BIOGRAPHY - Page 3
Taskmaster was hired by Justin Hammer to whip his motley collection of super-criminal associates into a coordinated fighting and defense force for his private island. Hammer made a habit of subsidizing the exotic tech used by various villains in exchange for their services, so there were a number of recruits for Taskmaster’s training. However, “Hammer’s Hammers” lacked the skills and 
coordination to be truly effective. A force of Constrictor, Beetle, Stiletto, Discus, Leap-Frog, Whiplash, Man-Killer, Melter, Spymaster, Water Wizard, Blizzard, Porcupine and Death-Shield proved to be incapable of stopping Venom on a solo mission to confront Justin Hammer. Taskmaster took a speedboat off the island before facing the consequences of his failure. [Venom: Lethal Protector (2nd series) #4-5]
Taskmaster was back in New York running a school out of Harlem when one of his students brought it to the attention of the Falcon. Taskmaster fought the Avenger to a standstill, but still had to abandon his operation when the heat got too strong. [Captain America Annual #11] He attended an auction held by the Brass Bishop to bid on a new power source, but it was interrupted by Spider-Man and Alpha Flight. [Alpha Flight (1st series) #121] Taskmaster even served as a witness in the case of Trapster v. Tinkerer, where tech-based criminals tried to sue the Tinkerer for shoddy workmanship. Taskmaster testified for Tinkerer, claiming “user error” came from loser super-villains who never bothered to complete his courses. [Sensational She-Hulk #59]
Taskmaster had several surprising visitors when Siren of the Ultraverse passed through a 
dimensional breach and wound up in his bedroom. A fast-talking thief and reluctant super-hero, Siren bluffed her way into joining Taskmaster’s academy as a new student. Taskmaster fancied his new trainee, and even switched from his traditional Bronx banter to a more refined elocution. However, he also hosted his former student Diamondback, who claimed she was done with the hero lifestyle after the apparent death of her former lover Captain America and the Avengers fighting Onslaught. Both women were received on a trial basis at the academy and their natural mistrust of one another amused Taskmaster, but also kept him distracted from considering either of their intentions too closely. [Siren Infinity]
Taskmaster told Diamondback and Siren they had a contract to kill Jim Rhodes, CEO of WorldWatch, when in truth the mission was to flush out Rhodey’s “bodyguard” War Machine and record his new armor in action. Siren didn’t realize she was wearing a recording device when she tried to negotiate with Rhodey instead of killing him, and she needed that recorder back before 
Taskmaster reviewed it. Meanwhile, Diamondback intended to blow up all of Taskmaster’s academies once the students left for an annual retreat. Taskmaster, Siren and their newest student Kyi discovered the bombs before Diamond could clear them all out of the building, and inadvertently set them off. Siren pulled Taskmaster and Kyi through another breach that led her back to the Ultraverse, but somehow she arrived alone. [Siren #1-3]
Taskmaster’s next academy was situated at an abandoned fortress in the Nevada desert. Looking for some tech support, he swept up the mercenary I.T. specialist Weasel for a job interview. Weasel’s buddy Deadpool thought his nerd was in trouble and tracked down Taskmaster’s academy. Taskmaster amused himself studying Deadpool’s fighting style and turned it into a teaching exercise. After beating Deadpool with his own moves, Taskmaster was over-confident enough to challenge Wilson to a second bout before his entire school. He instructed the class with a play-by-play of every predictable move Deadpool would make in their fight. It’s rude (and dangerous) to insult Deadpool by calling him predictable, though. Once Wade understood Taskmaster’s shtick, he abandoned all pretense of fighting styles and moved as erratically as his unstable mind would allow. For someone like Taskmaster, whose mind was fixated on pattern recognition, watching Deadpool unleashed was a glitch to his senses. Wilson easily struck down Taskmaster in their rematch. [Deadpool (2nd series) #2]
[Note: Later stories revealed Deadpool and Taskmaster’s past together with the Frightful Four, but they appeared unacquainted here. Deadpool’s memory is hardly solid at the best of times, and Taskmaster only knew his partner as Wade Wilson, since Deadpool assumed his costumed look later. Still, Taskmaster later confirmed the two were the same.]
