Thunderbolts* surprised many fans by becoming one of the best Marvel films since Avengers: Endgame. However, there are some criticisms of the feature film, particularly regarding Taskmaster. The character was not respected, whereas, in the initial scenario, he was supposed to have a different fate.
Thunderbolts*: the film's strength is also its biggest flaw
What audiences appreciated in Thunderbolts* is the humanity it exudes. The film addresses depression and mental health as a whole, powerful and current themes. We discover all this through Yelena and Sentry, two similar characters who help each other. This relationship is the film's strength, but it also constitutes a weakness.
By focusing on Yelena and Sentry, Thunderbolts* tends to forget the other characters. While some, like Bucky, don't need further development, others would have deserved more in-depth treatment. This is particularly the case with Ghost or the Red Guardian, whose traumas we would have liked to explore more. However, the character we would have particularly liked to see highlighted is Taskmaster, completely wasted in the film when he was initially supposed to be one of the most interesting.
Taskmaster's fate in Thunderbolts* was supposed to be very different
Taskmaster is one of the characters that the MCU missed. Marvel could have made up for it with Thunderbolts*, but it turned out differently, his fate being sealed before the film's release with the casting announcement for Avengers: Doomsday. It's even worse than that, because Antonia Dreykov is only present for a few minutes before being shot in the head by Ghost. She is thus eclipsed from the start in a total incomprehension. However, Taskmaster was supposed to have a much bigger role, as Eric Pearson, one of the film's two writers, indicated in an interview with Polygon.
In Eric Pearson's final draft, Taskmaster was supposed to be part of the team and even have a major subplot. Instead of eliminating Antonia, Ava was supposed to play the role of a big sister to help her be independent, as she had done before. Subsequently, the film was supposed to exploit her memory loss to continually attack her target, John Walker, until they became friends. Taskmaster was thus supposed to be greatly expanded, but unfortunately, Marvel decided to leave this story alone. Eric Pearson doesn't know the reason, as he was working on Fantastic Four at the time of filming. One can imagine that this subplot took up too much space, however, erasing the character in this way remains surprising. Rather than finding a replacement story, the studio preferred to abandon him altogether. We really hope that, in the probable reboot of the universe, Taskmaster will be given a fresh start. Tell us in the comments section.
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