What Happens to Taskmaster in Thunderbolts*? Fate Explained

Viewers are curious about Taskmaster’s (Olga Kurylenko) fate in Thunderbolts* — did she die or survive? Introduced in Black Widow (2021), she is the daughter of General Dreykov and was a commander of the Red Room. She wields the ability to copy anyone’s combat style. After Natasha Romanoff killed her father and closed down the Red Room, her mind was liberated, and she escaped. She then began working for Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, continuing her story in Thunderbolts*.

Here are the details on what ending Thunderbolts* gave Taskmaster.

Is Olga Kurylenko’s Taskmaster really dead or alive in Thunderbolts* and how?

Ghost, played by Hannah John-Kamen, kills Taskmaster in a strategic trap set by Fontaine, which leads to her demise.

In the movie, Valentina initially tasks Yelena Belova to follow Ghost to a secret compound, which has the remains of Project Sentry. She also asks her to check on what the Ghost is after and eliminate her entirely. When she reaches the compound, she realizes she is not alone, as John Walker (US Agent) is also sent to kill her.

Apart from that, Taskmaster also appears and has intentions to kill the US agent. This shows that Valentina had laid a horrific trap for all four anti-heroes. She set all her former operatives to kill each other, which would fulfill her antagonistic intentions of hiding her OXE operations from Congress.

The secret compound becomes a battlefield as all four of them fight each other. Amid their deadly fight, Ghost leverages her impressive power to phase through Taskmaster to distract her. At the same time, she also pulls out the gun and shoots her in the head, leading to her demise. Her death comes as a shock, given they weren’t even battling the real antagonist, but were just acting as Valentina’s pawns with a mission to eliminate each other from the picture.

While Taskmaster’s death was shocking, it impacted Ghost’s arc significantly. This is because she felt the guilt of killing Taskmaster after learning that Valentina was behind the deadly trap. This leads to the beginning of her redemption arc in the movie.