Frank Grillo Reprising His Role as Crossbones in Marvel's WHAT IF...? Series
A lot of fans have been hoping to see Frank Grillo return as Crossbones in some way in the MCU, and it looks like he will be back thanks to Marvel’s upcoming animated series What If…? Grillo confirmed the news himself in an interview with Collider, saying that he has recorded “four or five episodes” for the animated series.
“If the President calls and says, ‘I want you to come to the White House,’ you don’t ask why, you just kind of get on a plane and go to the White House, CAA called, my agents called and said, ‘They’re doing this thing, What If…?, and they have four or five episodes planned out, you can do it all in one [day].’ I’m like, ‘Whatever, I don’t care what the money [is], it doesn’t matter, yes I’m going to do it. Absolutely. All day, every day.’ I recorded that probably almost a year ago, and I’m sure with COVID and everything, everything was put on hold, but now it’s come back around. I literally don’t know anything more about it. I don’t even remember what I was doing, I don’t even remember what I said in the shows, but I think it’s gonna be cool. My little guy, my son Rio — he’s not so little, he’s 13 — he’s a crazy Marvel fan, he can’t wait to see it. He can’t wait. You’re just kind of interpreting it yourself and reading off the page and trying to stay into the character of Crossbones. They set up this scenario and we just kind of play around until we get it. And then they show a little bit sometimes, but you know Marvel, they don’t wanna show you too much. Especially me, I’m a big mouth, I’ve been scolded many times.”
The series will explore the past films that were included in The Infinity Saga, but each of the stories will feature one key difference showing how the story would have played out differently. What If…? head writer A.C. Bradley previously teased that there are going to be "more than a few" surprise cameos from actors and characters that have appeared in the MCU, and it looks like Crossbones is one of them.
What do you all think about Grillo coming back as Crossbones from the What If…? series?
The series is directed by Bryan Andrews with Ashley Bradley serving as head writer. The voice cast includes Michael B. Jordan as Killmonger, Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes, Josh Brolin as Thanos, Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/The Hulk, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Hayley Atwell as Agent Peggy Carter, Chadwick Boseman as Black Panther, Karen Gillan as Nebula, Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, Paul Rudd as Ant-Man, Michael Douglas as Hank Pym, Neal McDonough as Dum Dum Dugan, Dominic Cooper as Howard Stark, Sean Gunn as Kraglin, Natalie Portman as Jane Foster, Taika Waititi as Korg, Toby Jones as Arnim Zola, Djimon Hounsou as Korath, Jeff Goldblum as Grandmaster, and Michael Rooker as Yondu. The Watcher will be voiced by Jeffrey Wright.
What If…? is set to hit Disney+ in Summer 2021.