Punisher vs. Taskmaster - has it ever happened?

The subject of the thread pretty much says it all. Have these two ever encountered each other in comic books, and, if so, what was the outcome? What, in people's opinion, should have been the outcome?
My thought - Taskmaster wins, hands down, but in my estimation Taskmaster is one of those villains that shows up and all the heroes can say is, "Oh, no." Other people may have a different idea as to whether or not Punisher can beat the man.

Yeah, I'd say Taskmaster is a 4 to 1 favorite since he's "studied" the punisher and daredevil and Cap and tigra and well you get the point. Although the Punisher has a statistical chance he is out powered in every catagory there is. Including weapons and equipment. ( his hi-tech arrow heads and shield are enough )

Iwill go a little further and say the Taskmaster would be favored against any one opponent he has studied. as long as he still gets his standard equipment and his memory is intact.

"I will go a little further and say the Taskmaster would be favored against any one opponent he has studied. as long as he still gets his standard equipment and his memory is intact." -CROMM-WELL

I will agree, but any hero this side of Spider-Man, studying Thor's moves isn't gonna stop Mjolnir from tearing Taskmaster a new touch hole.



DG X(

Marvel > DC

But as we all know, the Punisher is currently up there with Batman in in the beating of @#$%&, so the writers would decide that the Punisher has more experience or more creativity or more something and have ol' Frank smack the Taskmaster around for a while. (Because we all know that someone as paranoid as the Tasmaster would never expect the Punisher to, say, blow up his hideout or run him down with a steamroller) Then they'd find some reason for him not to kill the Taskmaster who would then run away and hide and swear to never fight the Punisher again. Hooray!
</Rant>

I agree. Against opponents with super attributes or powers, Taskmaster would be far less likely to prevail, simply because he cannot emulate those abilities (though it would be interesting to see him carting around a hammer and using it like Thor does.)
Here are some Marvel characters who I think Taskmaster could beat. Some with powers, some without. I'm sure I'll leave somebody out and that there will be some dispute over the list, but here goes:
Captain America, Daredevil, Deadpool (yes, I know they fought before and Deadpool won, but from a strict game sense Taskmaster should win), Mockingbird, Punisher, Hawkeye, Black Knight, El Aguila, Swordsman, possibly Iron Fist (depends on whether or not he uses the Fist), Wolfsbane, Vulture, Viper, Union Jack, Silver Samurai, Silver Sable, Night Thrasher, Owl, Kingpin, Nomad and Elektra.
What do people think of the list?

Form a strict game point of view (or even from how he's described), Taskmaster would beat Iron Fist, with or without the Fist (and lets not dwell on that mental picture, shall we?), Taskmaster is as good as Captain America, at everything and he's even faster (Amazing agility) and he has several other tricks to depend on. Basically, the only actual weakness Taskmaster has is that he's a coward.

I would say he's courage challanged.

In the game anyone Taskmaster has studied ( Thor was not on the list that I saw ) fights him with some kind of game disadvantage- if memory serves.

But in the game with 3 shots a round w/bow and w/ explosive arrows- gas, acid, sonic etc. plus the other weapons and equipment I'd take Taskmaster anytime.

Although Ironman would take him easily ( body armor too good ) Thor would be favored his ex(20) bodyarmor could give TM a solid chance at a distance.

I have trouble with Taskmaster's Amazing Agility, presumably based on studying Spider-man.

Part of Spider-man's Agility comes from his greater than human strength. If you can lift 10 tons, chances are you can move your limbs a lot faster than anybody of human strength can. Also, if I recall off-hand, Spider-man's normal Agility partly relies on his Spider Sense (I may be wrong). If this is true, there's no way Taskmaster should be able to replicate Spider-man's Agility.

Some game accessories have spidey w/ inc.(40) agility w/out his spider sense and the inc. str(40) is a good point in explaining his high agility. And yet the Taskmaster could have AM-50 with the explanation of his photographic reflexes+ the combined training-memory of daredevil, spidey, Cap, tigra, ironfist, ect. to compensate for his lack of super strength. In the comics ( which is how stats are based ) he has been shown time and again to have AM-50 agility.

Your point is well taken though. Some people have even had a problem with his ex-20 str. ( Gerrod 2002???) But in Taskmasters defense he is considered a Mutant and we've all seen many characters w/ higher stats then the norm in the game and the comics with such an origin.

PS: In the game years ago my friends and I had a straight fighting tournament ( 128 characters-villians and heros ) and the Taskmaster made it to the semi-finals before he lost vs. Ironman who went on to win the whole thing. some of this was luck of the draw but he made a very formidable opponent.

