Crossbones
Real Name: Brock Rumlow
AKA: Bing, Bingo, Frag. Do not call him by either of the first two, trust me.
First Appearance(s): Captain America 359, 360, and 362; that's in shadow, up close, and by name, respectively.
What's His Problem? To start with, bad role models. To whit: "Ever since I was a kid the Red Skull was my idea of the meanest, toughest, coolest bad-guy on the planet. The baddest of the bad." (Captain America 383) With "bad seed" written all over him, gang leader Rumlow eventually became part of a mercenary team hired by a bogus Red Skull to storm the castle of one Armin Zola. The tenacious "Frag" was the only survivor. He so impressed the real Red Skull (who was visiting Zola at the time) that he was granted a new alias then and there. After more training he became Mr. Shmidt's assassin and bodyguard, Crossbones...as in Skull and Crossbones!
Abilities: Crossbones is a very athletic, experienced hand-to-hand combatant with Olympic-style strength, reflexes, stamina and resistance to sedatives. He knows his explosives and is a crack shot with handguns, crossbows and knives (which makes a Weapons paragraph moot). All in all, he's a sneak with a mean streak.
Favorite Quote: "Lookit all this stuff, boss. Monuments to yer evil genius. If not fer you, none of this stuff woulda come inta bein'! Ya had all them freedom-lovers runnin' fer cover like the pansies they were!" (Captain America 370. After rescuing a dying Skull from a pit Magneto trapped him in, Crossbones hauls him through the Skullhouse trophy room to boost his spirits. The room held several Skull-masks, a dead-Bucky statue, a replica Death's Head Satellite and working Sleeper robot models. Wasn't this a five-page spread in Fascist Homes and Gardens?)
Heroes He Keeps Running Into: Working for Shmidt often means running into a certain star-spangled Avenger, but Crossbones also knows Cap's former girlfriend Rachel Leighton, a.k.a. Diamondback; to put it lightly, she does not like him! Daredevil barely kept him from assassinating the Kingpin, and there's no love lost between Rumlow and Germany's Schultzheilliggruppe (don't ask). Even NFL SuperPro thrashed him once, but it's questionable how many fans actually bought that turkey before it wound up in Four-for-a-Dollar boxes nationwide.
People Who Think He's Not So Bad: While he thought 'Bones was certainly loyal enough, Herr Skull knew he was a potential accident and even fired him once for insubordination. Fellow Skull-flunkies Mother Night, Machinesmith and The Voice followed him well as the Skeleton Crew. Evil-doers like Bullseye and Selene the Black Queen might respect his skills more if he didn't keep trying to kill them. He once gave up escape to defeat some terrorists, save therapist Carolyn Lepre and thus prove his "rehabilitation," if you can believe that. A dying Cap tried to make peace with Crossbones but Rumlow laughed in his face. (Why? Two words: goofy exoskeleton).
Most Despicable Act: When a 15 year-old Rachel tried to join Brock Rumlow's gang, he decided he could use a new "girlfriend" (i.e. punching bag); that same night he murdered her gun-toting (and paraplegic) brother, Willy. As Crossbones, he's killed at least a dozen more-or-less innocent people. The last time he kidnapped Diamondback, he tried breaking her will by chaining her underground with little or no food, stabbed her in the back after an escape attempt and had her used as a Super Soldier guinea pig. She made sure he got his, though...
by Ray Schaff
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