Crossbones (Marvel)
Crossbones is a male comic supervillain who features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Brock Rumlow
In this time years ago, he was on the run on the Lower East Side trying to escape his pursuers and entered into the territory of another gang. At first, they did not take kindly in him approaching their area but then turned their attention on his pursuers instead. (Captain America and Crossbones v1 #1)
Under the name Frag, he was sent on a mission to the Swiss Alps where he and his team were to infiltrate Castle Zola and kill their target at the sight. During the climb, their team triggered the castle's defences with Arnim Zola dispatching his creation Doughboy to deal with the intruders. Doughboy easily managed to capture the assassins with their target wanting them captured alive for interrogation. During the interrogation, Frag's compatriots were killed after revealing that their employer was the Red Skull. This angered their quarry who was in fact the real Red Skull and wanted to know who was the imposter that sent assassins to kill him. With Frag the only survivor, the Red Skull decided to test his new clone body against he physically strong mercenary. Frag easily complied and managed to put up a challenge though he was defeated by the Red Skull. Despite losing, the Red Skull was impressed by his opponent and offered him a place as his right hand with Frag accepting as he always wanted to work for the Red Skull. Thus, he was given a new codename which was Crossbones and sent to undergo training so that he could better serve his new employer. (Captain America v1 #383)
Around 14 years ago, he found himself at the technical school of the Taskmaster where he rose to be one of his best students over a three year period. This saw him being chosen by the Red Skull to become one of his agents. (Captain America and Crossbones v1 #1)
Crossbones
After seemingly dealing with Daredevil, he went to confront and assassinate the Kingpin of Crime who managed to evade the initial murder attempt. Brock was then delayed by the intervention of Daredevil and though he defeated his foe again his quarry managed to escape. Any attempt at dealing with the vigilante also failed as he had vanished from the scene with Crossbones vowing to kill Daredevil for his interference. He then reported his failure to the Red Skull who stated that Brock would have to pay a penance for being unable to accomplish the mission. (Captain America v1 #376)
The new leader, Cutthroat, plotted Crossbones' murder, Mother Night warned Brock, who slit Cutthroat's jugular. Diamondback escaped, summoning Captain America and the Falcon to capture the Skull’s operatives; Crossbones was imprisoned, but eventually convinced officials he was rehabilitating, partly by defeating the terrorist cell "Fortress" when they invaded a Denver hospital. Exploiting his jailers' gullibility, Crossbones escaped, and was hired by Hydra to bomb New York's embassy row alongside the Absorbing Man, but the pair was stopped by Captain America. Betrayed by Hydra, Crossbones fled, wreaking vengeance on his bosses. (Captain America v3 #24)
Thunderbolts
At some point, Crossbones was captured where he was imprisoned at the Raft prison facility. This was until Electro caused a blackout which saw the prisoners attempting to escape. (New Avengers v1 #1) During the fighting, he came to fight Captain America and Spider-Man where the latter came to knock him unconscious. (New Avengers v1 #2)
Afterwards, Rumlow came to find himself imprisoned at the Raft during a time when the Avengers placed Luke Cage in charge of the Thunderbolts program. He came to assemble a team consisting of supervillain in-mates with the goal of helping them rehabilitate and to prevent abuse of control over the superpowered prisoners. The office of the warden came to recommend Crossbones to take part in the initiative though Cage was reluctant to have the villain on the team. (Thunderbolts v1 #144)
During his time in custody, Crossbones was sent to an isolated island that was hit by a terrible virus outbreak. Brock was sent in with one objective: rescue the one person who may possess the resistance to the virus. Heavily armed, Brock eventually meets a camp of survivors on the island. It turns out the individual is just a boy, and Brock betrays the survivors by letting the monsters into their base. Brock battles a few, snapping their necks and withstanding a handful of claw attacks before reaching his evacuation helicopter with the child. But, Brock betrays his employers by pushing the boy out of the helicopter, sending him falling to his death. (Captain America and Crossbones v1 #1)
During the Serpent War, one of the mystical hammers of the Worthy fell onto the Raft and chose the Juggernaut as its welder. This saw Marko transforming into Kuurth who caused massive damage to the Raft allowing for a breakout. Crossbones used this as an opportunity to escape and worked with Man Mountain Marko towards this goal where he repaid Mario by seemingly murdering him. (Thunderbolts v1 #159)
Crossbones came to be one of the supervillains hired by Doctor Octopus to guard one of his facilities as he took the world hostage. The superhero Sabra came to fight her way past Octobots only for Rumlow to shoot her in the back. (Amazing Spider-Man: Ends of the Earth v1 #1)
Secret Empire
While hunting Hell-Marks through the country, Crossbones killed and skinned one of the many copies of Daimon Hellstrom. Along with the D.O.A., Crossbones targeted Mania as she had received the Hell-Mark that was once of Venom along with her symbiote. (Venom v2 #40) After battling Venom and Mania, who had used the demons that Master Mayhem had summoned to attack them, he and some members of the D.O.A. vanished. (Venom v2 #42)
