Taskmaster and Hyperion clash in a bloody showdown that’s sure to go down in the history books!
Tony Masters or Taskmaster is involved with the Rubicon Trigger. This is a project that Maria Hill was working on before her death. It was reported that Taskmaster was behind her killing. However, he did not do it and Nick Fury believes him. Even Black Widow is out for the assassin’s head. As for the project, Masters has to retrieve the kinesis signature from three individuals. These people are Phil Coulson, Okoye, and Ami Han. He is doing this to repay Fury for saving him from Natasha. Here is the continuation of what looks like Taskmaster’s greatest mission.
We are in Washington D.C., Fury and Masters are planning for the mission. As we read what the pair say, we see a man with a cap paying for his taxi ride. This man is Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Phil Coulson. Then, there is a shift to the pair being shown at a safe house. Taskmaster is playing with his bow and Fury looking at data. They compliment each other and talk about Coulson being killed by Deadpool. However, Coulson was brought back and is visiting a comic book store. Coulson looks through the store’s best-selling books. He is even sparking a conversation with the cashier about the issues.
Coulson then asks a fellow customer what his favorite superhero team is. After the individual replies with “Alpha Flight”, Coulson gets suspicious and calls out the fake fan. Taskmaster then turns around and punches Coulson. The director then said that he prepared for this. He proves it by phoning in Hyperion on his watch. Taskmaster realizes what is happening and breaks through the glass of the store. We jump back to Fury and Masters discussing the plan. They are even talking about the possibility of Coulson phoning in Hyperion.
The issue cuts back to the present, with Taskmaster running for the invincible hero. Hyperion demands Masters to stay down or he will make him. Taskmaster then throws his shield at the superpower hero. Of course, it does nothing and he looks annoyed. Hyperion continuously punches the anti-hero and spears him. Masters is being held by his neck, with fractured bones and bruised organs. Hyperion holds him by the neck as he is asking him to surrender.
Once again, there is a jump to Masters and Fury’s conversation. They are talking about the Hyperion situation. They know Coulson will alert him, but they don’t know how to stop him. As their talk continues, Taskmaster drops some mini smoke bombs, allowing him to escape the superhuman’s grasp.
A bloody Taskmaster is shooting arrows at the hero. As for Hyperion, he is shooting lasers from his eyes. Masters tells Fury that his sword is strong but will not be able to cut the hero. While explaining this, Hyperion breaks the sword. The hero says that he respects Taskmaster for his boldness. The archer repeats that he will die as Hyperion wakes over to him. He draws his bow and shoots the hero, but a laser blast destroys it. Weak and determined, Taskmaster shoots another arrow and misses.
After jumping back to the pair’s talk, Fury reveals an item that will stop Hyperion. He pulls out a rare element called Argonite Radiation. As it is being shown, Fury referenced that this was able to contain some with the same abilities as the hero. The occurred during his time with the Thunderbolts team. The arrow’s last shot comes back and hits an unsuspecting Hyperion. As he thinks he defeated Taskmaster, the energy of the element weakens him. Masters kicks Hyperion while he is down. Fury tells Taskmaster to stop before he kills him. He complies then falls to the ground, injured and bleeding heavily. Fury was watching on closely, but unnoticed by Hyperion.
The issue ends with Natasha Romanoff find the pair’s base. She then sees that the computer has Taskmaster’s targets. On the final page, it shows Taskmaster dealing with another challenge. If anything, his mission has just begun.
Jed MacKay does a great job telling this story. First off, I love the references to Alpha Flight and Hyperion. There is that indication of his involvement with something as small as that. We knew Taskmaster was going to suffer during this fight. It was awesome to see Masters take all that and still keep going. He has been shown to be scared, especially with Black Widow on his tail. Yet, he is strong, despite the disadvantage. The transition from the fight to the plan worked well. Everything discussed was displayed in real-time. From knowing Hyperion would come to the one thing that could stop him. This all felt like a movie. MacKay kept this arc fun and interesting.
When it comes to art, it was not disappointing. Alessandro Vitti’s work was absolutely great. The detail of the characters involved, the blood all over our protagonist was a beautiful sight. This and the last shot of Taskmaster was done very well. We are and be continued to be shown his battle scars. Finally, the displacement of Hyperion’s powers was great too.
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