Is Taskmaster classified as a mutant these days? That's too bad if he is. I always pictured him as human with an edge - more like Captain America, Black Panther or Nick Fury. These guys are all human - at least Captain America was, before he wound up with regeneration as a power - but they all had something that brought them to the peak of human functioning or performance. I see Taskmaster's photographic reflexes as doing the same thing - he can't have a physical ability that is better than human, but he is at the best level a human can be at. He is among the best physical specimens in human history, but is not more than human can be. I don't think he should have Amazing Agility - he's human, nothing more, and thus shouldn't be able to get higher than Incredible. He can take Acrobatics and Tumbling as talents, but should not have superhuman physical qualities, in my estimation.
Now, being at the peak of human performance is nothing to scoff at. I don't know what the bench press record is today, but some years ago a fellow benched over 700 pounds - clearly Excellent Strength. Ever competed in a marathon? That's 26 miles, and Taskmaster (and others with Remarkable Endurance) could do it and finish with no problem. Next time the Olympics are on, pay attention to the gymnasts, or, if you want, the boxers or martial artists. Captain America, Black Panther and Taskmaster can all do what these people are doing, in some cases even better.
So, I guess my point is that Taskmaster shouldn't be a mutant. He should be human only - just one who has the knack for learning and adapting very fast. It seems like it's kind of a cop-out for him to be a mutant. Give the humans a break, and give them the Taskmaster!

Well, um he is a mutant and was when he made his first appearance back in Avengers 196,197. And is listed as having two super powers even though thet dont take a more visual appearance in the comics. I think some the stat arguements about him come from the fact that many think he is human-plus instead of a mutant. by the way he was able to hold off the entire avengers and escape outnumbered 6 to 1. he did well in that fight.

I'm unsure whether or not Marvel comics have changed his history ( there prone to do that ) but the character is about 25 years old- he's been around.

Isn't his appearance part of his mutation too? Admittedly it's been a while since I read those old issues, but I think it was something like that.

On the other hand the writers must have forgotten about him being a mutant or he'd have died, come back and joined the X-Men.

Naw, his appearance is all costume. He looks like some weathered older guy out of the mask. It's shown (to a lesser extent) in an issue of Daredevil.
Come to think of it, that issue had Taskmaster vs. Punisher in it, but it was not a fair gauge of who would win. It was mostly a Daredevil/Punisher/Tombstone/Taskmaster free for all. Punisher ended up gut-shooting Taskmaster, which landed him in the hospital.
Mano e mano though, I'd give the fight to TM any day. The guy hip tossed Iron Man across a room, for cryin' out loud.



With great power comes great responsibility in a world that fears and hates you, because criminals are a cowardly and superstitious lot.

Another question worth exploring might be...

Could Taskmaster defeat Deathstroke the Terminator?

No. Deathstroke has a bigger fanbase. Also he's not affraid to die, which kinda helps a lot in a fight. Again though, by the rules, (and the description) the Taskmaster would beat Slade.

Julia wrote:

> Again though,
> by the rules, (and the description) the Taskmaster would beat
> Slade.

Slade regenerates, Taskmaster doesn't.

Both characters came out roughly the same time in the comics and i was thinking... they are very similiar to each other, could one company have copied the style of the other for there own to use? I'll have to check my files to see who was first but that isn't always the whole story- supposedly Man-thing #1 came out before Swamp thing #1 but swampy was in development at DC for longer- corporate spying?

I think Deathstroke has a couple of years on the Taskmaster, I may be wrong though.

Swamp Thing, Manthing and something called "the Heap" came out at almost exactly the same time. According the creators, it was just the right time to launch something like that.

As for "corporate spying" Marvel and DC employ very few fulltime artists and writers, most are freelancers who work for both companies, so it's natural to pick up on a good idea and then tweak it a bit to work in the other universe. I mean, take a look at the list of characters that are *really* similar, it's pretty long.

A couple of points re: the Taskmaster. He was created by David Michelinie, who is on record as saying the Taskmaster was NOT a mutant, as he envisioned the character. I believe subsequent writers have made him a mutant, however (Micheline was pretty appalled with what subsequent writers have done with the character).

The Taskmaster was described as being able to lift about 300 lbs. That translates into Good strength.

Characters that have powers may be able to compensate for the Taskmaster's photographic reflexes. For example, although Wolverine can't match Taskmaster's fighting skills, agility, and reflexes, his healing factor allows him to take a great deal more punishment. Also, his adamantium laced skeleton and claws give him a big advantage. That would be an interesting tussle, IMO.

The Taskmaster should be able to wipe the floor with the Punisher. As for Deathstroke, I would give the slight edge to Slade, because he is immortal.

Immortality aside I'd give it to Slade because he's smarter. It would be a grand thing to see though.