When it comes to naming the characters most underutilized by the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it doesn’t take long for Frank Grillo’s Crossbones to come up.
After debuting in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, there was every reason to believe that the veteran action star would become a recurring B-tier villain that could pose a threat to the franchise’s heroes, not least of all Grillo’s admission that he’d signed a five-picture deal with Kevin Feige’s outfit.
Instead, after being killed off in the prologue of Civil War, Brock Rumlow was brought back for an Avengers: Endgame cameo appearance and an episode of animated series What If…?, and that was that. Of course, Grillo has never been shy in revealing he’d love to play in the Marvel sandbox once again, something he reiterated in an interview with Movieweb.
“It’s become such a part of my identity as an actor and as a performer, that role and being in that world. At this point, whatever they want me to do, if there’s ever anything else, I will. I mean, the character is fairly popular, considering he’s not really been in the movies that much, but I get the questions all day long. And now that now my guy Mackie’s going to be Captain America, you never know.”
Marvel definitely missed a trick by having a grizzled, shredded, and experienced ass-kicker like Grillo playing a villain with a sweet-ass costume and not maximizing the potential of the character, but maybe the multiverse will offer Crossbones a way back in.