In combat, there are few disadvantages worse than being predictable. Once you become predictable, you lose anything resembling the element of surprise and allow your enemy to be ready for whatever you'll do next. However, being unpredictable is nigh impossible when it only takes a short glance for your enemy to learn everything about your fighting style and figure out exactly how to put you in the ground as quickly as possible, and today's two warriors are capable of doing just that. They are Cassandra Cain, the agent of Batman who was born to be the perfect assassin, and Taskmaster, the ruthless mutant mercenary who can do anything you can do better! Let's find out which one of these masters of combat analysis is DEADLIEST!
Cassandra Cain[]
| “ | Everything in my life was sacrificed to make me a killing weapon.
— Cassandra Cain
|
” |
Cassandra Cain is the daughter of David Cain, a member of the League of Assassins, whose ultimate dream was to father and raise the perfect assassin. Cain taught Cassandra to fight and kill from the moment she could walk. Instead of teaching his daughter to read, Cain taught her instead to read the body language of her opponents, and by extension, predict their movements. Cassandra committed her first assassination when she was only eight years old. Her ability to read body language allowed her to understand the emotions of her victim as he died, traumatizing her and leading her to flee from her father, spending the next nine years of her life homeless and guilt-ridden. Cassandra finally arrived in Gotham City as it was on the eve of descending in anarchy. There she befriended Barbara Gordon, the former Batgirl. While working as an information agent for Barbara, who was then known as Oracle, Cassandra saved Jim Gordon from an assassination attempt by David Cain. Recognizing her talent, Batman allowed her to take Barbara's place as the new Batgirl.
Body Reading: As part of his plan to turn Cassandra into the perfect assassin, David Cain isolated her from any kind of linguistic stimulus for several years, training the part of her brain usually used for language processing to instead understand the language of the human body. Her familiarity with body language means that she can understand a person's emotional state and identify the many subtle changes in the body that precede movement, allowing her to predict their actions with extreme accuracy. This ability also makes her highly adept at understanding and learning new fighting styles, as shown when she learned every style that Batman knew in a matter of days.
Superhuman Physicality: Cass's intense training has boosted her physical abilities into the superhuman. She has the strength to shatter a sword with a knife-hand strike, kick down a brick wall, and hurt a bulletproof metahuman with a punch. She can move quickly enough to avoid a sniper's bullet even when it's only a few centimeters away from her head, or she can take out a dozen armed thugs before any of them have a chance to react. Her endurance is impressive as well; she can keep fighting even after being stabbed or while suffering from broken bones and multiple bullet wounds.
Master Martial Artist: A lifetime of training and combat has given Cassandra knowledge of countless fighting styles. She has mastered the one hundred twenty-seven martial arts of Batman and even invented a few of her own. She is an expert with any kind of melee weapon and knows several pressure point attacks that can paralyze instantly or even stop someone's heart. Her most dangerous technique is the Falling Leaf, a nerve pinch that will leave a target paralyzed for hours. Armed her body reading ability, Cassandra is skilled enough to fight evenly with some of the best fighters in her universe, including Batman and her mother, Lady Shiva.
Master Infiltrator: Expertise in stealth is a requirement for all disciples of Batman, and Cassandra is no different. She can sneak in and out of heavily-guarded locations without being detected. Her stealth abilities were especially required when she joined the Justice League Elite, a black-ops division of the JLA.
Batarangs: While Cassandra tends to forgo using the wide variety of equipment available to her from the Batcave, she does make use of the ever-popular batarang. The batarangs are collapsable, razor-sharp shurikens that Cass uses to injure foes from a distance, making them drop their weapons before she moves into close quarters. They can also be used as melee weapons if Cass is fealing particularly brutal.
Grapnel Gun: Another staple of Batman's team is the grapnel gun, which allows them to quickly scale buildings or swing between them. The gun explosively fires a dart attached to a length of cable. At the tip of the dart is a small drilling mechanism, enabling the dart to embed itself securely in stone and steel alike. Once secured, the gun can retract the line to lift its user straight to their destination.Reliance on Body Reading: Cass's ability to predict movements is an immense boon, and it greatly improves her already impressive fighting skills. However, it doesn't work one-hundred percent of the time, and she can be taken off guard when it fails her. This can happen if an opponent is particularly aware of their movements and knows how to hide their intent, or against a highly unpredictable opponent like the Joker, who doesn't even know what he's going to do next himself. However, after a period spent without this ability thanks to having her mind altered by a psychic, Cassandra has learned to rely on it less.
