Taskmaster vs. Moon Knight: Which Martial Artist Would Win?
Martial artists are some of the most skilled and prominent characters in Marvel Comics. They usually know many martial arts forms and can take down most superpowered villains with their skills alone. But what happens when we pit two of the greatest martial artists in the Marvel comics – Moon Knight and Taskmaster, respectively? Both are famous for their abilities and crazily skilled, but the winner can be only one. Who would win when it comes to a battle between Moon Knight and Taskmaster?
Moon Knight is more powerful than Taskmaster and would easily win a fight against him. Moon Knight is superpowered and more durable when compared to Taskmaster, which would give him an edge in any fight. Besides, due to Moon Knight’s unpredictable and unstable mind, Taskmaster has trouble using his greatest ability against him; he can’t copy his moves. Moon Knight and Taskmaster had fought in the comics before, and not only did Moon Knight prove to be a superior fighter, he likewise severely scared Taskmaster.
Now that we’ve covered that Moon Knight trumps Taskmaster, it’s time to see why. We will analyze both characters’ powers, abilities, and other attributes so you can see why we came to our conclusion. If you’re interested in more, stay with us and keep reading!
Powers and abilities
Moon Knight was born as a regular human, but due to an unfortunate incident during which he died, he was brought back to life by the Egyptian god Khonshu. Khonshu granted him moon empowerment, which means that during certain moon phases, he has access to superhuman strength and durability and can enhance certain bodily attributes beyond what he is capable of as a human being.
Taskmaster, on the other hand, has a way cooler ability. He was born with the ability to duplicate other abilities under the condition that those abilities are not supernatural or superhuman. This means he can perfectly replicate his opponents’ moves and adapt to them quickly, but he cannot emulate superhuman strength, lift a truck, or cast a spell because he lacks those powers. Taskmaster likewise ingested an experimental super-soldier serum (Nazi version) which altered his brain chemistry to make him hypercognitive in skill observation and retention.
Taskmaster can not only perfectly replicate his opponents’ moves but also adjust to them quickly and devise a last-minute strategy to defeat them. He is an incredibly adaptable character, and he would’ve gotten this point against any other martial artist but not against Moon Knight. Why? Let us explain.
Moon Knight is unstable and has several personalities; sometimes, he is insane and feral. His combat strategies mostly revolved around tanking all hits, which is not something that Taskmaster can replicate because he doesn’t have superhuman durability. Moon Knight is also highly unpredictable, and even when Taskmaster can copy his moves, he cannot anticipate his next moves. This is why both Taskmaster and Moon Knight will get the point in this category.
Points: Moon Knight (1:1) Taskmaster
Strength and stamina
Moon Knight is quite capable, but in terms of physical strength, he was never among the strongest characters in the Marvel Universe. Moon Knight can lift twice his body weight, and while Khonshu empowers him depending on the Moon Phase, his strength is enhanced beyond this point. Due to his arduous training and enhancement provided to him by the moon god, Moon Knight has stamina reserves bigger than those of a regular human. He can fight longer without getting tired.
Taskmaster like Moon Knight can lift twice his body weight and is a trained combatant, which means that he has build-up conditioning when it comes to physical fights, so he will keep fighting longer than an average human. Still, he lacks Khonshu’s divine enhancements, which Moon Knight has an edge in.
Points: Moon Knight (2:1) Taskmaster
Speed
Moon Knight has perfectly normal speeds in terms of moving. Still, his reflexes, agility, and reaction times in combat are enhanced and trained to the point that he can surpass the finest human athletes. With the help of his special suits, Moon Knight can emulate flying by gliding. He is an extremely skilled character in acrobatics, which is visible from the crazy stunts he did in the comics.
Taskmaster is in a similar position. He was not gifted with super-speed in terms of moving, but he has enhanced reflexes, especially his reaction times, which are on the superhuman level. He can adapt to characters like Captain America far faster than him.
