#justicefortaskmaster

[tumbori345]

More Antonia art (And Yelena too)!

Saw an old meme from the Metal Gear Solid fandom and thought it'd fit perfectly with Antonia and Yelena!! And thus

As usual this commission was done by the awesome @konako thank you so so much for such an awesome art piece, I am so happy with how it ended up!! :D

[pibu-draws]

okay, NOW i'm gonna try to finish my "what if taskmaster lived" sketches

[scarletsentry21]

Antonia Dreykov should be brought into the comics

With how the MCU kinda did Antonia Dreykov dirty by killing her off too soon into Thunderbolts, I would love for Marvel to do her right by introducing her into the 616 comics with a similar backstory and giving her some proper development. Hell, you can have Antonia and Tony Masters co-exist together in the universe. I know some are hesitant about it, but remember that we have a Lady Bullseye and just regular Bullseye in the Marvel universe. I am sure that both Antonia Dreykov and Tony Master's Taskmasters can co-exist. Hell, I imagine that the two of them are partners, doing some mercenary work together.

If I were writing a comic about Antonia Dreykov's Taskmaster, then here are some ideas I would want to include in her character.

Antonia is autistic. This is based on a dumb little headcanon I had and seen some fans have about Antonia, which is her having echolalia, which is pretty common with people with autism.

Give her an actual personality, building off her backstory in Black Widow and the marketing for Thunderbolts, saying that she has zero personality, which makes her easy to control. I think is something interesting you can do with that. Maybe the mind control she endured and the lack of agency and freedom make her struggle with basic social interactions. She tries to have a sense of humor, which borders on her just being awkward in most situations outside of her mercenary work.

She has an eclectic musical taste. She likes rock and pop, some indie tunes, and some punk. For example, she likes Dear Maria Count Me In, It's Not Living by The 1975, Could Be Me by The Struts, Hjerteknuser by Kaiser Orchestra, Dirty Money by Ida Maria, she is also a fan of Sex Pistols and other classic punk bands. This is mostly based on an image I saw of a young Olga Kurylenko wearing a Sex Pistols shirt, and I kinda imagine that Antonia would like to listen to Sex Pistols. I think it makes sense she would have this eclectic music taste since she is soaking them all in for the first time and has a hard time choosing a specific favorite. Some songs are just music she likes listening to because of how catchy they are or some songs are about the current mood she is in.

I would also emphasize her age because in Black Widow, she is canonically 16 years old (which makes casting the then 30-40 year old Olga Kurylenko a little odd, but whatever), so I think it would be interesting to emphasize that child soldier aspect and the fact that she was brainwashed when she was so young. She was also young when she was freed, and she is at the age where she should be going to school and have a normal life, but she continues mercenary work for a living because it is hard for someone to just begin a normal life, like going to high school, when you have been a brainwashed slave for years.

I also wanna explore Antonia's mother since the movies never acknowledged her and probably never will, since Antonia is dead in the movies. But I think this would be a good opportunity to explore who she was. Was she just an ordinary woman whom Dreykov had a kid with, or was she a Black Widow operative? Reminder that I don't want to have the Widows be sterilized because I never liked the concept to begin with. But it would be an interesting mystery of Antonia, wondering where her mother is and if she'd ever see her again, yearning to one day see her mother. It makes sense that she listens to "Hjerteknuser" because that song is about a father separating his daughter from her mother, and the mother yearning to one day see her daughter again, wondering if she is still alive.

This is basically all I would do with Antonia if she were introduced into the comics and I were given the chance to write it.

[dazzlingavatoni]

Ava Starr (teary-eyed, voice trembling): Oh my god, I can't really believe I accidentally shot you in the head, and I even take your sword away for no reason. It's all my fault, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry...

[Ava cries.]

Antonia Dreykov (in a Russian accent): Shh... Don't speak, moya lyubov. I already know damn well what you just said. So, stop explaining, please.

[She pulls Ava closer by her hand. Her eyes are wide with shock, a deep blush spreading across her cheeks as she realized Toni's intent. Antonia leans in, her eyes are half-lidded, to close the distance between their lips.]

!!!

[They're locked in a passionate kiss. Their eyes closed contentedley, lost in the moment. Replaced by a stylized pattern of floating hearts including ghosts and skulls.]

[pibu-draws]

a toni

[pibu-draws]

happy halloween taskmaniacs. here's some bucky/toni art.

