Of all the movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe canon, Captain America: The Winter Soldier still remains the benchmark all the others have to aim for. It’s saturated with slickly-executed action sequences, deep character development and some pretty unbeatable performances from the cast. Chief among these was Frank Grillo’s killer debut as the villainous Brock Rumlow (Crossbones), and this week, the actor has teased he may well be reprising the role for future Marvel projects.
Whilst being interviewed by Forbes about his role in the The Purge franchise, Grillo had this to say:
“It’s great to be part of Marvel too, and I have three boys who are fanatical about Marvel, and I was surprised not too long ago because there is some news that nobody knows yet, to do with my character, that’s going to be really interesting and I’m excited about that.”
Now this is kind of a big ask, really. Although the character was a huge hit with the fans, Marvel chose to kill the turncoat SHIELD enforcer off after only two movies. Just as he was on the verge of besting Steve Rogers in a brutal fight to the death, audiences were left inwardly groaning as Rumlow was instead detonated into several hundred thousand pieces, whilst trapped inside one of Wanda Maximoff’s force fields.
Of course, Marvel have always been notorious for bringing their properties back from the grave, employing all manner of trickery and tomfoolery in order to do so. Parallel dimensions, cloned copies, twin brothers/sisters. There isn’t a trick in the book they haven’t pulled at some stage in order to bring a deceased character back to life. But being totally vaporised inside an airtight energy bubble is pretty darned inescapable? Right?
Well, it is possible that it could be Wanda’s future actions that end up paving the way for Grillo’s return to the role. Her ability to manipulate atoms pretty much grants her God-like powers, with the unstable nature of these abilities perhaps capable of an accidental resurrection or reincarnation. Just as conceivable is some kind of vision or flashback of Rumlow being employed by Thanos in order to incapacitate Wanda during the upcoming conflict in Avengers: Infinity War.
Then there’s the fact that Marvel recently announced that the events of the ‘Captain Marvel’ solo movie will be set in the 1990’s. This opens the door to cameos from a whole host of slain SHIELD operatives, including Rumlow, Jasper Sitwell, Felix Blake and Victoria Hand.
Frankly, however the writers choose to work it, Grillo returning to the franchise would be a great move. The company have always struggled to replicate the success that Tom Hiddleston has enjoyed playing Loki, and Grillo brings both the intensity and physicality needed for a Marvel villain to be a hit with audiences.