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Miles Morales is being targeted by Taskmaster, but why would one of the deadliest fighters in the Marvel Universe want to kill Spider-Man?
WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Miles Morales: Spider-Man #30, on sale now.
Miles Morales has a new problem. Fresh off the heels of his own clone saga, Miles tried to get a fresh start on life by going on a date with his fellow Champion, Starling. But the life of a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man delayed him and Miles found Starling on the rooftop also in costume. Both admitted to being sidetracked by hero work, but took the opportunity to share a kiss.
Unfortunately, they would have regretted remaining in costume had they known Taskmaster was targeting them in Miles Morales: Spider-Man #30 by Saladin Ahmed, Carmen Carnero, Erick Arciniega and VC’s Cory Petit.
Taskmaster is almost exclusively a hired gun. First debuting in Avengers #195 by David Michelinie and George Pérez, Taskmaster was a former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who decided to use his skills as both a mercenary and assassin for hire. His photographic reflexes allowed him to copy the skills of anyone he observed. As such, this makes him one of the deadliest martial artists in the entire Marvel Universe and a persistent thorn in Avengers’ sides. But Taskmaster has almost always done a job for the money or because there was some profit in it for him. Considering that Miles has no true feud with Taskmaster, it is likely that this time is no different.
But this poses the question: Who hired him? While Miles may not list Taskmaster among his more personal enemies he still has quite a few with the resources to send someone after him. Roxxon is the first suspect on this list. The shady company is not above hiring mercenaries to do their dirty work and despite their recent, aggressive efforts to rebrand, the Champions have been hounding them to expose the truth that Roxxon hasn’t really changed. As Spider-Man is a major player in the Champions, Roxxon might have hired Taskmaster to eliminate him as a message to the rest of the Champions.
Of course, there is also the possibility that Spider-Man isn’t Taskmaster’s target. He has both Spider-Man and Starling in his sights, it could just as easily be Starling that Taskmaster has been hired to kill. Though she hasn’t been on the hero scene long, Tiana Toomes made herself a pretty powerful enemy when she interfered with Tombstone’s criminal enterprises. In fact, she almost killed him, if it hadn’t been Miles, Tiana would have that blood on her hands. Tombstone might still be angry about that and hired Taskmaster to kill her as revenge.
But in all likelihood, Taskmaster is probably going to try and kill them both. Starling was standing alone on the roof for some time. It would have been the perfect opportunity for Taskmaster to take her out then and there, but he waited to line up the shot until after Spider-Man showed up. This lends the greatest proof that it is Roxxon hiring the assassin. Killing one hero is expensive enough, but two Champions? Roxxon has both the resources and motive to carry out both. And now, two of Marvel’s newest heroes have the attention of one of its deadliest villains.
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