You know the old proverb: if you get a ragtag group of misfits together, someone’s gotta die. That’s exactly what happens in Thunderbolts, but don’t bother trying to guess which character bites it. It’s been clear for so long, the whole ordeal just ends up being insulting.
About half an hour into Thunderbolts, during its much marketed four-way fight between four of its antiheroes, Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) kills Taskmster (Olga Kurylenko) by shooting her right in the face.
It’s one of the worst-kept secrets of this movie, possibly of the MCU’s Multiverse Saga. For months, fans have speculated the once-mind controlled assassin would be the one to shuffle off this mortal coil. When it can be bothered to feature her, marketing has only shown her in the brawl between her, Ghost, Yelena (Florence Pugh), and John Walker (Wyatt Russell); posters nearly crop her out of the group shots or don’t give her the decency of showing her face, as is the case with John and Ghost. If that weren’t clear enough, she wasn’t listed among the cast being chaired over from this movie to Avengers: Doomsday.
The MCU’s Taskmaster that first debuted in Black Widow wasn’t a one-to-one adaptation of Tony Masters, first created in the comics by David Micheline and George Perez in 1980. That the film kept the character’s photographic reflex powers but otherwise rewrote the snarky mercenary into Antonia Dreykov, daughter of the Red Room’s creator who was mind-controlled by her father after Natasha bombed them both in Budapest, was a neat (if semi-predictable) reveal that came too late in the film to breathe like the “Bucky was Winter Soldier” twist it was trying to evoke.
But Antonia wasn’t Masters, which rankled longtime fans of the comics version and earned her the title of one of the MCU’s worst character adaptations to date. (For this to stick, pretend this franchise has perfectly brought every other character to life and not twisted and reshaped them for their own ends, up to and including several of Taskmaster’s Thunderbolts costars.) Still, that she left the film flying off to safety with Yelena and the other saved Widows left the door open for her to return, potentially more similar to her comic book counterpart. Pairing her with Yelena again and the similarly mind-controlled Bucky could’ve provided some interesting character work too, right?
© Marvel StudiosYeah, no. Thunderbolts only has Antonia on hand to get got, and it’s the most egregious case of bad booking in MCU history. After unmasking to tell Yelena they’ve no beef with each other, she gets utterly worked over by Ghost and Walker and not given a fighting chance. It’s made worse when they proceed to loot her corpse for gear and not actually use what they stole all that much, and all she gets is some musings from Yelena later on about the “rough life” she had. It’s an unsatisfying, somewhat mean-spirited end to a character that had room for improvement and also undercuts the film’s central thesis. This movie asks if its assembled baddies are worthy of second chances, but doesn’t even pretend to offer that question toward one of the biggest victims in the semi-grounded corner of the MCU.
Going by the film’s throughline, Taskmaster ultimately died because having her around too long would’ve undercut Yelena’s arc about her own dark past when someone she helped save was throwing a shield and firing arrows not six feet away from her. And that just sucks, because it feels like a return to old habits. Disposable villains used to be one of Marvel’s greatest weaknesses, but over time, the villains started getting some more meat thanks to good acting and taking the time to invest in them.
Thunderbolts was announced back in 2022, at a time where the MCU was bringing back the villains it hadn’t killed off through projects like She-Hulk and Shang-Chi. Not every decision has been a winner, but these returns have provided some extra color to its villain roster. It’s one thing to make a sensible pivot from one baddie to a more prominent one, and another to just kill someone for the sake of it.
Well, RIP Antonia “Taskmaster” Dreykov (2021-2024). I’d say you had a good run, but that implies anyone really gave you the opportunity to stretch your legs.
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