You could argue that the best thing Frank Grillo has done for his career was to say yes to the Russo Brothers and Marvel Studios when they offered him the role of Brock Rumlow, aka Crossobones, in “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.” He would go on to play the character multiple times in films and the “What If?” TV series. But apparently, his frustration about how the character was ultimately used (or not used enough) has led Grillo to jump ship and, apparently, sign on for a DC film.
According to an interview with Comicbook.com, Frank Grillo talked about his frustration with how Marvel Studios treated his Crossbones character, and why that led to him going to work on an unnamed DC Studios project.
For context, Grillo played Crossbones in the aforementioned ‘Winter Soldier,’ as well as “Captain America: Civil War,” and “Avengers: Endgame.” He also had an appearance in the animated “What If?” as mentioned above. His character in ‘Winter Soldier,’ and especially ‘Civil War,’ isn’t used to a great extent but has memorable scenes and a huge impact on the story. He was never the main villain, but Grillo’s Crossbones always left an impression. However, he was killed in ‘Civil War,’ and Grillo thinks that was a terrible idea, as Crossbones could have been a much bigger threat.
“They never told a story [about Crossbones],” explained Grillo. “The mythology of the MCU and just what Marvel has in its pool of characters, it’s so deep. Crossbones was there for a minute, but he was supposed to be there longer, then they went the direction they did. I think Crossbones serves a purpose, but I think the interesting thing is that if you see how many people around the world have responded to Crossbones, and again, he’s on the screen for a very fucking short amount of time, I think there’s more there. I think there was more meat on the bone.”
He added, “I was disappointed, which is why I went over to DC.”
It’s that last comment that is definitely interesting and newsworthy. He doesn’t go into detail about what the DC project is, but many people are speculating that Grillo could be one of the secret cast members for James Gunn’s upcoming “Creature Commandos” animated series. Fans have assumed he’s going to play Rick Flag, Sr., a role that would see him not only show up in the animated series but also in live-action down the line, which was already teased by Gunn.
Of course, none of that speculation is confirmed. In fact, we don’t even have confirmation that Grillo is, in fact, working on a DC project yet. However, you have to take what he says as some sort of confirmation right? We’ll just have to wait and see as we get closer to when “Creature Commandos” is expected to debut, sometime in 2024.