Taskmaster's face came front and center in new HD photos following the digital release of Marvel Studios' Thunderbolts*. Olga Kurylenko joined the MCU as Antonia Dreykov in 2021's Black Widow, tying up a loose end that fans had asked about since 2012's The Avengers. Making her return to the MCU in 2025's Thunderbolts*, Taskmaster again became a hot topic of conversation in her second MCU appearance.
New photos showed Olga Kurylenko in full makeup as Taskmaster in Marvel Studios' Thunderbolts*. Fans anticipated an intriguing story in this movie for Antonia Dreykov after surviving the end of Black Widow, as she went off on her own following years of torture and control at the hands of her father. Along with that long nightmare, Dreykov came into Black Widow with prominent facial scarring, which helped define her nightmarish journey.
Shared on a Marvel Studios Reddit thread, these photos show Kurylenko in a makeup chair after having prosthetic scarring applied to the right side of her face.
Taskmaster's face has devastating scarring, which was brought on by burns she sustained in the explosion meant to take out her father in Black Widow. Her right eye also sustained serious damage, as Kurylenko wears a white contact lens to cover up one of her green eyes.
The left side of Taskmaster's face did not sustain any damage in the accident, leaving Kurylenko with half of her usual look on camera.
Kurylenko made her second MCU appearance in Thunderbolts*, as Antonia Dreykov worked under Julia Louis-Dreyfus' Valentina Allegra de Fontaine as a mercenary. Unfortunately, she was killed off in her first scene early in the film, which came after she was underutilized in the marketing campaign.
Thunderbolts* was Marvel Studios' final theatrical release of Phase 5 and the first major team-up movie outside of the Avengers franchise. Starring Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, David Harbour, Hannah John-Kamen, and Lewis Pullman, this film highlighted a unique group of antiheroes and heroes who had to come together to stop one of the MCU's most powerful villains, Sentry. Thunderbolts* is streaming on Disney+.
Taskmaster's Disappointing Marvel Studios' Tenure Explained
While Taskmaster was a thrilling and intriguing villain in Black Widow, it is no secret that Olga Kurylenko was drastically underused in her two-movie stint in the MCU. She only got a few minutes of screentime between Black Widow and Thunderbolts* without her mask on, making her one of the MCU's biggest disappointments.
During Thunderbolts*' long marketing campaign, Taskmaster was often absent in shots with the rest of the team, leading many to believe she would not make it out of the movie. She then met her end less than 18 minutes into the film's 2-hour-6-minute runtime and only had one line of dialogue, making her not much more than a footnote in the overall story.
When she was teased as the Multiverse Saga's first theatrical villain in Black Widow, fans were excited to see an antagonist who could give Natasha Romanoff everything she could handle. She even showed off plenty of exciting action in that movie, taking inspiration from multiple Avengers' fighting styles and laying a serious beatdown on anyone in front of her.
Although the Multiverse Saga could finish with a new Taskmaster from across the multiverse, what Marvel has done with her so far has not lived up to the expectations for what this character could be on the big screen.
Richard Nebens joined The Direct in March 2020, now serving as the site's Senior Writer and also working as an assistant editor and content creator. He started his journalism career as a hobby in 2019 and is passionate about sharing news and stories from the entertainment industry, especially comic book movies, comedy, and sci-fi. Richard looks to expand his knowledge about movies and TV every day, and he is eager to stay locked into the latest releases and breaking news at every opportunity.
