Marvel Theory: Black Widow's Taskmaster Was Created By Iron Man

The identity of Black Widow’s villain, Taskmaster, continues to be a mystery, but a new theory suggests he could be a creation of Tony Stark. Before moving on to the introduction of new characters like the Eternals and Shang-Chi, the Marvel Cinematic Universe will take viewers a few years back with Black Widow, set between the events of Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War.

Black Widow will follow Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) while on the run after the conflict in Civil War. Natasha will travel to Russia, where she will be forced to confront a dangerous conspiracy with ties to her past. Meanwhile, she will reunite with her Russian family: Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Melina Vostokoff (Rachel Weisz), and Alexei Shostakov a.k.a. Red Guardian (David Harbour). Natasha will also come across with a very special villain: Taskmaster, who has the ability to mimic the physical movements of anyone he observes. The trailers released so far have shown him fighting like Captain America, Black Panther, Iron Man, and Natasha herself, but who he is and where he comes from remains unknown.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the release date for Black Widow has been delayed a few times, so the mystery over Taskmaster’s identity and story has only grown, making way for all types of theories. Comicbook’s Brandon Davis recently shared one that suggests the person behind Taskmaster and all his incredible abilities is none other than Tony Stark, who once again could have accidentally created a villain, all based on details from previous films. Here’s how Iron Man could be responsible for the creation of Taskmaster.

Iron Man Has Already Created A Lot Of MCU Villains

Iron Man is the superhero that kickstarted the MCU, setting the basis for what this connected universe would be and preparing the ground for the arrival of the Avengers. Iron Man was the leader of the MCU until Avengers: Endgame, where he sacrificed himself to save the world, and while he was a hero, he was also responsible for the creation of a couple of villains in the MCU, and he didn’t even battle all of them. It all started in his first solo movie, where viewers met Obadiah Stane a.k.a. Iron Monger (Jeff Bridges). Stane was a close friend of Tony’s parents and took over Stark Industries after their death. Once Tony turned 18, he took control of the company and took Stane’s spot, though he stayed and was his right hand for years. Stane grew resentful of Tony and plotted his kidnap and assassination with the help of the Ten Rings. While being held captive, Tony built the first Iron Man armor, which Stane later retrieved. Along with the arc reactor, Stane built his own suit and was ready to fight Iron Man.

Iron Man 2 also had a villain inadvertently created by the Starks. Anton Vanko a.k.a. Whiplash (Mickey Rourke) was the son of Ivan Vanko, who worked with Howard Stark on the development of the original arc reactor, but never got proper credit for it. After Ivan’s death and Tony’s rise as Iron Man, Anton built his own arc reactor, which made it easier for him to fight Iron Man. Iron Man 3 followed the pattern with the introduction of Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce), founder and owner of the science and development organization Advanced Idea Mechanics. Killian and Tony met on New Year’s Eve 1999, and Tony promised to meet him on the roof to discuss his plans. Tony never showed up, something that Killian never forgave nor forgot. Years later, Killian returned with an even bigger and more dangerous plan, now involving the Extremis formula, which made him more powerful.

One of Tony’s most ambitious projects ended up being his most dangerous one: Ultron. In Avengers: Age of Ultron, Tony and Bruce Banner came up with the Ultron project, with the purpose of protecting Earth from various threats. Tony saw a chance on the Mind Stone to finally set the project into motion, which he did, but it went horribly wrong. Ultron realized that the real threat were humans, and thus planned to destroy Earth. Tony was later responsible for the emergence of two other villains, though the one who had to deal with them was Peter Parker. First was Adrian Toomes a.k.a. Vulture (Michael Keaton) in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Following the Battle of New York, Toomes and his company, Bestman Salvage, were ready to clean up New York, but Tony founded Damage Control and they took over the task, thus leaving Toomes and company out of business. Last but not least was Quentin Beck/Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal), a former Stark Industries employee posing as a hero from another universe. Beck worked on holographic technologies at Stark Industries and was fired after complaining about the name Tony put to the technology he developed (and Tony perfected). He later used that technology to make the world believe he was protecting the planet from the Elementals, and his final trick was framing Peter and exposing his identity.

Taskmaster’s Fighting Abilities & Tech Could Come From Tony Stark

The aforementioned villains were created either as a result of Tony’s attitude and decisions or the technology he developed during his time in the MCU. Taskmaster would fall into the latter category, and the details hinting at that can be found in Civil War. Davis points out that during the battle between Iron Man, Captain America, and the Winter Soldier near the end of the film, Iron Man had F.R.I.D.A.Y. analyzing every move from Captain America as they happened, allowing Tony to predict his moves and use the suit’s tech to fight back. Taskmaster’s mask has a small camera in the middle, which could be recording the fights and analyzing them from every possible angle so he can recreate (and predict) every move – and as the fight in Civil War took place in Siberia, as do some parts of Black Widow, Taskmaster could have retrieved pieces of Iron Man’s helmet, which he then used for his own, not-so-honest purposes.

As to why Tony Stark would have added such a feature to his suit, it’s important to keep in mind that one of Tony’s main goals was to create new forms of defense and protocols to protect the world from all types of threats – alien, human, or something else. Ultron, as mentioned above, didn’t go well, so Tony would have looked for other ways to keep the world safe without putting it at risk at the same time. This technology would have helped him match whatever threat he could encounter, more so if he could copy the moves of his fellow Avengers (and other heroes, like Black Panther), which in turn would have helped him keep his superhero colleagues safe. However, and as MCU history has already shown, Tony’s plans and tech are not perfect, and if they fall into the wrong hands, their purpose would then be the complete opposite of what he wanted.

Taskmaster’s Stark Tech Could Be Linked To AIM In Black Widow

Black Widow might have a connection with Iron Man 3’s villain, which would also link to the Stark tech used by Taskmaster. An eagle-eyed fan pointed out that, in the trailer, in the scene where Yelena is captured (quite possibly after the final battle), there’s an acronym written on the wall: AIM, “Advanced Idea Mechanics”, Aldrich Killian’s company. Taskmaster could be working for AIM, and even though Killian is presumed dead, whoever is in charge could still be seeking revenge against Tony and/or the Avengers, depending on how the events between Iron Man 3 and Black Widow affected them (like Vulture and Mysterio’s cases, for example). AIM would then be using Tony Stark’s tech against him and the Avengers through Taskmaster, though another possibility is that AIM recreated the technology found in those pieces of Iron Man’s helmet after the fight in Civil War, and are now using it on Taskmaster to fulfill whatever revenge plan they have.

Robert Downey Jr’s Rumored Black Widow Cameo Could Be For Taskmaster’s Origin

Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark and Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow

Although Black Widow will be all about Natasha and what she did between Civil War and Infinity War, Robert Downey Jr has been heavily rumored to cameo in it, and Taskmaster using Stark tech would give him a good reason to show up. Black Widow will surely explain Taskmaster’s origin at some point, with Tony Stark appearing in a flashback scene (Marvel could even use archive or deleted footage to make it happen). Many fans aren’t completely on board with the possibility of Tony Stark showing up in Black Widow as this is supposed to be a story focused on Natasha, but appearing in a flashback scene explaining the origins of the film’s villain would be a good way to have him back briefly and without taking the spotlight away from Natasha’s story.

Tony’s tendency of unintentionally creating villains could be used one final time in the MCU, without him being involved in defeating said threat (just like in both Spider-Man films). Although there’s strong evidence that supports this theory, the MCU is full of surprises, and the twist in Black Widow could be different than Taskmaster using Stark technology, either from the man himself (though unbeknownst to him) or a recreation made by an old enemy.

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