The December schedule for Marvel Comics has arrived, and brought some big news for Taskmaster with it. Not only will the highly skilled mercenary be making his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in Black Widow, but he's also getting his own comic series... in which he will be trying to hunt down and kill Agent Phil Coulson.
Working as one of the best mercenaries in the Marvel Universe, Taskmaster is a master of combat thanks to his Squadron Supreme of America backing Coulson up.
Related: Black Widow: Everything We Know About Taskmaster’s Real Identity
In the new Taskmaster series from writer Jed Mckay with art by Alessandro Vitti, the whole world believes that Taskmaster a.k.a. Tony Masters has killed Maria Hill, and spies from all over the globe will be trying to take him down. While it remains to be seen if Taskmaster actually did the deed, he'll be headed to Washington to eliminate the one and only Phillip J. Coulson in the second issue, seemingly to continue his killing spree. Here's the cover art from Valerio Giangiordano and synopsis from Marvel Comics:
- TASKMASTER #2 (OF 5)
- JED MACKAY (W)
- ALESSANDRO VITTI (A)
- Cover by VALERIO GIANGIORDANO
- Variant Cover by SALVADOR LARROCA
- TARGET: COULSON! Taskmaster heads to D.C. for his first victim, Phil Coulson! But Coulson isn’t alone, he’s got an entire squadron on speed dial...
The cover and synopsis reveals that Taskmaster is definitely going to be in over his head thanks to Coulson's personal team of superheroes. For fans that don't know, after Coulson was assassinated during Secret Empire, he was brought back to life by brought back to life by Mephisto, provided that he work for the demon lord and his interests on Earth. Coulson complies, having lost all faith in the superheroes of the Marvel Universe, deciding to take a walk on the dark side and built a new version of Marvel's knockoff Justice League, the Squadron Supreme.
As a result, Coulson has brainwashed and programmed an entire team of superheroes under the U.S. Government that is secretly ready to be used as Mephisto wills. The heroes included are Hyperion, Power Princess, Nighthawk, the Blur, and Hyperion, Marvel's version of Superman to hold Taskmaster by the throat high up in the air, so fans should be pretty curious to see how Taskmaster will survive this encounter.
