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'Black Widow' Concept Art: Black Widow Takes A Flying Leap At Taskmaster

Black Widow concept art Taskmaster
By Ben Pearson

During last night's Marvel Studios panel at San Diego Comic-Con, fans in attendance were given a glimpse at the first footage from the long-awaited Black Widow movie. But this afternoon, Marvel Studios artist Andy Park shared a piece of Black Widow concept art which gives audiences who weren't in Hall H our first look at Taskmaster, the movie's villain. Read on for everything we know about the character so far.

Black Widow Concept Art

I'm not a martial artist, so I've always wondered about the effectiveness of these type of flying leap punch moves we so regularly see in action movies. Is this something a trained fighter would actually try, or is this just the equivalent of throwing haymaker after haymaker in the Rocky movies because it's more cinematic than following by-the-book boxing tactics?

Anyway, feast your eyes on Taskmaster, a mercenary from Marvel Comics who has photographic reflexes, giving him the ability to mimic the physical movements of anyone he witnesses. He learns on the fly, and that skillset has made him an especially tough opponent for any superheroes who cross his path. He's a superb martial artist (mimicking characters like Elektra, Iron Fist, and Shang-Chi), a skilled swordsman (taking tips from Silver Samurai), a deadly accurate marksman (Captain America with a shield, Hawkeye with a bow and arrow, Punisher with firearms, and Bullseye with various projectiles), and an agile athlete (taking cues from people like Black Panther and Daredevil). In the comics, Taskmaster shifts back and forth between being a villain and an anti-hero, working for the highest bidder and frequently training people to mimic the fighting styles of well-known heroes.

In the clip that was shown at Comic-Con, Taskmaster attacks Black Widow on a bridge, so this concept art may be from that same sequence. (You can read all about what else was in that footage right here.) Interestingly, though, the identity of Taskmaster has been kept close to the vest so far – we're not sure which actor is playing that character in the movie, but we've speculated that it might be Rachel Weisz. It wouldn't be the first time Marvel Studios has gender-swapped the role of a masked antagonist: the company previously did that with the role of Ghost in Ant-Man and the Wasp. (Hannah John-Kamen played that part in Peyton Reed's sequel.)

Black Widow arrives in theaters on May 1, 2020.

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