Taskmaster

Tony Masters, also known as the Taskmaster, is a character from the Marvel comics.

Taskmaster possesses the ability to absorb knowledge and instantly replicate the combat skills of anyone he observes. He has used these skills as a teacher to many super villains, henchmen, and even some heroes. In order to clean his record, he started working for the U.S. government as a combat instructor. Due to a set of events, he was ultimately put in as sheriff of the criminal island known as Bagalia. He currently serves as Madame Hydra's personal bodyguard.

In the AWA fics, the Taskmaster is allies with the AWA.

Personality
Falcon stated that Taskmaster is motivated by greed and demands top dollar, hence lunatics like R.A.I.D. usually cannot afford him.

Photographic Reflexes
Taskmaster has what he calls "photographic reflexes". After seeing someone perform an action once, he can perfectly copy the action. He has used this ability to copy the fighting styles and skills of many heroes and villains, mixing them up and turning them into his own style. The people he has copied styles/skills from include: Beast, Black Knight, Black Widow, Bullseye, Captain America, Cat, Daredevil, Deadpool, Elektra, Hawkeye, Hulk, Iron Fist, Mister X, Ms. Marvel, Porcupine, Photon (Genis-Vell), Puma, Punisher, Quicksilver, Razorfist, Scarlet Witch, Shang Chi, Silver Samurai, Spider-Man, Swordsman, Thing, Thor, Tigra, Toad, Vision, Wolverine, Zaran, Blazing Skull, Luke Cage, Ant-Man (Lang), Boomerang, Cable, Justice, Machete, Oddball, and Libra. (In crossovers he has learned the skills of Batman and Huntress but it is unknown if he retains them in the normal Marvel Universe). This is just a short list, but it is impressive.

He can only mimic actions to the extent that his body will allow. For example, he can copy the way Spider-Man fights, but can't copy his super strength. He can copy the way Daredevil moves to avoid danger, but he can't copy his radar. He can copy the fighting style of Deadpool but can't copy his unpredictability and healing factor. Copying skills doesn't give him an understanding of what is needed to do them either. He could copy a famous pianist's performance, but wouldn't be able to read sheet music. In a flashback he demonstrated something like this: when he was a child, he almost drowned after perfectly duplicating a swimmer's dive, forgetting that he couldn't swim.

Taskmaster has said that he finds Moon Knight's style of fighting annoying, as Moon Knight would rather take a punch than avoid it. To add to his abilities when he can't find someone to watch, Taskmaster uses the television. He watches movies and TV to study super-humans, athletes, stunt-men, archers, soldiers, wrestlers, etc. In this way, he has gained a wide range of combat as well as acrobatic skills including aerial acrobatics, gymnastics, boxing, martial arts (all the ones presently used and some historical ones), wrestling, swordsmanship, marksmanship, archery, car-jacking, and sleight of hand. By watching a video in fast forward, Taskmaster picked up the ability to move in "double time", giving him super speed for short periods of time. He also learned how to catch bullets during his mini-series.

Voice Mimicker
Another skill Taskmaster has that is unconnected to his photographic reflexes is his ability to mimic voices. With just a couple hours of practice, Taskmaster can fully mimic another person's voice and speech patterns, a tool he uses for impersonation and breaking voice-activated locks.

Equipment
Taskmaster carries a wide variety of weaponry he uses to mimic the fighting styles he managed to copy along his publication. Within his most consistent and visible gear we can see: Captain America's shield, Black Knight's Sword, Daredevil's Billy Clubs and Hawkeye's Bow and Trick Arrows. All this gear along with less known objects were carried manually by Taskmaster until his first solo series in 2002 introducing a new gear, commonly known as UDON suit. He changed his outfit and devices, but most importantly, he stole a S.H.I.E.L.D. device which allowed him to create his weaponry by solidifying energy. This change proved to be very practical since he could move faster, avoid possible disarmament and utilize more weaponry in an easier way. Within the added weapons and gadgets: Wolverine's Claws and Spider-Man's Webshooters as well as a very advanced image-inducer that allows him to take on the physical appearance of whomever he sees, this last one is currently visible in Secret Avengers, used by Mockingbird.

The last time he was seen with this suit was in Avengers and Power Pack Assemble! #1 in 2006. Later on he turned back to his classic outfit once again, however, there is no concrete reason as to why this happened.

Trivia

 * In the AWA fics, the Taskmaster fought Erza Scarlet's group off-screen and won.


 * Daredevil once saved Taskmaster's life when the Punisher threw a knife at his heart. Daredevil deflected it with a shot from a pistol then applied pressure to his wound until help arrived, one of the few times the hero has ever picked up and used a firearm.
 * Taskmaster wore a skull mask as inspired by Santa Muerte, Saint Death "The Lady of Shadows" in honor of her solidarity. He picked up this mask on his first mission for Org while re-training Mexican Special Forces.