Taskmaster[]
| “ | World's fulla crazy. I just taught 'em kung fu.
— Tony Masters
|
” |
From childhood, Tony Masters could effortlessly reproduce the actions of others after simply observing them. As an adult, he became an agent for SHIELD. During a mission, he discovered a Nazi copy of the serum that gave Captain America his powers and chose to use it on himself, further increasing his powers. However, a side effect of the serum was that, as Tony gained more knowledge with his ability, it would overwrite memories unrelated to combat or survival. Thus, he forgot his history with SHIELD and even his wife, and began a new life as a mercenary under the guise of the Taskmaster. Due to his great skill, Tony was often hired by organizations of villains to train their recruits. However, Tony is loyal only to those who write his paycheck, and he's willing to work for any side as long as the salary is good enough.
Photographic Reflexes: Tony can perfectly copy any action or skill that he witnesses, no matter how complex. The only limit on this ability is that he cannot replicate feats that are beyond his physical abilities, with one exception, which is explained below. Once he has learned an opponent's fighting style, Tony can easily predict and react to their attacks. The one person who is immune to this ability is Deadpool, whose style is so unpredictable that Tony cannot copy it.
- Double Time: After watching martial arts movies in fast-forward, Tony learned to move at twice his normal speed, an ability that he calls "double time". However, this ability puts immense strain on his body, and it will seriously injure him if he uses it for more than a few minutes at a time.
Superhuman Physicality: Thanks to the Nazi version of the Super Soldier Serum, Taskmaster has superhuman strength, speed, reflexes, and durability. He is strong enough to damage Iron Man with a throw of his shield or to crack asphalt by slamming someone's skull into it. Like any comic character worth his salt, Tony is capable of dodging bullets, but he takes it one step further by catching bullets out of the air and deflecting them with a chain. He has walked away from being hit by a speeding car, the explosion of a grenade, and hits from Spider-Man and Luke Cage. An attack from the Invisible Woman that punched through a foot of concrete was only powerful enough to knock him out.
Master Martial Artist: Taskmaster is one of the best martial artists the entire Marvel universe, having learned almost every martial art in the world, thanks to copying the unique fighting styles of masters like Captain America, Iron First, Shang-Chi, Elektra, Daredevil, and many others. He can switch between these styles at will to suit the situation and the opponent, and emulate the chosen fighter's style perfectly. Some of the deadlier techniques he has learned include nerve strikes and blows to the head and neck that can kill instantly.
Master Marksman: After observing the abilities of Hawkeye, Bullseye, and the Punisher, Taskmaster is an expert with any kind of projectile weapon, even those that normally shouldn't be used as projectiles, like pens. He's quick and accurate enough with projectiles to tag Moon Knight, a bullet-dodger.
Master Infiltrator: Having observed the abilities of a ninja, Tony is a master of stealth and moving silently. He put these talents to use when he snuck onto a SHIELD base for no other purpose than taunting Maria Hill.
.png){kind=link}
Alloy Shield: To fit with his knowledge of the fighting styles of different superheroes, Taskmaster carries equipment similar to some of their most iconic weapons. The first of these is a round convex shield, modeled after Captain America's. It is composed of an osmium alloy, making it extremely dense and hard, although not nearly on the level of the original. It can be thrown and ricocheted just like Cap's, and its edge is sharpened, allowing it to slice through bone.
Longsword: After mimicking the skills of Black Knight, Silver Samurai, and Swordsman, Taskmaster began wielding a two-handed longsword, modeled after the Ebony Blade of Black Knight. Its composition is unknown, but it is sharper and more durable than any ordinary sword, as Tony once used it to pierce through the bodies of Asgardians, which are several times denser than a human's.
Dual M1911s: Although he is a master of every kind of firearm in existence, Taskmaster prefers pistols, specifically a pair of M1911s, the favored firearm of the Punisher. These pistols use .45 ACP rounds and hold seven rounds in a magazine.