Crossbones came to join the new Hydra that was assembled by Baron Zemo with the Hydra High Sect aiming to spread a sterilising toxin in an effort to end human reproduction except for their members. Their operations were infiltrated by the new Captain America Sam Wilson with Brock dispatched to hunt him down. Their battle went through the Infinite Elevator that sent the pair into Bagalia where Rumblow's skills led to him overpowering Wilson. He nearly succeeded in killing Captain America but was knocked out by a disguised Misty Knight. (All-New Captain America v1 #2)
Crossbones was an inmate of Pleasant Hill, a gated community established by S.H.I.E.L.D. When Steve Rogers was at the Pleasant Hill Bowling Alley trying to reason with Kobik, Crossbones attacked Rogers. Before Crossbones could kill Rogers, Kobik used her powers to de-age Rogers back to his physical prime, which allowed him to defeat Crossbones. (Captain America: Sam Wilson v1 #7) In the aftermath of the events at Pleasant Hill, Crossbones founded a new version of Hydra with the Red Skull and Sin. (Avengers Standoff: Assault On Pleasant Hill Omega v1 #1)
Rumlow came to be recruited in Mayor Fisk's incarnation of the Thunderbolts Unit that were deputised enforcers that imposed the law that banned superhero activity in the city. Crossbones were part of the team where heled the NYPD to the Rand Corporation in order to arrest Danny Rand. At this time, Rand had lost the power of the Iron Fist and had to contend with his basic skills to fight his attackers. Despite his skill, Crossbones and the NYPD team were able to defeat him where they took him into custody. (Devil's Reign v1 #2)
Detained at the Myrmidon prison, he came to be visited in his cell by Hunter the White Wolf who looked to recruit Crossbones to help test the new Captain America Sam Wilson. (Captain America: Symbol of Truth v1 #1)
Overview
Personality and attributes
He used to operate under the name Frag with the name Crossbones being given to him by the real Red Skull after he saw potential in the man. (Captain America v1 #383)
Ever since he was a child, he had heard of the Red Skull and thought of him to be the meanest, toughest, and coolest bad guy on the planet. In fact, Brock had thought that the Red Skull was the baddest of the bad. (Captain America v1 #383) Such was his commitment to him that he was prepared to follow any orders the Red Skull gave him. (Captain America v1 370)
Powers and abilities
At one point, he was exposed to corrupted Terrigen Crystals where he inadvertently inhaled the mists. (Thunderbolts v1 #147) Sometime later, he came to find that these had imparted on some superpowers where he could generate a disc of red energy in front of his face that fired a beam capable of burning through targets. However, this ability was erratic and sometimes did not manifest when he wanted to use it. (Thunderbolts v1 #149)
He headed a team of mercenaries that served the Red Skull with this group being known as the Skeleton Crew. (Captain America v1 #369)
Notes
- Crossbones was created by Mark Gruenwald and Kieron Dwyer where he made a cameo in Captain America v1 #359 (October, 1989) and made his full appearance in Captain America v1 #360 (November, 1989).
- In New Avengers Most Wanted Files v1 #1 (2005), Crossbones received an entry in the guidebook where Captain America listed him as his most deadliest opponent.
Alternate Versions
In other media
Television
- In Avengers Assemble, Crossbones appeared in the animated television series where he was voiced by actor Fred Tatasciore.
- In Ultimate Spider-Man, Crossbones appeared in the animated television series where he was once again voiced by actor Fred Tatasciore.
- In Spider-Man, Crossbones appeared in the 2017 animated television series where he was once more voiced by actor Fred Tatasciore.
- In Marvel Future Avengers, Crossbones appeared in the setting of the anime television series in the episode "Here Comes Deadpool!" where he was voiced by Japanese actor Masato Obara and by English Fred Tatasciore in the dub.
- In What If...?, Crossbones appeared in the setting of the 2017 animated television series set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe where he was voiced again by actor Frank Grillo.
Films
- In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Crossbones made an appearance in the live-action shared setting.
- In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Brock Rumlow made an appearance in the movie where he was portrayed by actor Frank Grillo.
- In Captain America: Civil War, Crossbones debuted in the live-action film where he was once more portrayed by actor Frank Grillo.
Video games
- In Marvel Heroes, Crossbones appeared in the setting of the MMORPG video game.
- In Marvel: Contest of Champions, Crossbones was introduced as a playable character in the mobile phone game.
- In Marvel Strike Force, Crossbones appeared as a playable character in the mobile video game.
- In Marvel: Future Fight, Crossbones appeared as a playable character in the mobile video game.
- In Marvel's Avengers, Crossbones appeared as a boss level antagonist in the setting of the video game's "War for Wakanda" DLC expansion where he was voiced by actor Fred Tatasciore.
Appearances
- Captain America v1: (1989)
- Captain America and Crossbones v1:
- Thunderbolts v1:
- All-New Captain America v1:
- Dead Man Logan v1:
- Devil's Reign v1:
- Captain America: Symbol of Truth v1:
External Links
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