Frank Grillo teases the fate of Crossbones in the Marvel Cinematic Universe

July 5th 2016, 5:27pm

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

What do you think you saw during CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR?

Do you think you saw Frank Grillo's return as Crossbones come to an abrupt halt as he went up in flames, suicide bombing himself in an attempt to take Captain America with him? Well, maybe he isn't as dead as you once thought… or is he? Leave it to good ol' Frank to throw a monkey wrench into your perception and get you thinking about the fate of his villainous character.

In an interview with ABC News about THE PURGE: ELECTION YEAR, the conversation turned to his run in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the fate of Brock Rumlow…

"You think he dies, don't you?" Grillo said, smiling, before adding, "Did you see the body?"

"What did you see?" he asked.

Ah, the old "We don't have a body" soap opera argument that could potentially keep any character alive until it's convenient for them to resurface. Technically, as long as someone wasn't decapitated, it's possible for them to survive to play another day… and even then, when has the lack of a head really stopped anyone who could figure out a sensible creative way to work around that minor hiccup?

I know we all assumed Crossbones was done for… but maybe his continued survival is a nice trick Marvel could certainly pull on the fan base. After all, that would get their movies a little closer to the comics, wouldn't it? The movies have been remarkably grounded, considering the source material they come from, but how many times over the years on the page have characters come back or been revealed to be in hiding as a clone took the punishment or any number of ways you can think of that resulting in someone seemingly coming back from the dead? Maybe that's a wrinkle the MCU could use to keep us on our toes in the future. It's also something that could perceptively jump the shark, but it's Marvel. Right now they could get away with just about anything, so what do you think?

Crossbones in the Marvel Cinematic Universe – living or dead? What did you see?