[tumbori345]

I keep seeing the rumors/reports of Taskmaster being affectively replaced by another character (likely Tony Masters) in the MCU from multiple sites on X and apparently some on Instagram as well

If this is true... I honestly shouldn't be surprised. This is the kind of backpaddling the MCU (among other Franchises in general) will do at this point... They already are doing this in Doomsday and it shouldn't be a surprise that they're doing it here.

If this report turns to be true... it further proves my point about Franchises nowadays: Characters no longer have value at all, merely props treated based on popularity rather than quality or potential. And those companies will aim at people that will froth over screaming out "PEAK" or "They Cooked bruh!" on anything that just LOOKS cool or "comic accurate" or deep even when use that as their excuse.

In other words, the MCU, as well as other companies I'd wager, are treating people like they're stupid that they'd clap at anything that appeals to their member berries or key jiggles and barely ever scrape the surface of their depth.

Sorry for the rant there. Just tired of lazy writing and direction for nothing more than just fan service.

[tumbori345]

Trevor Slattery's Fate is How Antonia Should've Been Treated

Upon watching Wonder Man (Probably the best MCU show by a good bit too, really recommend), I have come to a kind of bitter realization.

Trevor Slattery, the one who was known as the fake Mandarine, is literal proof that even OCs and characters who may not be comic accurate, let alone are part of the comics at all, not only could be very well written but also beloved by the fandom. And this goes back to how Antonia Dreykov (Taskmaster) got treated. 

For context, Iron Man 3 was hyped up by the portrayal of the Mandarin played by Ben Kingsly into this cunning and ruthless warlord who is now targeting America and Tony Stark. People were hyped up and anticipated watching this unique portrayal of the Mandarin on the big screen much like how many people were anticipating Taskmaster being on the big screen in the Black Widow movie. 

Only that wasn’t the case at all. Iron Man 3 essentially made the twist that this Mandarin is nothing what people have anticipated or expected. He was not this ruthless but also wise warlord villain that Tony had to overcome, he was just an actor named Trevor Slattery who was just playing a role for the main villain of the movie Aldrich Killian and later became a joke character. To simplify it, Trevor, much like Antonia, was NOTHING like the comic Mandarin at all. When that happened, much like Antonia, people initially hated the mere existence of Trevor Slattery due how much of an insult he made to the whole Mandarin interpretation in Iron Man 3. In fact, people back then would have rather he would never get mentioned again in the MCU. I hope you see where I’m going with this. 

If Trevor’s character was was written and directed by people like Jake Schrier or heavily monitored by higher ups like Kevin Feige, Trevor’s character would’ve likely been killed off and perhaps turned into a gag before being completely forgotten by the movie entirely just like Antonia and people would likely have cheered even if it was unnecessarily cruel, because the value of writing has become secondary. 

Instead, we got essentially an OC who is one of the best MCU characters of all time, because the writers and directors of Wonder Man decided to actually give his character an actual second chance to be more in depth than just the “twist” funny character. They gave Trevor depth and explored his backstory, his values, and his entire arc. Trevor is not comic accurate but he is objectively a well written character. 

The point I want to make with this post is that Trevor’s treatment in Wonder Man literally utterly disproves the argument that Antonia never had a chance and was “doomed from the start” or was “a horrible character” SIMPLY because she was given the name Taskmaster and wasn’t like the comics. Antonia could’ve and should’ve been given a second chance to actually write and explore her character. And she could’ve been very well written despite the fact that she’s not comic accurate or even straight up an OC. 

It also further shows the state that worries me in terms of franchises; quality writing, consistency, and characters are secondary to even tertiary at best, and sometimes unimportant at worst. If the character is just not liked enough, even if it’s for an objectively arbitrary reason like a mere title and not their actual quality, said character is likely to be removed by either ceasing to exist or get killed off unceremoniously without rhyme or reason just to please whoever is loudest at the time. 

Wonder Man wasn’t given anywhere near the same attention or promotions as Thunderbolts, many people wrote the show off as something that will not even have a follow up and that Marvel gave up on it due to releasing all the episodes in one day. And in a way, it seemed like a blessing in disguise because the directors were able to write their story and characters without TOO much pressure from audience and company expectations and became successful as a result. 

I only hope that Antonia’s fate gets rectified one way or another, that she’s actually given a chance to be a character, regardless of whether she’s called Taskmaster or not. 

Anyway sorry if this comes off as disorganized as it’s just me writing what’s the first thing on my mind rn. Thank you for reading! :D