In comic books, Taskmaster is an expert of mimicry, able to instantly replicate the movements of anyone he sees. Instead of becoming a world-class athlete, or the next Yo-Yo Ma, or anything else practical, he uses his skills to become a mercenary and frequent foe of the Marvel universe.
Those talents are on full display in this final trailer for Black Widow, in which the villain apes the styles of Captain America, Hawkeye, Spider-Man, Black Panther, the titular heroine herself, and the broadly palatable look and feel of almost every other Marvel film before.
Apparently set sometime after Civil War but before Natasha Romanoff chucks herself into a puddle, the film sees Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow return to Russia and her clutter of fellow Widows—Rachel Weisz’s mother figure Widow, Florence Pugh sister figure Widow, and David Harbour’s father figure, who is not a Black Widow but a former Soviet Captain America named Red Guardian. She and her surrogate family are pitted against the latest forced recruits of the Black Widow training program as well as the aforementioned Taskmaster, who looks like the final challenger of a Dreamcast snowboarding game (and just as much like G.I. Joe’s ’90s Snake Eyes).
We’ll anticlimactically find out whether Natasha can survive to later die Wile E. Coyote-style when Black Widow hits theaters May 1.
