Avengers: The Initiative #32
Seize the Day
Siege continues from Siege #1….
Reflecting back on his life, the Taskmaster recalls how he got to where he is now. It all began when he was a kid and discovered that he had photographic reflexes, the ability to perfectly imitate any physical feat just by watching it.[1] He used these abilities to defend himself from bullies and make money off sports.
However, the young Taskmaster wanted more and soon came up with the ultimate idea for capitalizing on his skills. By watching the fighting abilities of superheroes, he created the Taskmaster identity and sold his services to villains. He created a lucrative industry where he helped train henchmen and others on how to combat the heroes who often stood in their way.
However, Taskmaster began to resent it when villains he trained were credited for the skills he taught them how to do.[2] While he made a killing, he did not gain any notoriety. That was until he was tapped to be a trainer within the Initiative. Especially after Norman Osborn took over, the Taskmaster was suddenly a very popular man.[3] Life was easy until it suddenly wasn’t. Enter the siege on Asgard, and Taskmaster finds himself on the receiving end of a beating from Thor. How did things get here? Well….[4]
Hours Earlier…
With the announcement of the siege on Asgard, Norman Osborn has called all hands on deck. With his Dark Avengers and the 50-State Initiative teams loaded on the HAMMER helicarrier, it made its way to Broxton, Oklahoma. Constrictor (Frank Schlichting) and Diamondback (Rachel Leighton) confer with Taskmaster along the way, and agree that attacking the Asgardian gods is tantamount to suicide.[5] Frank is particularly concerned that Diamondback will get hurt, only to be reminded by Rachel that she trained under Captain America.[6] Taskmaster then pulls Constrictor aside and points out that the reason why they haven’t gotten anywhere in life was because they weren’t 100% committed. He points to Bullseye and Venom (Mac Gargan), who are posing as Hawkeye and Spider-Man on Osborn’s team of Avengers as examples.[6] Frank points out that they are both crazy, but Taskmaster believes that is the special trait that got them where they are now.
Now
Later, when they are in the thick of battle, and seeing how well trained the Asgardians, Taskmaster begins to lose his bravado. However, he refuses to die like some loser, like the villains he sent to their deaths in the Negative Zone.[8]
It was around this time that Night Thrasher (Donyell Taylor) of the Avengers Resistance had figured out what was going on with the U-Foes making bank transfers to shell companies owned by Norman Osborn.[9] He goes to tell the rest of the team — Justice (Vance Astrovik), Tigra (Greer Grant), and Ultragirl (Suzy Sherman) — what he found out. Tigra doesn’t need to hear it because they’ve all been glued to the TV watching the news coverage of the siege. When a reporter refers to how the invasion was predicated a disaster involving the Asgardians that killed innocent people, Justice realizes that Osborn has staged his own version of the Stamford Disaster to justify the invasion.[10] Vance then tells Donyell to take the information he uncovered and send it out to every news outlet. In the meantime, Justice wants the team to mobilize so they can take down Camp HAMMER once and for all.
Back in Asgard, Constrictor and Diamondback pull back from the battle. Frank once again tells Rachel to not put herself in harms way.[11] That’s when Thor arrived on the scene, only to be knocked out of the city by the Sentry. While Constrictor and Taskmaster are distracted by this show of force, Diamondback races out to lend the thunder god a hand. When she arrives at his crash site, where she witnesses Osborn’s Avengers and the U-Foes piling on the thunder god. She struggles on what to do, wishing Captain America was there to advise her. Suddenly, the battle is over and Thor has been defeated!
… Siege continues in Dark Wolverine #82
Recurring Characters
Initiative staff: Taskmaster
Shadow Initiative (Constrictor, Batwing, Bengal, Ringer, Warbow), Women Warriors (Diamondback, Asp, Black Mamba, Quicksand), Dark Avengers (Iron Patriot, Ms. Marvel, Hawkeye, Spider-Man, Ares, Wolverine, Sentry), Avengers Resistance (Justice, Night Thrasher, Tigra, Ultragirl), U-Foes (Vector, Vapor, X-Ray, Ironclad), Force of Nature (Aqueduct, Sunstreak, Terraformer), Psionex (Asylum, Mathematic), Thor, Frandral, Hogun, Sif
Continuity Notes
Taskmaster’s recollections of his past and origins are not accurate. As per Taskmaster (vol. 2) #3. Taskmaster was actually a SHIELD agent who injected himself with a modified version of the Super Soldier Serum that further augmented his photographic reflexes. However, this created a side effect where his memories would be overwritten by the skills he learned, forgetting much of his past.