Taskmaster and Moon Knight are not incredibly fast while moving but are known to achieve lightning-fast speeds once in combat. Due to this, both get the point.
Points: Moon Knight (3:2) Taskmaster
Durability
As a champion of Khonshu, Moon Knight has enhanced durability. He can easily tank hits that would have seriously injured other human beings. He was also, on multiple occasions, seen falling from great heights and walking away mostly unharmed. Khonshu’s blessings come with a side of immortality as well. Moon Knight is immortal, and while he can be killed rather easily, it’s most likely that he won’t stay dead for long. Khonshu already brought him back to life on three separate occasions.
Moon Knight doesn’t require any sustenance. He doesn’t require air to function.
Taskmaster doesn’t have enhanced durability and much less immortality. If he dies, it’s over. This was one of the things that caught him off guard during his fight with Moon Knight. Moon Knight focused on tanking all of the hits, which is not something that Taskmaster is comfortable doing. Taskmaster realized early that Moon Knight is willing to seriously injure himself to win a fight. Due to his lack of durability and resurrection, Taskmaster is unwilling to go to such great lengths.
The point goes to Moon Knight.
Points: Moon Knight (4:2) Taskmaster
Intelligence
It’s a pretty common fact that Moon Knight has dissociative identity disorder, which resulted in the creation of multiple personalities. But this is not the whole story about the nature of Spector’s mind. Moon Knight has enhanced brain function. He is not a genius by any means, but his brain function is changed profoundly due to the moon god’s influence. His mind was “rebuilt” as god’s weapon. The full extent of the changes to Marc’s mind is unknown, but he is capable of resisting the full scope of most telepathic attacks, and it is said that he has complete control over his mindscape.
Taskmaster is gifted in terms of intelligence. His special ability gives him access to incredibly advanced memory with the ability to memorize and predict his opponent’s moves perfectly. He is likewise a master tactician. He mastered almost all armed and unarmed combat skills and has extremely advanced knowledge of almost all weapons imaginable.
In most comparisons, Taskmaster will have an edge compared to Moon Knight in terms of intelligence; however, in his fight against the Moon Knight, Taskmaster’s intellect proved insignificant. Due to Moon Knight’s DID, Taskmaster couldn’t predict Spector’s moves, and Spector’s unstable mind proved to go in his favor.
Taskmaster had the upper hand in the first part of the fight, but as soon as Moon Knight started losing his sanity and went unhinged, Taskmaster was forced to run. Losing the fight.
Due to this, both get the point.
Points: Moon Knight (5:3) Taskmaster
Combat Skills
Moon Knight is a highly trained and skilled former heavyweight boxing champion. He has received extensive training in various armed and unarmed combat forms, including Boxing, Judo, Krav Maga, Silat, Dambe, Savate, Escrima, Karate, Muay Thai, and Kung Fu. His knowledge and abilities are so advanced that he can use pressure points to stun or instantly incapacitate his opponents. Moon Knight fought the Punisher to a standstill, the greatest proof of his skills.
Taskmaster, however, brings this to another level completely. Taskmaster mastered ALL armed and unarmed forms of combat, and he is virtually unstoppable, taking down some of the best hand-to-hand combatants in the Marvel comics. Taskmaster has a unique ability to memorize all existing moves associated with all known forms of martial arts.
Between the two, Taskmaster’s skills are on a level beyond what Moon Knight can demonstrate. The point easily goes to him.
Points: Moon Knight (5:4) Taskmaster
Taskmaster vs. Moon Knight: Who is stronger, and who wins?
Moon Knight is stronger than Taskmaster and would win a fight against him. Moon Knight has divine empowerment on his side, and even his mental instability works well against opponents such as Taskmaster, who rely on their opponents’ predictability. Moon Knight is also stronger and more durable, and he can go to great lengths in a fight without the fear of dying.
Taskmaster and Moon Knight faced off in the comics before. Moon Knight won the fight, so Taskmaster refused to fight him again, claiming he was scared of him.
