WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Iron Fist: Heart of the Dragon #1 by Larry Hama, David Wachter, Neeraj Menon & VC's Travis Lanham, on sale now
Taskmaster is one of Marvel's most flexible villains, a skilled fighter and ruthless mercenary who can even find ways to overcome the best efforts of powerful figures like Hyperion. He's even repeatedly shown off that he's one of Marvel's best hand-to-hand fighters, especially when coming up against someone who's likewise skilled.
And in Iron Fist: Heart of the Dragon #1, Taskmaster, who's set to make his first appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the upcoming Black Widow, just proved how skilled he is by standing up to the Immortal Iron Fist with relative ease after killing a dragon all by himself.
Taskmaster is theoretically one of the most dangerous foes that Iron Fist could encounter. One of the martial arts-based hero's best attributes is the unique fighting style he employs. Trained in K'un-Lun, this gives Iron Fist an easy way to surprise his opponents with his moves. But thanks to his own photographic reflex-memory, Taskmaster can not only read his moves but effectively counter them. This means that when Iron Fist arrives in the Under City to help Dog Brother fight against a mysterious and deadly undead horde, Taskmaster's presence can prove to be a real problem. Making his way through the city, Iron Fist reaches the Citadel of the Ancients, intending to protect the dragon of the city from the invaders.
But by the time he arrives at the Citadel, it's too late: Taskmaster hasn't just found the dragon; he's killed it. After cutting out the dragon's heart, Taskmaster reveals that he's been hired by someone to help collect the hearts of each dragon from across the Seven Capital Cities of Heaven. Doing so threatens the safety of everyone within those cities, but Taskmaster seems undisturbed by this eventuality. Instead, he places the heart into a chest and fights Iron Fist -- holding his own against the martial arts master with only the use of one hand. Their fight is fast, with Taskmaster and Iron Fist both landing heavy hits on the other. But as soon as he sees an opening, Taskmaster flees the battle with the heart still tucked under his arm.
It's notable that Taskmaster is able to escape the battle so quickly and easily. Even though Lady Bullseye suggests he was also hired to deal with Iron Fist, it appears that the mercenary is far more concerned with bringing the heart to its intended owner. This means he realizes how important the hearts are -- and how much more important they are over beating Iron Fist. There's also the question of what happens now that he's killed one of the dragons. As impressive and powerful forces, the dragons of the Seven Capital Cities of Heaven each have their own place in the world. Iron Fist gained his power thanks to slaying the dragon of K'un-Lun. It's likely that taking the heart comes with some serious repercussions, and even potentially a power boost for either Taskmaster or the person he brings the heart to.
With Taskmaster on the move and clearly working for someone else, Iron Fist will likely have to face off with the mercenary again down the line if he wants to prevent their plans to bring down the Seven Cities. And hopefully next time, Iron Fist will have some back-up, because Taskmaster would be the perfect villain to test just how immortal Iron Fist really is if he could use both hands.