Spoilers ahead for Thunderbolts*.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to expand regularly, thanks to new content hitting theaters and streaming with a Disney+ subscription. The most recent MCU movie to hit theaters is Thunderbolts*, which performed well at the box office. There's been discourse surrounding Taskmaster's early death, and a photo from the set disproved a fan theory about the character.
The cast list of Thunderbolts* was chock full of antiheroes from previous projects, which made it doubly exciting for those us who have spent years watching the Marvel movies in order. Taskmaster was shot and killed by Ghost early on, and some fans thought that actress Olga Kurylenko wasn't actually on set with the rest of the cast. After all, the Black Widow villain was masked except for one brief line of dialogue. But stunwoman Aurélia Agel posted on Instagram about her time doubling for Kurylenko, including a photo of them together. Check it out below:
Well, I guess it's safe to say that Olga Kurylenko was indeed on set for Thunderbolts*, rather than her face simply being added to Taskmaster's body. Whether or not the movie handled the character properly is still up for debate, but the idea that the 45 year-old actress/model wasn't really on the main set has seemingly been debunked.
While Taskmaster was announced as part of the movie's cast, the Thunderbolts* trailers didn't feature much footage of the character. And when she wasn't featured in the main marketing campaign alongside the rest of the cast, fans put together that she was probably going to die. But it happening to unceremoniously early in the movie's runtime was still a shock.
One has to wonder how Kurylenko feels about Taskmaster's death. She only had a brief role in Thunderbolts*, and the rest of the cast has already be confirmed for upcoming Marvel movies. The team was featured on Marvel's Doomsday cast announcement live stream, revealing that they'll be in on the Russo Brothers' ensemble movie alongside Earth's Mightiest Heroes, the X-Men, and The Fantastic Four. So Taskmaster really got the short end of the stick.
The Thunderbolts* post-credits scene teased the arrival of the Fantastic Four, so it looks like that team aka the New Avengers will be meeting that foursome of heroes early on in Doomsday. It should be fascinating to see how all of these characters interact, especially if they're forced to work together against a common enemy like Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom.
Thunderbolts* is still in theaters now and will be followed by Fantastic Four: First Steps on July 25th as part of the 2025 movie release list. And these two teams will finally meet up in Avengers: Doomsday on May 1st, 2026.
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