Now this is a question i have brought up many times at many a comic store as i have been a taskmaster fan for a long time. His ability of photographic relfexes(photoreflexive) have been with him since he was born. I guess the questions is are photographic relfexes a mutant power.

I say yes, Taskmaster is a Mutant

of course i would be interested to hear what others say.

No he isn't.

Is a photographic memory a mutant power? Nope.


they just took it and created something new.

though I guess you could make an argument for it. But the official answer is NO

Hey guys check this site out taskmastersite.com
Don´t think they mention him being a mutant, but it´s a good site anyway

Umm Taskmaster Photographic Reflexs is a mutant power.

So yes!

Taskmaster's photographic reflexes are a mutant power as much as Sinatra's singing ability or Shakespear's writing ability or Bobby Fisher' chess skills or Motzart's piano playing talent are mutant powers.

Mutant powers develop during puberty, Taskmaster has his ability since birth.

It is a very very Minor Mutant power. But it has such great effects.

As some of the others said...

Taskmaster is NOT a Mutant.

Photographic Reflexes (akin to Photographic Memory) is an extra-ordinary ability that actually exist in the real world, it is quite rare, even more so than Photographic Memory. There have been only a couple of honest showings of PR. It isn't as acute as Taskmasters ability, but the basic premise of PR is the ability to watch others and be able to mimic exactly what they did. Taskmasters PR is a little different. It allows him to mimic people, but it also gives him a little precognition into what their going to to do so he can anticipate their next movement which PR can't do. He also has a Photographic Memory too which someone with PR may or maynot have.

But since Photographic Reflexes is a "real" ability then I would have to say again that Taskmaster is not a Mutant.

...unless Mutants are real

Cat

Photographic Reflexes to the extent of Taskmaster is a mutant power.

Hey, I know lots of guys with photographic reflexes. Just the other day I was at McDonalds and I was watching the manager train the fry cook. The dude picked it up after only ONE TRY. The guy definately had some photographic reflexes. He did EXACTLY what the manager did, and that guy has been making fries for YEARS! I have seen similar abilities displayed in the Jiffy Lube. It's like these stinkin muties are everywhere!
hehehe

yeah, he's a mutant.

for all of you who are saying he's not, what's your criteria for "mutant"?

He himself said he wasn't a Mutant in one of his appearances...

A Mutant is someone with the X gene that alters their DNA so that they possess some sort of "super" power. Taskmasters ability is as real as ice cream.

But if that's not enough I guess you could always contact Marvel comics and ask them.

Cat

P.S. - Taskmaster is my favorite Villian in the Marvel-verse... so I would like to think I know a lot about him.

A mutant in the Marvel universe is someone with the X-Factor gene, or whatever, right? If Taskmaster doesn't have it, he isn't a mutant in the sense that the Marvel mutants use it.

Your here aren't you?

Ahh but has he ever been tested? No one has ever used a mutant detection device on him. So at this point in time we are taking an educated guess.

Also several Mutants have said they werent mutants when they were. He easily could not know or lie about it.

Not all Marvel mutants develop their powers during puberty. Examples being Arty, Leach, and Franklin Richards. A mutation is defined as any attribute which is not considered normal amoung the general populace of a species. Lets put this in a different perspective. You have 3 billion fish of the same species ...every so often one of them has the ablity to talk. This would be considered a mutation.
The scientific community consideres photographic memory a mutation, as the genes have been identified that control this ablity. You can verify this yourself with a little web research.
Same holds true here. Photgraphic relexes, if they existed, are not normal amoung our species and therefore, for all intents and purposes is a mutation.
In reply to Mr. Deadpool. I have never heard of a real case of photographic reflexes. Most of the mimicry you see is due to the individuals photographic memory. They watch someone play the piano remember the keystokes and parrot it back. They watch a soldier strip down a gun and are able to do it themselves after watching once. These are all memory related. Photographic reflexes would imply that after seeing Brett Favre throw a pass I would be able to throw a perfect pass as well. Or in watching an olympic diver make a perfect dive I would be able to replicate the dive on my first attempt after seeing it. Or better yet... watching a gymnast on the uneven bars and being able to jump up there and start swinging away like a pro. I can say with certainty there has never been an individual with this ability.