Captain America: The Winter Soldier’s primary antagonist may have been right there in the title, but Frank Grillo’s Brock Rumlow, better known to comic fans as the vicious Crossbones, quietly saw his own supervillain origin story play out in the background.
“Step 1 for Rumlow was an origin film which introduced the character,” confirms Grillo, speaking exclusively to SciFiNow. “I did commit to Marvel for several movies, but that doesn’t mean that you’re going to be in them because you never know what happens.”
Captain America 3 is currently being developed by Winter Soldier directors Anthony and Joe Russo and slated for a 2015 release. Grillo hopes that when the time comes, his character will step-up as supervillain and take on a more central role in bringing down Chris Evans’s square-jawed Super Soldier.
“I wanna see Crossbones in his full potency, because as a fan of the comic-book and understanding what Brock Rumlow and Crossbones become, to me that’s kind of like… I talked about Charles Bronson and those old action heroes, the Lee Marvins and stuff, that’s what I imagine Crossbones as. Because he doesn’t have any superpowers he’s just a badass. And we’re going to see more of him.…”
At the end of the film, Rumlow is in a bad way – beaten to a pulp, burnt to a crisp but just about alive. Is this the death of the special ops hard-ass we met in the movie and the birth of he masked psychopath we know from the comic?
“I have an idea of specifically what I’d like to see,” says Grillo. “I’ve spoken to [comic writer Ed] Brubaker, the guy who really brought Crossbones into the world… but I don’t know. You see, I don’t know if I come back as Rumlow, only really scarred and really damaged, or how Crossbones makes the transition. I’ve not spoken to anybody about that yet, so I’m optimistic about the journey but I’m also in the dark a bit so it’s interesting.”
Knowing that Crossbones plays such a key role in Ed Brubaker’s continuing comic arc after 2005’s The Winter Soldier gives Grillo a certain amount of confidence. It must be exciting to be taking on a character that has such a wealth material to draw on and such a vital role in the ongoing story.
“It is man,” enthuses the actorl. “I gotta tell ya, I try not to think about it so much because it is so exciting and the scope of it is so big and vast, and not just in America, but anywhere globally. It’s a monster, you know?
“I walked into the Marvel offices and there’s a big poster of all the characters, it was probably 30 feet long and you know who’s in the middle? There’s Crossbones, and I was like ‘Wow, there’s that guy – that could be me.’ It’s exciting, but again, this is all my optimism. Who knows? You never know what happens because these guys are really great at keeping it secret.”
Captain America: The Winter Soldier is available to own from 18 August 2014, pre-order it now on DVD for £10, Blu-ray for £15 or 3D Blu-ray for £17 from Amazon.co.uk.
