The Taskmaster of Earth-8909 first demonstrated unusual powers during childhood. After watching a cowboy show on television, he found himself able to duplicate the sophisticated rope tricks he had just watched the cowboy perform. Psychiatrists, called in at the mother's request, determined that the boy was a mutant. He employed his talent several times during his youth for professional gain, most notably when he became a star quarterback of his high school football team after watching one pro football game. Upon graduation, he briefly considered a career as a crime fighter, but opted for becoming a criminal, which he perceived to be more lucrative.
Taskmaster then began a program of observing the fighting techniques of a large number of superhumanly powered adventurers through archival television news broadcasts. He initially used his fighting skills to execute several successful grand larcenies, but he had not properly anticipated the dangers involved. He decided to use his stolen capital to establish a center for training aspiring criminals to become polished professionals. His goal was to become a supplier for criminal organizations around the world. Designing a costume, he took the name Taskmaster and began to train a large number of thugs at this criminal academy located near the town of Southampton on New York State's Long Island.
As Mr. Smith, the Red Skull arranged for Douglas Rockwell, the head of the President's Commission on Superhuman Activities, to have Taskmaster train John Walker to become the next Captain America in order to disgrace the image of Captain America, (Steve Rogers). In order to conceal the Red Skull's involvement, Douglas Rockwell had the Commission work out a deal to have years taken off Taskmaster's sentence for training Walker.
NOTE: The Taskmaster of Earth-8909 is not to be confused with the Taskmaster of Earth-616. The Taskmaster of Earth-616 is not a mutant, while this version of Taskmaster is a mutant. The two characters are pretty much the same with this one exception.
