BIOGRAPHY - Page 5
Back in his classic garb (and accent), Taskmaster was hired by the Committee as part of their ongoing campaign against Marc Spector, the retired Moon Knight. Taskmaster was meant to torture and kill Spector on the Committee’s behalf, but Marc’s will to live was now reinforced by divine might, as he reconnected with his god, Khonshu. Taskmaster fled back to the Committee, complaining about how the profile of “friendless, broken and alone” was complete hogwash. Therefore, he was in the room when Moon Knight crashed his Moon Copter through the side of 
the Committee’s office building, a declaration of intimidation and vengeance for his lord. A truly terrified Taskmaster tried to kill Spector in a panic, only for the Moon’s Knight of Vengeance to warn him that death was only his beginning. Taskmaster was left weeping in holy terror as Moon Knight carved off his mask with a crescent dart and stared at him with unblinking eyes. [Moon Knight (5th series) #3-6]
Taskmaster seemed to catch a break when S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Maria Hill hired him to infiltrate the Helicarrier. She wanted to prove to her security team that, while the Helicarrier was prepared for an all-out assault, it was vulnerable to a single assassin. Taskmaster got all the way into Hill’s private quarters and took a shot at her before security caught up with him. In exchange for his service, Taskmaster received a Presidential pardon for all past crimes and was free to leave the Helicarrier unmolested. [Marvel Comics Presents (2nd series) #2]
There must have been some fine print in that pardon, for Taskmaster was soon drafted into the Thunderbolts during the Superhuman Civil War. Super-powered felons were forced into service under the Superhuman Registration Act, with incapacitating nanotech in their system to ensure their compliance. Taskmaster joined the likes of Bullseye and Venom, fighting on the side of Iron Man’s Avengers against the anti-registration forces of Captain America. It was a bitter dispute on 
both sides, with even the Fantastic Four split down the middle. During the final battle of the Civil War in Manhattan, Taskmaster took aim at the anti-registration member Invisible Woman, only for Reed Richards to take the blast meant for his wife. When Sue Richards’s eyes narrowed, Taskmaster knew what was coming and yet he never saw what hit him. [Civil War (1st series) #4-7]
In the aftermath, Taskmaster was freed from his prison convoy by Deadpool. Wade had tried acting as a bounty hunter for the Registration Act, but his former partner Cable humiliated him publicly and ruined his reputation. Deadpool wanted to put on a showcase for potential clients, and asked Taskmaster to try to kill him in order to show off his skills. Taskmaster was happy to oblige, and so Deadpool abducted a number of military and private industry figures to watch their 
bout. Wade succeeded in beating Taskmaster, even after insisting he have his hands and feet manacled together, but the clients weren’t interested. It wasn’t his skills they were concerned with; it was his professionalism. Taskmaster gave Deadpool the same advice afterwards – his unpredictable nature made him unbeatable, but also untrustworthy for fulfilling contracts. [Cable & Deadpool #36]
Given the nanites in his system, Taskmaster presumably decided it was best to return to the Initiative, rather than remain on the run after his bout with Deadpool. His photo-reflexive abilities proved useful for the Fifty States Initiative and the Registration Act’s efforts to have trained super-hero teams in every state. When clones of the late recruit MVP were engineered for the new 
Scarlet Spider team, Taskmaster replicated both MVP and Spider-Man’s fighting styles to be imprinted onto the cloned trio. [Avengers: The Initiative Annual #1] After Camp Hammond’s initial drill sergeant, the Gauntlet, was beaten into a coma, Taskmaster was tapped by Henry Peter Gyrich as the new instructor for incoming recruits. Taskmaster preferred getting back to his roots as a teacher and considered it a better gig than having to do field missions with the Thunderbolts.
Taskmaster’s first class of new Initiative recruits included his old student Diamondback and Eric O’Grady, the latest Ant-Man. When Taskmaster questioned whether O’Grady was the Ant-Man he used to fight, the irredeemable Eric doubled-down on what a loser his predecessor was in order to 
get on Taskmaster’s good side. Unfortunately, he did so in the presence of Stature, Scott Lang’s daughter, who came after O’Grady to defend her father. This led to a giant-sized battle between Ant-Man, Stature and base commander Yellowjacket, who jumped between them. Gyrich ordered Taskmaster to get involved, so he reluctantly turned it into an instruction class on how to fight giants and proved surprisingly effective.
At his first training class, Taskmaster oversaw a melee with his new charges in order to get a feel for their capabilities. Despite their varied abilities, none of these rookies or Z-listers managed to bring him down. In the active training that followed, Taskmaster’s class was interrupted by the insane K.I.A. Another clone of MVP, he was foolishly chosen to wield the alien war-chest called the Tactigon. Once the clone learned that MVP was Killed In Action, “K.I.A.” went mad and used the Tactigon to seek revenge on his list of base personnel present at the training accident where MVP died. K.I.A. cut through Taskmaster’s class, merely because they were there. Taskmaster 
took a cue when he heard K.I.A. tell Yellowjacket “You’re on my list” before blasting him. He disarmed completely to show no threat and reminded K.I.A. that he wasn’t on his list in order to be spared. Afterwards, Taskmaster hid in a corner and ignored the emergency call to arms as the rest of the base dealt with K.I.A. He and Ant-Man bonded further over their pragmatic cowardice by watching shows on his iPhone rather than getting involved. [Avengers: The Initiative #8-12]
Taskmaster faced a troubling new recruit when Emery Schaub of North Carolina arrived for training. Boulder (or “Butterball”) was genuinely invulnerable thanks to a form of molecular stasis holding his body in its present condition. However, it also meant the doughy young man could never build his strength or speed through conditioning, and his relatively simple mind struggled to master any of the new skills Taskmaster tried to teach him. When a bounty was put on Taskmaster’s head for working for the other side, King Cobra, Mr. Hyde, Firebrand and Mauler 
came to collect. Emery and his training unit were on the scene and stood up to help defend Taskmaster from the assassins. Emery was sent home for not being military capable, but all he wanted was to be a super-hero. Taskmaster and Constrictor took pity on the kid on the way out and posed for a photo showcasing Boulder defeating two nefarious super-villains at Camp Hammond. [Avengers: The Initiative #13]