Recurve Bow and Quiver: With the skill of Hawkeye, Taskmaster wields a recurve bow to fire his many kinds of trick arrows. Among these are sonic and EMP arrows to disorient and disable, and explosive arrows, which can punch holes through concrete walls.Overconfidence: Tony's overconfidence is legendary. He enjoys taunting his foes, often taking the time to boast of his photographic reflexes, and his faith in his skill as a martial artist has led him to underestimate opponents. In his first battle with X-23, he assumed that she had the same powers as Wolverine, which allowed him to be taken by surprise by X-23's foot-blades. He can also be thrown off his game if his powers don't work as usual, which has occurred in most of his fights with the unpredictable Deadpool, but he has become better at dealing with this in recent appearances.
X-Factors[]
Brutality
In the traumatic incident that was her first assassination, Cassandra's ability to read body language allowed to her understand exactly what her victim was feeling and thinking in his last moments. From that day onward, Cass maintained a strict code against killing with a dedication that rivals Batman's. She will brutally maim and mangle her opponents to get them to stay down, but she will never cross the line into murder, no matter what.
Taskmaster isn't a sadistic supervillain who delights in causing pain, but he's not a hero either, and he'll be as brutal as the job at hand requires. If someone gets in between him and his payout, he'll have no problems with shooting them in the face or chopping off their head. Interestingly, Tony has a soft spot for security guards, who he views as underpaid and exploited, and he tries to avoid killing them when he can.
Experience
Cassandra can’t be much older than eighteen, but she’s been fighting for her entire life. From her hellish training with the League of Assassins to joining with Batman and becoming Batgirl, Cass has faced off against and defeated some of the most dangerous fighters in her universe, including Deathstroke, Nightwing, the Joker, and Batman himself. She's even defeated her mother, Lady Shiva, who is often considered to be the greatest fighter in the entire DC universe, although Shiva did have a bit of a death wish during the ordeal. Additionally, her career as a vigilante means that she spends most of her nights fighting with thugs, assassins, and the occasional metahuman.
Taskmaster has been a mercenary for a long time, and although he does suffer from severe memory issues, his mind is programmed to remember everything he's seen related to combat and survival. His jobs often brought him into conflict with the Avengers, and he's fought and defeated many of their members, sometimes taking on entire teams of weaker Avengers at once and winning. The few heroes that ever stood a chance at defeating him were those with a significant physical advantage, like Spider-Man. Also, his close involvement with the superhero community has led him to be involved with some of the most important events in its history, such as the siege of Asgard and the rise of the Secret Empire.
Tactics
Being so talented with body reading, Cassandra rarely needs to take the time to plan her attack before going in. As soon as she's taken a moment to understand her opponent's body language, she can easily predict their next move and react accordingly, whether that be counterattacking with martial techniques of her own or returning to the shadows to prepare for an ambush. It all depends on her understanding of her enemy. Cass has never been one to rely on gadgets, but she's handy with using the environment to her advantage.
With such a repertoire of fighting styles at his disposal, Taskmaster's success depends on using the right style at the right time, and he excels at it. When facing off against Iron Man, an opponent far stronger and tougher than he was, Tony made use of Iron Fist's judo to use Iron Man's weight against him, Spider-Man's reflexes to dodge his attacks and frustrate him into recklessness, and his specialized weaponry to damage his suit. Against Deadpool, who Taskmaster was formerly unable to beat, he won by sticking with a single, pragmatic style: the Punisher's.
Training
Cassandra’s training from David Cain was extremely brutal, to the point of absurdity. Years of nigh-constant training in physical fitness, martial arts, and pain tolerance made her into such a capable fighter that she could take on far more experienced assassins when she was still a child. When Cass underperformed, David would often shoot her as punishment, building up her resistance to pain and, eventually, her skill with dodging bullets. Cassandra was not the first child to be subjected to David’s training - it killed all the others. Cass kept up her training after joining with Batman, albeit at a far more reasonable degree.
Due to his unique powers, normal training would be a waste of time for Tony. Instead, his training regimen consists of watching martial arts films and footage of the battles of various superheroes, something he does frequently to ensure that all the combat skills that might prove necessary are fresh in his mind. In this way, Taskmaster gets all of his training done without ever leaving the couch. Lucky bastard.
Notes[]
- Taskmaster is as he was in his most recent appearances, following the conclusion of Secret Empire. Cassandra is as she was in her latest appearance before abandoning the title of Batgirl, which is just before the Battle for the Cowl arc.
- The battle takes place in a warehouse in Gotham City, but the fighting may spill over into the streets. Taskmaster is there to assassinate a target for a job, only to be interrupted by Cassandra, who is not having it.
- Voting closes whenever.