WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Taskmaster #5 by Jed MacKay, Alessandro Vitti, Guru e-FX, and VC’s Joe Caramagna, on sale now.
Taskmaster has never had things easy, and he has never had many friends to lend him a hand when things get rough. While he’s currently on the run from more than a few people who want him dead, including the Black Widow, Tony Masters is fortunate enough to have a single person on his side after being framed for the assassination of Maria Hill, Nicky Fury.
Although they might not always get along, Taskmaster and Fury are at least able to work together to stay one step ahead of Black Widow and get to the bottom of the mystery, even when discussions get heated, and they get especially hot when Taskmaster takes credit for making him one of the most capable heroes in the Marvel Universe.
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Before he became Nick Fury Jr., he was merely Marcus Johnson, Army Ranger until his first appearance in 2011’s Battle Scars #1 by Chris Yost, Cullen Bunn, Matt Fraction, and Scot Eaton. When Marcus’ mother died, he returned home for her funeral, an event which was attended in secret by both Steve Rogers and Sharon Carter. After the service, Marcus went to his mother’s home, itself an unfortunate victim of the riots caused by the events of Fear Itself during which the Asgardian God of Fear spread his dark influence across the globe. While Marcus dug through the remains, he discovered evidence that his mother’s death was no accident, but before he could dig further Marcus came under sniper fire. Someone had been sent to keep the killing quiet, and when the first assassin proved to not be enough, Taskmaster stepped in to finish the job.
Luckily, Captain America arrived just in time to save Marcus’ life, but the event left him shaken to his core, and things would never be the same. Taskmaster remembers that day just as well as Marcus, and he flat out tells his current partner that he is the reason that Marcus went down the road that has led him to become the super spy extraordinaire he is today.
This bold claim doesn’t sit particularly well with Fury, though that could be because it’s at least partially true. Taskmaster certainly isn’t responsible for Fury’s intelligence, nor his battlefield prowess and resilient nature. However, he was the first person to strike that very specific kind of fear into Fury’s heart, the kind that comes from staring down someone who is in and of themselves greater than human.
There is a good enough chance that even without Taskmaster’s intervention that day, Marcus would have ended up walking the same path, even if it might not have been in the same exact fashion. If nothing else, Taskmaster’s influence has at least left Fury open to working with the best of the worst when the situation calls for it.
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