If 2020 hadn’t the absolute disaster of a year that it has been, we would be preparing to see Eternals and still discussing the impact of the solo Black Widow prequel film on the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film should have been released six months ago, and should be the talk of the nerd world. Instead, we have another six months to wait (after a tease of us getting it this month), but fans are still excited to see it. While we have an idea of what all the stars are doing, there is one actor that Marvel has very specifically kept off all of their marketing, and that’s British actor O.T. Fagbenies, who is playing “Rick Mason”. Now, we’re actually getting our first look at his character, and it could lend credence to rumors of his actual role.
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Shared on Twitter, pics from the film showcase Fagbenies’ Rick Mason character. One is a simple shot of him, but the other is more interesting. The photo of him and Scarlet Johansson’s Black Widow in a seemingly friendly and cooperative discussion, outside of an airplane. This tends to make one think that Mason is a friendly to Black Widow and her team. If you give it a little more thought, compounded by Marvel’s purposeful secrecy around his character, it may lead one to believe the rumors, fueled by Fagbenies himself, that he is playing Taskmaster. It is believed that the man under the villain’s mask is someone close to Natasha Romanoff, and this could show their relationship before the big twist reveal.
If Fagbenies is truly Taskmaster, it’s unclear whether the villain will survive the film’s finale or not. However, with rumors of a Thunderbolts team-up, there are ways that General Ross could have imprisoned Taskmaster until the time necessary to use him. As this movie is meant to have a huge impact on the MCU, both past and future, Taskmaster may just have a bigger role to play.
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