Black Widow packed a surprise into its storyline with a reveal of Taskmaster’s identity. In comics, the character is known as Tony Masters. First appearing in The Avengers #195 in 1980, Tony Masters has since developed a loyal following (many of which are sharing their opinions of the Marvel Cinematic Universe version). When the marketing for Black Widow kept the identity of Taskmaster a secret, it became an expectation that the character would not be a replication of its comic book counterpart (major Black Widow spoilers ahead). Instead, Taskmaster turned out to be Antonia Dreykov, the daughter of Red Room mastermind General Dreykov, tying the character into Natasha’s past as she thought she had killed Antonia as a young girl as a means to also put an end to Dreykov. In an exclusive interview with ComicBook.com, Black Widow writer Eric Pearson opened up about changing Taskmaster’s comic book identity for the movie.
