Thunderbolts* director Jake Schreier opens up on Taskmaster’s Marvel Cinematic Universe death. The MCU gender-flipped a classic Marvel supervillain for Olga Kurylenko’s Taskmaster, introduced in Black Widow; but the character turned out to have a pretty short lifespan, shockingly killed off in Thunderbolts*‘s opening scenes.

To be fair, Taskmaster’s early death was easy to see coming; attentive viewers swiftly spotted hints from the trailers that she was only around in the first act. Still, there was to intense debate over whether her fate was changed behind the scenes.

ScreenRant’s own Joe Deckelmeier recently sat down with director Jake Schreier to promote the upcoming home media release for Thunderbolts*, where the director got a chance to address how Taskmaster’s death came about. Rather than being a last-minute addition to reshoots, this was something that was worked on after the Hollywood strikes, as Schreier explained:

Jake Schreier: Just to be clear, it’s not a late add for reshoots. Once we came out of the strike–and we hadn’t sH๏τ anything before the strike–we redeveloped the script for, I think, five months. So it happened then. So, it’s not as though we sH๏τ a movie and then changed it. It was in the shooting script. It’s just [that] there had been shooting scripts where that didn’t happen.

I think that, as we were doing that development, looking at the movie that we had been about to make before the strike, and trying to make it even better, we felt that the movie felt a little bloodless – a movie about people who kill others for a living and don’t think anything of it. To not have that represented or happen felt like we weren’t really paying off what we were saying about these characters.

Obviously, it’s no small thing to get rid of a character like that, that’s important to people, and Olga [Kurylenko is] a wonderful actress. We just felt – especially given that the team had been announced – that we couldn’t just bring a new character into it and then off them, and that wouldn’t have quite the significance of doing what we did. And we felt that there was value in seeing the way they perform their duties currently, and then also hoping that, for the audience, it means, “Well, if they can do that, they could do anything.”

And [we felt there was] a certain level of tension that it brought to the movie going forward, and also an emotional resonance. And when you see Ava and Yelena discuss that death and what they’ve come to that they’re just doing things like that to each other, and Yelena recognizing that that could be any of them… to make that true, I think you have to actually take that step and do it. But I understand that it’s a thing to do and there are people that care about that character. It was not done lightly, is all that can say.

I think that we felt like, with Taskmaster, there is this slight relationship that Yelena has to her from Black Widow. They’re not as directly connected, but there is a connection, and [we felt] that would give it more emotional resonance than if it were anyone else that happened in the film.

What Jake Schreier’s Taskmaster Comments Mean For Thunderbolts*

Even though it was sudden, Schreier’s comments make a lot of sense for Taskmaster, as this did add a level of stakes to the MCU installment. Oddly enough, I can’t help thinking there’s a sense in which Taskmaster’s death served as a strange Thunderbolts* Easter egg, given the team is basically Marvel’s Suicide Squad – and not everyone makes it out alive.

To be fair, it would have been strange if every member of the team made it to Thunderbolts* post-credits scenes alive. That would have made the Phase 5 movie feel bereft of consequence, a common criticism with some MCU films and TV shows in the past. It is also a clever way to play with audience expectations, especially after heavily marketing Taskmaster as one of the main players.

Our Take On Jake Schreier’s Taskmaster Comments

I’m pleased to hear Schreier elaborate on Taskmaster’s fate, because it would have been rather disappointing to learn an entire character’s fate was decided through reshoots. The bigger question, though, is whether there will be another Taskmaster – or perhaps even her daughter from the comics, Finesse, who would give this Thunderbolts* member a legacy.

While Taskmaster’s time in the MCU may be over for now, the Thunderbolts* team, a.k.a. the New Avengers, are just getting started, as they will be back in Avengers: Doomsday. Following the end of Thunderbolts*, more details on the team’s 2026 return will hopefully emerge sooner rather than later.