Warning! This article contains spoilers for Thunderbolts*The only major death in Thunderbolts* wasn’t only painfully obvious, but also even more disheartening than anybody could have predicted. With the exception of Lewis Pullman’s Bob, all members of Thunderbolts*‘ тιтular team had appeared in previous MCU entries, to varying degrees of prominence. Thunderbolts* gives Ghost, Red Guardian, Yelena Belova, and John Walker a bigger and more heroic role this time around, allowing them to fill the role of the Avengers in the absence of an official team of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. To their own surprise, the Thunderbolts become the New Avengers at the end of their movie.

The Thunderbolts only have a single casualty over the course of their crossover movie. After becoming the New Avengers, they’re likely to merge their team with Sam Wilson’s in order to reestablish the original Avengers, though they could also go back to their Thunderbolts origins in a possible Thunderbolts* sequel set after Avengers: Doomsday or Avengers: Secret Wars. Either way, the MCU’s Thunderbolts may stay close together following the events of their first movie. What’s odd, however, is that they killed one potential member of their team and moved on like nothing happened.

Taskmaster’s Thunderbolts* Death Seemed To Be Inevitable Long Before The Movie Actually Released

Marvel Made It Very Obvious Taskmaster Wouldn’t Survive For Long

Taskmaster’s limited presence in Thunderbolts*‘ trailers and promotional material raised questions about her role in the movie. Not only do the Thunderbolts* trailers feature Taskmaster in only two scenes, but all the posters, banners, and images only included a masked Taskmaster, whereas the rest of the team appeared with their masks and helmets off. Besides, Taskmaster actor Olga Kurylenko barely appeared in Thunderbolts*‘ marketing and interviews. As a result, it was rather obvious that Taskmaster would be killed off pretty early on during Thunderbolts* and her role would be something slightly more than a cameo.

I Was Expecting Taskmaster’s Death, But Not How Early It Happened

Thunderbolts* Negates Taskmaster’s Distinctive Abilities Just To Kill Her Off

The MCU’s Thunderbolts have a particularly uniform set of abilities. Thunderbolts*‘ тιтular anti-heroes include two super soldiers, three ᴀssᴀssins, and one intangible thief. Of these characters, Ghost’s phasing powers stand out, but Taskmaster’s copycat abilities technically make her the most skilled of the whole group. At least in theory, Taskmaster should be able to mirror the fighting style, agility, weapon mastery, and reflexes of all the Thunderbolts. Taskmaster should be able to best John Walker in shield-wielding and Yelena Belova in martial arts, and she should be able to know exactly how all her opponents will attack her.

Taskmaster possesses the one MCU superpower that allows her to become an all-in-one ᴀssᴀssin, which is precisely what Val was intending to achieve with her Sentry project — only on a smaller scope. Black Widow revealed Taskmaster learned many of the Avengers’ abilities, including Hawkeye’s archery and Black Panther’s fighting style. In Thunderbolts*, Taskmaster immediately copies the Thunderbolts’ fighting skills. Yet, Ghost shoots Taskmaster point-blank in the head before the other anti-heroes steal her gear and leave her body to burn in Val’s vault, and the movie simply moves on without her.

Why Taskmaster Dies So Early In Thunderbolts*

Thunderbolts Justifies Taskmaster’s Death With A Pᴀssing Mention

After Yelena, John Walker, and Ghost exit the vault, they reflect on how Val manipulated them, and Ghost expresses regret over killing Taskmaster. Yelena mentions that Antonia Dreykov had a tragic origin, and Ghost’s remorse softens her to the team, but Taskmaster is barely alluded to again. Taskmaster seems to have been killed off to establish Thunderbolts*‘ high stakes and show how every other anti-hero is lucky to get another chance. However, the fact that Taskmaster’s death was so obvious in Thunderbolts*‘ marketing defeats the point.

Several superhero movies and shows use the same tool to create the illusion of tangible consequences. For instance, The Avengers killed off Phil Coulson, Avengers: Age of Ultron killed off Quicksilver, and Avengers: Infinity War killed off Loki. Thunderbolts* gives Taskmaster no time to develop as a character, but kills her off to maintain a sense of danger for the rest of the team. It’s rare for this tactic to work seamlessly, though, as characters tend to come back to life sooner or later, or the protagonists don’t seem to care about the casualties.

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