Frank Grillo, who played Crossbones in the MCU's Captain America films, shared his disappointment with his time in the super-powered franchise.
Fans know Grillo for his work as Crossbones/Brock Rumlow in Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Captain America Civil War, serving as a second-billed villain behind a bigger bad in each respective appearance.
Since his last time suiting up as the Marvel villain, Grillo has gone back and forth with whether he would be up for a return or not.
The actor flip-flopped from saying he is "done" with the character to expressing confidence he would be back to "pop up now and again" as Crossbones, despite the character's death in Civil War.
But as time goes by, the more the actor seems to let slip his disappointment regarding his time within the franchise.
Frank Grillo Grills the MCU
Speaking in a new interview, Captain America: The Winter Soldier star Frank Grillo had some choice words about his time in the MCU.
Grillo told ComicBook.com's Chris Killian that he was disappointed with his Crossbones character in the MCU, noting that "Crossbones was there for a minute," but "he was supposed to be there longer:"
“They never told a story [about Crossbones]. 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.”
He pointed to the number of "people around the world [who] have responded to Crossbones" and " there’s more there [to explore]:"
“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 f--king short amount of time, I think there’s more there."
This comes as Grillo revealed he would join the new DCU under DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn.
The End of the MCU's Crossbones
While Crossbones has technically been dead in the MCU since Captain America: Civil War, this (along with Grillo's jump over to DC) has officially put the nail in the coffin.
Despite his character's death in Civil War, the actor was offered the chance to return in Avengers: Endgame. Grillo turned down that bit part and has gone into detail about "being an asshole" for declining the role.
And it is easy to sympathize with Grillo a bit here. He may have been told his character was going to have a bigger part in the MCU (something that Marvel Studios has been known to do).
When signing on to be a Marvel villain as iconic as Crossbones, the actor may have been under the impression he would get to be the main antagonist of a Marvel film at some point; however, that never bore out, leading to this sense of disappointment.
Hopefully, with the actor jumping aboard the James Gunn-led DC train, he will get a second chance at the super-powered fulfillment he was left lacking with the MCU.
Frank Grillo can be seen in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, and Avengers: Endgame, which are now streaming on Disney+.
