Marvel’s Thunderbolts is underway, with a director and writer now attached to the project. The film is already being called the MCU’s version of Suicide Squad, where a group of superpowered villains and antiheroes will come together, though as of right now no stars have been cast.
Based on what many already know of the MCU, there are lots of rumors circulating as to who exactly fits the bill, with characters such as Zemo (Daniel Brühl), Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell), and also Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) in contention. It may be that Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) is pulling the strings behind the scenes, having done so in both The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and in the post-credits scene of Black Widow.
Taskmaster first appeared in the MCU in 2021’s Black Widow, and was quite the departure from the comics, much to the chagrin of diehard fans. Marvel swapped genders and created an entirely new origin story for the big bad, turning them from a straight-up villain to a more sympathetic character.
Many were not happy with this version of the Taskmaster, and felt that the rewrite of the character was a waste, and that Taskmaster deserves a better story, hoping that she gets one if she is to appear in Thunderbolts.
This user has some very harsh words to say about the MCU version, at least he said please…
In some cases, some fans want a complete rewrite of the character, one that aligns more closely with the source material.
Some want a storyline similar to that of the Mandarin, with the original Taskmaster turning up and taking on the current MCU imposter.
This fan gave an option that the comic book version is the actual villain of this movie, but with the MCU character having the same powers, it may make it difficult for him to stand out.
Without a cast even set for the film, it’s too early to predict what tricks Marvel will have up its sleeve for the film, and whether Taskmaster will even be in it. Until the players are announced, there’s nothing more we can do other than speculate, which is standard for the MCU.