Olga Kurylenko’s absence from Avengers: Doomsday cast could mean a tragic fate for Taskmaster in Thunderbolts*

Disclaimer: This article may contain speculative parts. Readers' discretion is advised.

Marvel Studios recently took over five hours of time to reveal the cast members of their upcoming tentpole - Avengers: Doomsday. Scheduled to be out in 2026, this movie has been all geared up since its announcement at the San Diego Comic-Con in July 2024. It also offered a surprise to the devoted fans of this superhero universe since their beloved Iron Man star is returning in a new role. They were heartbroken by the death of Tony Stark in the previous Avengers film. So, the announcement came as a pleasant surprise for Robert Downey Jr. fans.

The studio's latest online stream reiterated the star's role as Doctor Doom and offered a bunch of characters that the diehard fans must have guessed by now. Countless sources had already indicated the team-up of the new and old teams of this comic book-based universe, whether that's the Fantastic Four, Thunderbolts*, X-Men, or Avengers, led by Sam Wilson's (Anthony Mackie), in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday. So, although it wasn't necessarily a surprise update, it still got the fans patiently waiting for every other name to get announced.

However, some names were reportedly missing from this list. It made the fans worried about whether these characters would die soon. One of them was Olga Kurylenko's Antonia Dreykov, also known as Taskmaster. Her glaring absence in the Avengers: Doomsday cast announcement makes fans wonder whether she will die in the upcoming Thunderbolts*.

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Avengers: Doomsday - Who is the Taskmaster who will appear in Thunderbolts*?

Olga Kurylenko first entered the Marvel Universe as Antonia Dreykov in 2021's Black Widow. It showed a dramatic change in her character as she got weaponized against her will. Her journey was fairly complicated. She was expected to be dead after a bombing at the Budapest office of her father, General Dreykov. At least, that's what Natasha Romanoff and Yelena Belova were led to believe. However, nearly twenty years later, they learn that the General and Antonia, are both alive.

Antonia suffered so much in the bombing that she had to be saved by her father. His actions turned her into a soldier who could mimic the fighting styles of her opponents. Toward the film's end, Black Widow sacrifices her life and frees Taskmaster from her father's Red Room missions. So, Kurylenko's masked character receives a chance to rebuild her life. After that, she is set to appear in Thunderbolts*.

While the film's promotional material shows Kurylenko's character, she is missing from the events and the Avengers: Doomsday's cast. So, it led to speculations about her possible death in Thunderbolts*.

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Why won't the Taskmaster be in Avengers: Doomsday? Speculations explored

Olga Kurylenko made a name for herself, mainly through action films. She starred alongside Tom Cruise in Joseph Kosinski's Oblivion and joined Daniel Craig in Quantum of Solace. Most recently, she was in Netflix's Extraction 2 with Chris Hemsworth. Marvel fans got to know her through Black Widow. She is supposed to reprise her role in Thunderbolts*, but that might be the end of it, according to the recent cast reveal.

Most of her Thunderbolts* castmates will be in Avengers: Doomsday, which makes fans believe that she will die in the latest film. Inadvertently, the studio may have given spoilers on who'll die and who won't before Avengers: Doomsday. However, The Hollywood Reporter mentioned that a few more cast members would be revealed later. So, she might appear thereon. However, her fate remains uncertain for the time being.