Hench for Hire: Taskmaster & Ant-Man Appreciation 2019

[Snoop Dogg]

I don't really like Van Lente's origin. The original premise of that mini, a crazy adventure that he pulled a random waitress into, is more compelling than what the actual story turned out to be, and the ending just puts these weird question marks over everything he does. The memory loss concept is cool, though. I hope Nick somehow just does a spotlight issue somewhere to clear things up.

[Rosebunse]

When I was in college, as part of a design class, we had to redesign a superhero/villain design. While everyone else did Batman, and Batman, and actually there was a Cyclops outfit that Marvel may have ripped off for the Phoenix force one, I convinced my team to go with Taskmaster. Actually, now that I think about it, our "resesign" ended up looking way too much like the Udon outfit, but since he's so obscure to most normal people, I don't think anyone cared.

The whole memory retcon had just come out and it actually made the whole thing a lot easier because now we had a reason for why his suit would need to be a certain way. And Van Lente was very nice and helpful in his emails about the design.

So that's part of th reason I like the memory loss retcon. Plus, it's an easy thing for writers to ignore or take up depending on what they want to do.

[Michael Watkins]

When I was in college, as part of a design class, we had to redesign a superhero/villain design. While everyone else did Batman, and Batman, and actually there was a Cyclops outfit that Marvel may have ripped off for the Phoenix force one, I convinced my team to go with Taskmaster. Actually, now that I think about it, our "resesign" ended up looking way too much like the Udon outfit, but since he's so obscure to most normal people, I don't think anyone cared.

The whole memory retcon had just come out and it actually made the whole thing a lot easier because now we had a reason for why his suit would need to be a certain way. And Van Lente was very nice and helpful in his emails about the design.

So that's part of th reason I like the memory loss retcon. Plus, it's an easy thing for writers to ignore or take up depending on what they want to do.

neat. one thing I did like about the Unthinkable story was the inclusion of Mercedes Merced. the whole thing really humanized Taskmaster while not making him less of a villain. all that time in the Initiative and I bet that Taskmaster and Constrictor didn't realize that they have the rogue SHIELD agent thing in common. well, actually, I think Taskmaster somehow knows about his former SHIELD service. he said as much when they got arrested in Spider-man's book (weird given the end of Unthinkable).

[Michael Watkins]

FrankenCastle was a pretty good run, though.

Thinking back on Civil War and Dark Reign and even Secret Empire and it's no wonder Taskmaster might like the idea of just hanging out with Eric and running some smaller scams and schemes.

They have fun, it's sort of easy and involves known entities that are at his level, and the money isn't too bad. And no Osborn or Nazis!

we'll see how that works out for him pretty soon. working for Kraven might be just as risky. I wonder if Eric might have told him the truth about his past. he was there (or has the memories of being there) when Nick Fury explained that Taskmaster was former SHIELD and amnesic because of his augmentation. that might be another reason why he likes having him around; he's a tie to the past.

[Rosebunse]

I am almost certain Marvel ripped off of a Cyclops design one of my classmates did lol

I feel like the memory loss thing is sort of one of those things that you can keep in the back of your mind and create your own headcanon around.

Like, is he just hanging out with Black Ant because he wants to bum around and have a fun partner? Or could Black Ant be a useful person to have around when your memory is utter crap?

[Michael Watkins]

I am almost certain Marvel ripped off of a Cyclops design one of my classmates did lol

I feel like the memory loss thing is sort of one of those things that you can keep in the back of your mind and create your own headcanon around.

Like, is he just hanging out with Black Ant because he wants to bum around and have a fun partner? Or could Black Ant be a useful person to have around when your memory is utter crap?

it's funny to think of Taskmaster freaking out whenever he wakes up in Bagalia. there's all of these costumed criminals saying hi to him (or trying to kill him). but he has no friggin clue who they are.

[Snoop Dogg]

Since we were discussing competency earlier, Spencer has now confirmed that the boys are doing most of the hunting for Hunted themselves, successfully.

[Rosebunse]

it's funny to think of Taskmaster freaking out whenever he wakes up in Bagalia. there's all of these costumed criminals saying hi to him (or trying to kill him). but he has no friggin clue who they are.

I imagine he looks at his wiki page a lot just to remember what he did last week.

[Michael Watkins]

I imagine he looks at his wiki page a lot just to remember what he did last week.

those are easy to edit. I wouldn't trust that around Eric. he's notorious for updating his own files with false information.

Since we were discussing competency earlier, Spencer has now confirmed that the boys are doing most of the hunting for Hunted themselves, successfully.

neat. I wonder what this is all about, though.

[Michael Watkins]

[Michael Watkins]

[pageturner]

I do enjoy how taskmaster has worked for both sides and has a code of sorts. Black Ant is a great sidekick/partner.

[chamber-music]

I enjoy villain buddy duo partnerships like Juggernaut & Black Tom Cassidy and Sabertooth & Constrictor. Taskmaster and Black Ant fell like the current era versions of those villain duos.

Taskmaster and Black Ant are both formidable in their own right but when your written as henchmen you generally get your asses beat regularly in comics.

[Michael Watkins]

I enjoy villain buddy duo partnerships like Juggernaut & Black Tom Cassidy and Sabertooth & Constrictor. Taskmaster and Black Ant fell like the current era versions of those villain duos.

I miss Black Tom/Juggernaut being a thing. they always seem to appear separately nowadays. I wonder what will ultimately become of Constrictor jr. is he also at Baggalia? and how did he get "powers?" i'm assuming that Viper recruited him after Frank's death. i'd like to see Diamondback's reaction to Frank having a long lost son. big fan of villain duos though. my first favorite was Blob and Unus. then Blob and Pyro. then Pyro and Avalanche. then Avalanche and Commando.

Taskmaster and Black Ant are both formidable in their own right but when your written as henchmen you generally get your asses beat regularly in comics.

true. but they've done surprisingly well against other villains. and they'd say that they are 'freelance' as opposed to hench.

[Michael Watkins]

I do enjoy how taskmaster has worked for both sides and has a code of sorts.

well his code seems to be a looser version of Paladin's. it all depends on how much he's being paid and the risks involved. generally, he doesn't like to get his hands dirty. and accidentally killing innocents gets you placed in the harder to escape prisons. then there's that memory loss stuff. I wonder what he'd think about his little girl working for A.I.M.