Taskmaster #3

History

The entire Taskmaster (Vol. 3) miniseries was originally solicited for April 2020 to ride the promotional wave of the Black Widow film, but was pushed to a November 2020 launch when COVID-19 caused widespread delays across the entertainment industry. Issue #3 shipped in February 2021 — still months before the film finally opened. Writer Jed MacKay, already known at Marvel for his Black Cat run, structured the five-issue arc as a globe-hopping espionage procedural in which Taskmaster must copy the 'kinesic signatures' of three intelligence figures to unlock a doomsday device, with South Korea as the setting for the third leg of that journey. Artist Alessandro Vitti handled full pencil and inking duties on the interiors throughout the run, with colorist Guru-eFX and letterer Joe Caramagna rounding out the core creative team, under editors Chris Robinson and Jordan D. White with C.B. Cebulski serving as Editor-in-Chief.

Trivia · 8 facts

• First appearance of Taegukgi (civilian name: Tae-Won), a Superman-class South Korean hero created by Jed MacKay and Alessandro Vitti, whose power set — superhuman strength, flight, speed, durability, and eye beams — was described by Marvel as comparable to Hyperion and the Sentry.
• First appearance of Tiger Division, South Korea's government-sanctioned superhuman response team operating under the National Intelligence Service (NIS), led by White Fox (Director Ami Han).
• Written by Jed MacKay; art, inks, and colors by Alessandro Vitti and Guru-eFX; lettered by Joe Caramagna; cover by Valerio Giangiordano; published February 10, 2021 (cover-dated April 2021).
• The issue is the third chapter of the five-part story arc 'The Rubicon Trigger,' subtitled 'Target: Ami Han!', in which Taskmaster infiltrates Tiger Division's headquarters in Buramsan Mountain using Pym Particles to shrink onto Taegukgi's neck and copy White Fox's kinesic biometric signature.
• Black Widow (Natasha Romanoff) also appears in this issue as a supporting antagonist pursuing Taskmaster throughout the larger miniseries.
• Both Taegukgi and Tiger Division went on to anchor the 2022 limited series Tiger Division (written by Emily Kim, art by Creees Lee), marking the team's first solo title.
• The miniseries — including this issue — was collected in the trade paperback Taskmaster: The Rubicon Trigger.
• The series was originally solicited for April 2020 to coincide with the Black Widow MCU film but was rescheduled to November 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic; issue #3 shipped in February 2021, still prior to the film's July 2021 theatrical release.

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