Frank Grillo’s three sons are glad to see their dad back in the Marvel Cinematic Universe – even in animated form – and so is Grillo.
Exclusive clip: Black Widow breaks out in new Marvel ‘What If…?’ episode
What to watch next
-
‘Riders of Justice’ painful scene: Mads Mikkelsen really head-butts bathroom mirror
USA TODAY
-
Charlie Daniels, best known for ‘Devil Went Down to Georgia,’ dies at 83
USA TODAY
-
Here’s the breakdown on Elon Musk and Grimes’ new baby boy’s name ‘X Æ A-12’
USA TODAY
-
Shawn Mendes, Ed Sheeran, Lorde and the late Aaliyah highlight New Music Friday
USA TODAY
-
Sean and Dylan Penn light up Cannes carpet
USA TODAY
-
ASCAP rockers on finding inspiration
USA TODAY
-
What Mike Richards, Sony said after the new ‘Jeopardy!’ permanent host stepped down
USA TODAY
-
Trailer Tuesdays: ‘Paw Patrol: The Movie’ and our all-star team of top pop culture pups
USA TODAY
-
Cavill: ‘I live in the fantasy genre’
USA TODAY
-
‘The Protégé’ trailer: Maggie Q soars, shoots in action film role
USA TODAY
-
Michael Keaton’s ‘Batman’ blew up pop culture in 1989, and Hollywood was never the same
USA TODAY
-
Salma Hayek really hits Ryan Reynolds in painful ‘Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard’ outtake
USA TODAY
-
Nicole Kidman, Melissa McCarthy, Regina Hall talk new Hulu series ‘Nine Perfect Strangers’
USA TODAY
-
‘Who’s the Boss?’ sequel: Everything we know about the cast, storyline, more
USA TODAY
-
Analysis: R Kelly sex abuse trial gets underway
USA TODAY
UP NEXT
The actor, 56, reprises his role as antagonistic spy operative Brock Rumlow (aka supervillain Crossbones) in the newest episode of Marvel’s “What If…?” (streaming Wednesday on Disney+), which reimagines key characters, storylines and scenarios in the MCU.
The latest chapter is a whodunit set before the first “Avengers” movie in 2012: Someone’s killing the superheroes who are supposed to form the world-saving supergroup, and Nick Fury (again voiced by Samuel L. Jackson) and Black Widow (Lake Bell in the Scarlett Johansson role) have to find the culprit.
Start the day smarter. Get all the news you need in your inbox each morning.
USA TODAY has an exclusive clip from the new episode, which features S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Rumlow transporting Black Widow after she’s brought in as a suspect – though his colleagues have a hard time keeping her locked down.
‘What If…?’: Hayley Atwell’s Captain Carter brings ‘chutzpah and style’ to Marvel series
Disney+’s ‘What If…?’ reimagines the Marvel movie universe
What to watch next
-
‘Riders of Justice’ painful scene: Mads Mikkelsen really head-butts bathroom mirror
USA TODAY
-
Charlie Daniels, best known for ‘Devil Went Down to Georgia,’ dies at 83
USA TODAY
-
Here’s the breakdown on Elon Musk and Grimes’ new baby boy’s name ‘X Æ A-12’
USA TODAY
-
Shawn Mendes, Ed Sheeran, Lorde and the late Aaliyah highlight New Music Friday
USA TODAY
-
Sean and Dylan Penn light up Cannes carpet
USA TODAY
-
ASCAP rockers on finding inspiration
USA TODAY
-
What Mike Richards, Sony said after the new ‘Jeopardy!’ permanent host stepped down
USA TODAY
-
Trailer Tuesdays: ‘Paw Patrol: The Movie’ and our all-star team of top pop culture pups
USA TODAY
-
Cavill: ‘I live in the fantasy genre’
USA TODAY
-
‘The Protégé’ trailer: Maggie Q soars, shoots in action film role
USA TODAY
-
Michael Keaton’s ‘Batman’ blew up pop culture in 1989, and Hollywood was never the same
USA TODAY
-
Salma Hayek really hits Ryan Reynolds in painful ‘Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard’ outtake
USA TODAY
-
Nicole Kidman, Melissa McCarthy, Regina Hall talk new Hulu series ‘Nine Perfect Strangers’
USA TODAY
-
‘Who’s the Boss?’ sequel: Everything we know about the cast, storyline, more
USA TODAY
-
Analysis: R Kelly sex abuse trial gets underway
USA TODAY
UP NEXT
A Marvel murder mystery is another chance for “What If…?” to “experiment with the form,” says executive producer Brad Winderbaum. The first episode, featuring Hayley Atwell’s Captain Carter, was about one individual making a choice that changes her entire life, while the second (with the late Chadwick Boseman as Star-Lord T’Challa) showed how changing one person can alter a universe forever. “We really approached the episodes like we would the films: playing with tone, playing with genre, playing with types of stories we wanted to tell, and just really exploring.”
© MARVEL STUDIOS
Frank Grillo made his Marvel debut as bad-guy S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Brock Rumlow in “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.”
Grillo appeared in three Marvel movies, starting with 2014’s “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” in which Rumlow tussled with Cap (Chris Evans) as a sleeper Hydra agent and had a building dropped on him in the action-packed climax. The disfigured Rumlow was reinvented as the villainous Crossbones – the version of the character that Grillo’s boys, especially 13-year-old Rio, prefer – for 2016’s “Captain America: Civil War.” Grillo’s favorite Marvel moment was also in that film, when Crossbones fights Cap in the opening sequence before his premature demise.
Chadwick Boseman: Posthumous ‘What If…?’ appearance brings ‘solemnity’ to Marvel animated show
“And then they blew me up,” Grillo says with a laugh. “They gave Anthony Mackie the shield!” he says, as his “Civil War” co-star got the call to become the new Captain America.
Grillo, who also appeared in 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame,” keeps busy as one of the hardest-working guys in action movies: “I want to keep doing this till I’m 95,” he says. He stars alongside Gerard Butler in the upcoming thriller “Copshop” (in theaters Sept. 17); with Bruce Willis in the heist film “A Day to Die” (due in February); and opposite Josh Hartnett and Melissa Leo in the upcoming crime drama “Ida Red.”
Grillo also has a role in the writer/director James DeMonaco’s coming-of-age drama “This Is the Night” and hopes to work with DeMonaco again next year on a sixth installment of “The Purge” franchise, reprising his role as Leo Barnes.
But he’ll always make the time to play Rumlow again – all they have to do is ask.
“Marvel is like the IRS,” Grillo says. “When they call, you pick up.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Frank Grillo reprises Marvel bad guy for ‘What If…?’ whodunit: ‘When they call, you pick up’