The Architect was a god-like entity known as a Shining One, who needed his mortal host to die by violent means before he could move on to the next stage of his life cycle. He orchestrated a tournament of killers to battle one another and prove worthy of the final blow, while also trying to provoke his preferred murderer Elektra Natchios into the game. The one-on-one bouts quickly degenerated into a full fracas among assassins, Taskmaster included. He had little luck facing 
Elektra with her own fighting style, but suddenly switching to Daredevil threw her off-guard and Taskmaster scored a surprising win against the former Hand assassin. When he faced her a second time, Taskmaster tried the same trick, only to learn Elektra was prepared to fight her former lover this round. The repetition worked against Taskmaster, as Elektra easily exploited the flaws in Daredevil’s style, which she knew by heart. [Elektra (1st series) #5-7]
Taskmaster was approached by Dr. Augusta Seger, the Albino, with the idea for a mutagenic process to enhance his photographic reflexes. Taskmaster was always limited by his inability to mimic super-powers – he could anticipate Spider-Man was about to leap a city block or Ant-Man 
would tactically change size, but he could do nothing to replicate it himself. The Albino’s new process would give Taskmaster the ability to mimic any superhuman attribute he observed on top of his existing gifts. Once her process was ready, they lured Hawkeye and the trainee Avengers Justice and Firestar into a trap so that Taskmaster could observe and duplicate their mutant powers in action. The Avengers escaped and damaged the machine before the process finished, however, making Taskmaster’s new powers temporary. He enjoyed tossing around microwaves and telekinetic fields for a few minutes but, once Hawkeye brought him down with a sonic arrow, the effects faded and Taskmaster was beaten. [Hawkeye: Earth’s Mightiest Marksman #1]
When the Avengers got into a feud with a new age spiritual group called the Triune Understanding, Taskmaster was hired to deliver a propaganda victory to the Triunes. Using an image inducer, he posed as Captain America and assembled a group of Avengers associates while the main team was behind closed doors reworking their roster. Warbird, Silverclaw, Ant-Man and Captain Marvel were convinced to infiltrate Triune headquarters and destroy a “will-suppressor device” being used against the population. The heroes became wise to Taskmaster’s ruse once “Captain America” encouraged one too many crimes, and so Taskmaster and his new 
Split-Second Squad had to fight them directly. Taskmaster was caught off-guard when Captain Marvel used the Nega Bands to swap out with his partner Rick Jones, who had a set of combat skills he wasn’t prepared to face. Still, Jonathon Tremont of the Triune Understanding managed to knock out the Avengers associates and leave them at the site of the destroyed Triune headquarters to take the blame. So, presumably, Taskmaster still got paid. [Avengers (3rd series) #26]
Cursed circumstances led Deadpool, Constrictor and Titania to share a sublet in Manhattan. Wilson’s roommates hated him, and so Constrictor coordinated with Taskmaster and Wizard to rub out their former partner. Wizard blamed Deadpool for the Frightful Four mission going sour, and Taskmaster was still angry for being humiliated in front of his school back in Nevada. Deadpool 
knew he was being set up but went along with the trap out of boredom. Taskmaster hired Deadpool to commandeer Baron Zemo’s old, orbital weapons platform with his new academy graduates Eclecta, Pyron and Malovick. [Deadpool (2nd series) #39-40] The graduates failed to kill Wilson, re-entry failed to kill him, his ex-girlfriend Vanessa disguised as Titania failed to kill him, and the whole thing was a fiasco. [Deadpool (2nd series) #45]
The Avengers reorganized their roster into a larger, more proactive force and, unfortunately for 
Taskmaster, he was one of many targets to their new initiative. Wonder Man and Triathlon managed to infiltrate and map out several of his academy locations, shutting them down one by one, once the whole team was deployed. More than once, Taskmaster was put on his back foot, fleeing from a strike force of super-heroes at his door. [Avengers (3rd series) #38] The irritated instructor tried getting revenge by targeting Captain America away from the other Avengers, and even managed to abduct Cap without his trademark shield. Despite his momentary disadvantage, Cap deployed an emergency photon shield generator in his glove to fight back, and Taskmaster had to flee without any sweet revenge. [Captain America (3rd series) #44]
The pirate nation of Madripoor had an annual Bloodsport tournament to prove which fighter was best of the best. Taskmaster entered the fight to build notoriety and recruitment for his failing academies. Along with Patch (a.k.a. Wolverine), Taskmaster was one of the few contestants who chose not to kill the loser after each match, claiming he only killed when he was being paid for it. Taskmaster scored easy victories against martial artists, like the Cat and weapons masters like Zaran. However, he was outclassed against the reigning champion, Mr. X. While Taskmaster could read his opponent’s moves in real time, X was a low-level psychic, able to anticipate his opponent’s next move. This edge meant Taskmaster was lucky to survive against a pathological killing machine such as Mr. X. [Wolverine (2nd series) #167-168]