Much mystery surrounds the villain of the upcoming Black Widow film. Even after fans first learned that the villain would be Taskmaster there has been rampant speculation regarding just who might be behind the skull-styled mask. The debut of the character in film is much-anticipated, but what if the face behind the mask isn't human at all? In fact, what if it's the Super Adaptoid?
The movie's latest trailer seemingly debunked one of the leading theories about Taskmaster's identity: that Rachel Weisz's Melina Vostokoff, known in the comics as Iron Maiden, was in truth Taskmaster, despite appearing to be one of Black Widow's allies. But a shot of the character alongside Taskmaster during an action sequence forced fans to go back to the drawing board to determine Taskmaster's identity.
Part of what was appealing about Vostokoff secretly being Taskmaster came in expecting the unexpected. Since Taskmaster is traditionally a man in the comics, known as Tony Masterson in his career as a superhero-defying mercenary, mixing it up in the movie by reimagining the villain as a woman and an ally of the film's heroine seemed like a fascinating move. But just because Vostokoff may not be behind the mask does not mean that Marvel will not still pull a bait-and-switch where fan expectations of Taskmaster's identity are concerned.
Though they are both have copycat powers, neither Taskmaster nor the Super Adaptoid have much of anything to do with each other in the comics. Taskmaster is essentially just a human gifted with a natural ability for perfectly recreating other's movements upon first observing them. Far from supernatural or superpowered, Taskmaster is just a really fast learner with "photographic reflexes."
By contrast, the Super Adaptoid is a powerful robot created by the evil organization AIM to reproduce any superpower it witnesses. Originally imbued with a shard of the reality-warping Cosmic Cube to aid in its mission, the Super Adaptoid first contested the Avengers by mimicking their every ability and piece of equipment. Whether it was Captain America's shield, Hawkeye's arrows or Goliath's enhanced strength the Super Adaptoid could mimic it all. Whereas Taskmaster would be helpless to reproduce Spider-Man's webbing or Cyclops' optic beams, the Super Adaptoid could do so after seeing the ability performed once.
Obscuring the Adaptoid as Taskmaster in Black Widow would be a great way for the MCU to up the ante in an unexpected way. While pretending to be human, or perhaps limited in the early stages of its mimicry powers, the Adaptoid's abilities would be indistinguishable from Taskmaster's. Footage of the villain already shows his signature ability to copy others, but thus far this has been limited to the physical movements and equipment of other characters rather than their powers.
But if it truly is the Super Adaptoid behind Taskmaster's mask, copying heroes' equipment could involve a process more convenient than merely bringing their gear into battle. We might assume that Black Widow's Taskmaster just carries around Hawkeye's bow and arrows or houses Black Panther's claws in his gauntlets, but if he were actually anything like the Adaptoid from the comics he would be able to call on and recreate such equipment at the drop of a hat. You can almost imagine the reveal now, in which Adaptoid's gadgets turn out to be inherent to his structure rather than gear he carries around.
There's certainly some precedent in the MCU for such a reveal. AIM has been name-dropped left and right in the MCU for years, with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Iron Man 3 featuring it prominently. Since the organization's goals primarily revolve around adapting the human race for a new age of superpowers, if the Super Adaptoid were to appear in Black Widow, it could be the culmination of those ambitions. The Cosmic Cube could even be an attempt to recreate the Tesseract that fueled the Red Skull's designs in World War II.
And it's not like the MCU hasn't combined villains or used surprise twists before. Iron Man 3 played fast and loose with the identity of the Mandarin in order to defy audience expectations, and it would be no different if the same was done with Taskmaster. Plus, the Super Adaptoid would prove to be a threat greater than any human could handle, so if he's introduced in Black Widow, the MCU could well be setting up a major villain for the franchise's next big team up.
Directed by Cate Shortland, Black Widow stars Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow, Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian, O-T Fagbenle as Rick Mason and Rachel Weisz. The film currently has no release date.