relatives it looks like the mafia"

Yelena: Bro??

Ava: I think he just admitted they were the mafia

Yelena: This is the same man who told me he has a grenade

Ava: Oh god that makes sense now

-

Antonia: Do I win for finding a mysterious white skittle

Antonia: (I definitely didn't get sad and buy skittles and alcohol earlier)

Ava: A white skittle-

Ava: Its a sign

-

John: Idc if he's a lego

John: Lord Garmadon can get it

Bob: .....

Bob: Slay..?

-

Yelena: Calling. Alexei to õick me up. From work like "dad wake up they hit the north tower"

Yelena: Wtf kinda stroke did I just have

Bucky: Wth

-

*About Alexei*

Ava: A car just went by playing the USSR national anthem

Yelena: ....

Yelena: I mean pride ig

-

Antonia: I forgot sunburn exists

Antonia: Apparently I am sunburnt

Antonia: Not horribly, like it doesn't hurt

Antonia: But I am very red

Ava: Jesus Christ

Antonia: Oh well

Antonia: Maybe I'll spontaneously combust

-

Bob: Bury me in the sand

Bob: Paint feasts on the walls of my tomb so I can eat when no one remembers me

John: Ayo-

Bob: My Ka must feed when I die

Bob: I'll visit you with my Ba

John: Idk what those words mean but okay-

[buckys-arm-and-rios-dagger]

I choose to believe Taskmaster won't die in Thunderbolts, but instead after that one fight we see her in in the trailer Antonia will realize that she's about to get roped into another Situation™️ and is like "nope, no, absolutely the fuck not, nice meeting all of you, lovely to see you again Yelena, but I refuse to be used again I am going HOME" and is isn't demonized by the narrative about it because she's allowed to not want to be used as a pawn in a larger scheme again

And also if they really wanna make me happy before Antonia goes to leave they can have her stop in front of Ava and be like "when whatever this Nonsense turns out to be is done, call me 👀🏳️‍🌈" but like. I'll JUST take her being alive at the BARE minimum

[unstableomni]

Just rewatched the Black Widow and, dude, Antonia had so much aura in black widow. It was not even funny. She had the hardest fit, the hardest fight scenes, and she and she definitely was the coolest character in the fucking movie.

Also, I’m pushing the super soldier Antonia agenda because some of the moves she did in the movies was were not achievable by a normal human being. Also, it’s backed up by the fact that she was able to go toe to toe with Alexi who is a known super soldier.

Also, she was enhanced by a chip who knows how many more modifications Dreykov had done to her.

[chiisomandi]

does anyone else think that taskmaster looks like general grievous or is it just me

[konako]

Even she thinks that's unoriginal.

[justa-personn]

“she’s surviving thunderbolts!” me and the four other antonia dreykov fans scream as we are dragged away to the padded room

[ava-starrs-girlfriend]

She is EVERYTHING TO MEEEEEE

And im SO excited to see Taskmaster again.

Im excited to see Yelena's development in this movie, and her dynamic w the girls. And her dynamic with Antonia?

Oops i got rambly, putting that under the cut!

Antonia Dreykov was of course something fans were not expecting in BW, and lots of folks (*cough* comic bros *cough*) were really fucking annoying about her story- mostly the fact that she was a woman instead of the comic version (a man). Now, honestly, because she's Dreykov's daughter and her whole story is so interesting, i'm really much more intrigued by her. I dont think i would have cared much for the "comic accurate" version. Just would have been another run-of-the-mill man-used-as-weapon story which the MCU has enough of, especially with Bucky.

Also, i love that the team is 3 guys and 3 girls. And Ghost is the only super-powered one, altho Yelena and Antonia are their own powerhouses. I didnt know John was even a super soldier, and so its kinda boring that all three of them are super soldiers, but it *is* interesting that they're all failed symbols. Well, tbf, we dont know Red Guardian's MCU story, beside that he was put in jail. Im guessing we may see a Red Guardian prequel show if people care enough abt him. But its Disney so i wouldnt really trust it to be a good representation of communist/cold war Russia, but like. Could be good.

Also love that the US government is trying to like rebrand John as "~U.S. Agent~". Lol.

[meltedbrains]

Re: MCU Taskmaster

At what point do you think Dreykov decided to turn his own daughter into a weapon?

He'd already been trafficking, training, and brainwashing young girls for a while (and per Agent Carter this had been going on since at least the 40s).

Prior to Natasha blowing her up, Antonia seemed to live a relatively normal life, she certainly didn't appear to be undergoing black widow training. Did he see an opportunity as she was undergoing life saving surgery? A chance to save his daughter and create a more powerful, more efficient, more loyal widow all at once? Did Natasha seal her fate?

Or was she always destined to be her father's weapon? Would he have sold her off as an oligarch's wife to secure a political/financial partnership? Did her facial scarring and brain damage prevent her from being a beautiful chess piece and force him to pivot into something else?

Did her traumatic injuries save her from a miserable marriage only to doom her to be a killing machine that answered only to him?

I doubt we'll ever know, and honestly, it's probably better if we don't. My hope for the thunderbolts (and future projects?) is that she's allowed to develop a personality. Instead of dwelling on the wheel of trauma that seems to plague female comic book characters (and some of the men) we focus on the present; giving her agency, plot relevance, friends, quirks, flaws, strengths, all of the things we can so easily take for granted in well rounded characters.