Thunderbolts* director Jake Schreier has finally spoken out about Taskmaster’s early death, one of the MCU film’s most controversial moments. The response comes just under three months after the movie hit theaters and made waves as one of the MCU’s best-rated movies within the Multiverse Saga, despite the controversial move with Olga Kurylenko’s Antonia Dreykov.
Taskmaster’s death occurs during the Thunderbolts’ first encounter, where each has been hired by the string-pulling Valentina Allegra de Fontaine to kill another. Although this ultimately culminates in the mercenaries banding together, it isn’t before Ghost carries out her mission and shockingly cuts Taskmaster’s MCU career short with a bullet to the head.
The moment earned its fair share of backlash, some of which Schreier recently admitted in an interview with Variety (via GamesRadar) reached him directly, stating that he understood why people were disappointed by what he considered to be a necessary story beat. He also revealed that the decision was made when reworking the script after the Hollywood strikes.
“It was something that happened after the strike, when we were redeveloping the script. I know that there are people that have reached out to let me know that they’re displeased with this, and I totally understand that. It’s not something we did lightly…As we looked at the script and tried to do a new version, it was a little bloodless. In order to honor these characters and what they do, being contract killers … to have that movie take place with no one showing what that means didn’t really feel like it would land with as much impact. We considered all versions of it.”
Schreir also enthused about Olga Kurylenko’s acting ability, expressing that it was a hard decision to remove her from the project so swiftly. Now, it remains unclear if Taskmaster will ever return as the Earth-616 variant is one of the few MCU characters who remain resolutely ᴅᴇᴀᴅ.
“Obviously, I think Olga is a wonderful actress. It’s a hard thing to do. It’s just showing that, for these characters, this is a thing that’s done, and they feel that all of their lives don’t have a ton of value.”
What Jake Schreier’s Response To The Taskmaster Backlash Means
Schreier’s Decision Was Made For A Reason
Although Thunderbolts* is highly regarded as a breath of fresh air for the MCU, Taskmaster’s death is easily one of its least popular moments. Following Taskmaster’s controversial debut in Black Widow, Thunderbolts* could have been a chance for the character to be redeemed. Instead, she was unceremoniously killed off.
As Schreier states, averting Dreykov’s death would have made Thunderbolts* entirely bloodless, as not even the immensely powerful Void manages to rack up a single kill by the movie’s conclusion.
While the moment was one of the most shocking scenes in Thunderbolts*, it didn’t come as much of a surprise. Eagle-eyed fans had quickly cottoned on to Taskmaster’s conspicuous absence in much of the trailer footage for Thunderbolts*, an observation that was given further credence by Olga Kurylenko’s absence from the Avengers: Doomsday cast announcement.
All of the Thunderbolts* main cast were revealed to be starring in Avengers: Doomsday before Thunderbolts* was released.
Although Schreier ᴀsserts that he understands audiences’ frustration, he stops short of regretting the decision entirely. The decision was ultimately made to establish stakes that may have otherwise been diminished by the fact that every main character survives the events of Thunderbolts*, despite the seemingly insurmountable odds stacked against them.
It also establishes Ghost as one of the most formidable members of the Thunderbolts team, as she is the only one to have killed a powerful target. As Schreier states, averting Dreykov’s death would have made Thunderbolts* entirely bloodless, as not even the immensely powerful Void manages to rack up a single kill by the movie’s conclusion.
Our Take On Jake Schreier’s Taskmaster Response
I Wish Taskmaster Had More Of A Chance
Given the fact that Thunderbolts* was shockingly devoid of casualties, I can empathize with Jake Schreier’s difficult decision. Taskmaster is perhaps one of the least popular characters to feature in Thunderbolts*, so it makes sense that she would be the first to hit the proverbial chopping block.
Then again, I think I would have preferred for Taskmaster’s death to have occurred later in the movie. While the early establishment of the stakes might have been important, I can’t help but wonder if it would have been better for the Void to have killed a Thunderbolts member instead.
This could have also helped to warm audiences more to Olga Kurylenko’s Taskmaster if she had a little more room to breathe in Thunderbolts*. Now we can only rely on the now-confirmed MCU reboot to deliver a more comics-accurate version of Taskmaster.
Sources: Variety, GamesRadar
