Black Widow – Taskmaster’s Abilities Could Be a Gift of Technology & Not Biological
Taskmaster’s abilities gift of technology:
So far, we have only been trying to figure out the true identity of Taskmaster. Multiple people believe that it could be Rick Mason (played by O.T. Fagbenle). Initially, people thought that it could actually be a woman and since it’s highly predicted that Melina (Rachel Weisz) would turn out to be one of the bad guys, she was always a contender of being Taskmaster. Well, our theory is that she will ultimately turn out to be Iron Maiden, but at least at once instance in the film, she will also be in the Taskmaster suit. The movie will do that to throw us off the scent of the fact that Rick Mason is secretly TM. In that one instance, Rick Mason & TM will appear in a scene at the same time. And with this theory, we believe that Taskmaster is not going to be totally similar to the comics. His abilities might not be biological.
The MCU is a multiverse with multiple Universes, insane technologies, magic and so many other things. But at some instances Marvel still tries to keep things as believable & relatable as possible. Since Black Widow in its heart is going to be a spy thriller movie set in a world where these enhanced individuals exist, we believe that in the MCU, Taskmaster won’t physically possess the ability of photographic reflexes. In fact, the final trailer gave us the evidence that it is actually Taskmaster’s suit that helps him copy moves of other heroes almost exactly.
The suit has a tiny camera which constantly records and analyses the fighting style of an individual like Iron Man did in Civil War. But this suit is actually better than Iron Man’s in a way that it deploys counter measures by exactly copying the moves of the opponents. Meaning, multiple individuals could drive the suit of Taskmaster if they are good enough with hand to hand combat. They may be good fighters, but the suit actually makes their body move exactly as their opponents. This is how Rick Mason would trick Natasha & the audience into believing that he isn’t Taskmaster. Because he’s working with Melina, he will make her don the suit at one instance where he & TM could be seen in the same room. Melina wearing the suit would also be able to show photographic reflexes, thus people would actually believe that Rick Mason isn’t Taskmaster.
Taskmaster having his abilities does take a bit of the character’s awesomeness away, but it’d actually make more sense since no human could physically replicate the moves of his/her opponents almost immediately without even practicing them. But Taskmaster’s specialties coming from the suit would actually lead us to not one, but two other major villains (possibly). Since we spotted the logo of AIM in the last trailer of Black Widow, it is believed that AIM (Advanced Idea Mechanics) will be the one to fund Taskmaster’s operations & give him his copy-cat suit. AIM would be linked to Thaddeus Ross. And AIM will be the one to bring in MODOK as its leader in the future.
Talking about the future, the unique Taskmaster suit would also lead us to MCU’s version of Adaptoid. Taskmaster can mimic the physical fighting abilities of his opponents but Adaptoid can actually replicate their powers. He can recreate Thor’s hammer, his lightning attacks, Falcon’s wings, Captain America’s shield, Hawkeye’s bow & arrow, and what not. He has a shard of the reality-warping Cosmic Cube which helps create anything the Adaptoid wants. This android was created by Justin Hammer in the Avengers Assemble show, and then MODOK took control of it & enhanced it. But he might be directly created by MODOK in the MCU. And, the inspiration behind Super Adaptoid will be none other than Taskmaster.
What say? This theory is making big leaps. But it does make a lot of sense (in my head at least).