Black Widow: O-T Fagbenle Confirms Taskmaster Audition Before New MCU Role

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Black Widow: O-T Fagbenle Confirms Taskmaster Audition Before New MCU Role

O-T Fagbenle has revealed new details about his early involvement in Black Widow, sharing that he initially auditioned to play Taskmaster. While he ultimately joined the cast as Rick Mason, the actor opened up about the original version of the villain and how the role evolved during the film’s development.

O-T Fagbenle could have been Taskmaster in Black Widow

In an interview with The Direct, O-T Fagbenle confirmed he originally auditioned for the role of Taskmaster in Black Widow. Fagbenle said, “I first auditioned for Taskmaster… it was a really incredible speech, actually. It was an audition I was very proud of.” He added that his version of the character had “an African accent” and was “this kind of maniacal-like character.”

Fagbenle explained that he was one of the final two candidates being considered for the role, but the version he auditioned for was eventually scrapped. “That version of Taskmaster went away,” he said, adding, “and then they just came to me and was like, ‘Hey, there is this character called Mason, do you want to play Mason?’”

Olga Kurylenko portrayed Taskmaster, aka Antonia Dreykov, in the final cut, a gender-swapped version of Marvel Comics’ original character, Anthony Masters. In the comics, Taskmaster is a former SHIELD agent with the ability to mimic any opponent’s fighting style. The MCU significantly altered this backstory.

Fagbenle portrayed Rick Mason, a rogue SHIELD agent who aided Natasha Romanoff. He later made a cameo in Secret Invasion alongside Nick Fury in 2023. When asked about a future appearance, Fagbenle said, “Listen, this what I said to Eric [Pearson], I said, ‘Why are you leaving me out of Thunderbolts, man?… I did come back… Mason appeared there.’ And so, yeah, I mean, like a true superhero, when they give me the call [I’m ready to go].”

He also expressed interest in playing his version of Taskmaster in the future. “There’ll be another opportunity for me to pull that maniac out of the bag and put it on screen,” Fagbenle said.

Black Widow is currently available to stream on Disney+.