Even though the Marvel character The Taskmaster isn’t a hero or a headliner, apparently his rights have been the subject of dispute.  The jauntily-clad villain (real name: Tony Masters) has the power to memorize any movement he witnesses, making him one of the most lethal hand-to-hand combatants in the Marvel Universe and has primarily been a thorn in the collective side of The Avengers.

But apparently, at one point 20th Century Fox obtained the rights to adapt the character into a headlining project (presumably a movie).  I’m not sure how well this was publicized, but this is the first I’ve heard about it.  Just as quietly, the rights have apparently shifted back to Marvel.

The source for this revelation appears to be a comment made by ‘Deadpool’ director Tim Miller, when asked what other characters he’d like to see Deadpool fight in a movie:

“I’d love to see Deadpool fight Batman – no, I’m just kidding, that’s not even in the Marvel family! I’d love to see Deadpool go up against Taskmaster who’s another Marvel total f–kin’ badass. But if I was to stay inside the Fox family, I would like to see him fight X-23, the female Wolverine. The female clone of Wolverine.”

His statement seemingly indicates that Taskmaster is NOT in the Fox family, as he puts it.  So after failing to produce a ‘Taskmaster’ live action project, it appears that Fox let the rights revert back to Marvel.  A source confirmed that this is indeed what happened and that the rights to Taskmaster actually reverted back to Marvel at the same time as those to ‘Daredevil’, which was also distributed by Fox.

This in no way indicates that Marvel has any plans whatsoever to use the Taskmaster in one of their projects.  There had been some speculation that the character Grant Ward on ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ might turn into a version of the character, but more recent events seem to nix that.

What would you like to see Marvel do with the Taskmaster?  Do you think he’s a strong enough character to headline his own movie or TV show?  Would you like to see him in the movies?  Or would he be a better fit for their Netflix shows?

Source: ComicBook.com