The specific instance here is how Crossbones (Brock Rumlow) is credited for assassinating Captain America (Steve Rogers). That happened in Captain America (vol. 5) #25. However, Cap didn’t die then but was hit with a chronal bullet and was stuck reliving his life in an endless loop until he was recently rescued in Captain America: Reborn #1-6.
Taskmaster was first recruited into the Initiative back in Avengers: The Initiative #8. Later, Norman Osborn became America’s top cop after he killed the leader of a Skrull invasion of Earth in Secret Invasion #8. He then placed Taskmaster in charge of the Initiative in Avengers: The Initiative #25.
Norman Osborn manipulated events to stage a siege on Asgard in Siege #1.
Quicksand boasts about how she once fought Thor in the past. What she doesn’t tell everyone was that the Thor she fought was Eric Masterson, who was acting as Thor at the time, big difference. See Thor #392-393 and 402-403.
Diamondback frequently fought crime with Captain America from Captain America #357-417-ish. It is mentioned here that Diamondback has been leaking information to the Avengers Resistance, this was revealed last issue.
Bullseye, Venom, Daken, and Moonstone were all recruited into Norman Osborn’s Dark Avengers in Dark Avengers #1. Taskmaster mentions how Bullseye made a career out of killing Daredevil’s girlfriends. He is referring to Elektra (killed by Bullseye in Daredevil #181) and Karen Page (Daredevil (vol. 2) #5).
Taskmaster previously sent raw recruits as cannon fodder to soften up a riot at Prison 42. See Avengers: The Initiative #27. Here, we see Warbow seemingly getting killed by the Asgardians. A profile for Heavy Mettle (Warbow’s team) in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Update #5 leave his status ambiguous, merely stating that he was cut down by arrows. As of this writing (August, 2024), his fate is unrevealed.
The Avengers Underground infected the U-Foes computer with a trojan horse back in Avengers: The Initiative #26, and uncovered the strange money transfers last issue.
The Stamford Disaster was an incident where a battle between the New Warriors and a group of villains led to a massive explosion that killed hundreds of people, as seen in Civil War #1. Justice recounts that this led to the death of his former teammates, specifically mentioning the original Night Thrash (Dwayne Taylor) and Namorita. What he doesn’t know is that Dwayne survived, having been plucked out of time by the Collector as we’ll see in Contest of Champions (vol. 2) #5. Namorita, however, is still considered among the deceased, with a past version of herself being pulled forward in time as well to take her place in Nova (vol. 4) #32.
Here, Rachel also mentions that she was trained by the Taskmaster as well. We saw this training in Captain America #403.
Topical References
Black Mamba refers to Thor as the “Bruce Lee of Asgard”, Bruce Lee was an actor most famous for his martial arts films, such as 1973’s Enter the Dragon. He died that same year. This wouldn’t necessarily be a topical reference because of Lee’s iconic status, that said you could easily replace his name with a more contemporary martial artist and it would still work. YMMV.
Diamondback refers to this siege as having the potential as being disastrous as Chernobyl. Rachel is referring to the 1986 nuclear melt down that happened in Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Ukranian city of Pripyat. Many died of radiation poisoning and the city is still largely abandoned to this day due to the high levels of radiation. It is still regarded as the worst nuclear disaster as I write this in August, 2024. As this is a historical event this wouldn’t be a topical reference.
When Justice is telling Night Thrasher to send out the information to every news outlet, he specifically name drops Fox New and Al-Jazeera. This should be considered topical as these are both real world news networks.
Siege Reading Order
Siege: The Cabal #1 , Avengers: The Initiative #31, New Avengers #61-62, Dark Avengers #13, 14, 15, Origins of Siege #1, Siege: Storming Asgard: Heroes & Villains #1, Siege #1 , Avengers: The Initiative #32, Dark Wolverine #82, 83, 84, Siege: Embedded #1-2, Siege #2, Avengers: The Initiative #33, Thor #607, Mighty Avengers #35-36, Thunderbolts #141, Siege #3, Siege: Embedded #3, Thor #608, Thunderbolts #142, Avengers: The Initiative #34, New Avengers #63, Siege: Captain America #1, Siege: Spider-Man #1, Siege: Loki #1, Siege: Young Avengers #1, Siege: Secret Warriors #1 , New Mutants (vol. 3) #11, Siege #4, Thor #609, Siege: Embedded #4, New Avengers #64, New Avengers Finale #1, Avengers: The Initiative #35, Dark Avengers #16, Thunderbolts #143, Thor #610, Sentry: Fallen Sun #1
