Crossbones (comics)
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Crossbones (real name Brock Rumlow) is a fictional character, a supervillain in the Marvel Comics universe. He was created by writers Mark Gruenwald and Kieron Dwyer in Captain America (1st series) #360. Crossbones usually appears as a henchman of the The Red Skull.
[edit] Character biography
Crossbones first appeared during the "Bloodstone Hunt" storyline in the issues of Captain America. Technically, his first appearance was in issue #359, where he appeared in one panel as a figure watching from the shadows. In the next issue, he was shown in costume, but again simply observed the Captain and his aliles from afar. In issue #362, he revealed his name to Diamondback before knocking her unconscious. Crossbones had been sent by the Red Skull to obtain the Bloodstone, but was instead forced to destroy it when the alien entity known as the Hellfire Helix used it to take control of the body of Heinrich Zemo. Knowing that his master would be infuriated by the loss of the Bloodstone, Crossbones kidnapped Diamondback, taking her to Madripoor as bait for Captain America. The Captain defeated him, Diamondback escaped, Crossbones was ordered to return to headquarters.
Crossbones became the leader of the Skeleton Crew, an assemblage of the Skull's henchmen, leading missions against the Avengers, the Kingpin, and the Hellfire Club. Crossbones always remained loyal to the Red Skull, even tracking him down when he was imprisoned and left to die by Magneto. However, he was eventually fired for questioning the Red Skull's decision to ally himself with the Viper.
Desperate to regain his position as leader of the Skeleton Crew, Crossbones kidnapped Diamondback, imprisoning her in an abandoned subway station and forcing her through a brutal regime of combat training. Crossbones believed that he had brainwashed her into betraying Captain America, but Diamondback was actually laying a trap for Crossbones. She stole samples of Captain America's blood from the Avengers' mansion, then accompanied Crossbones to the Red Skull's mountain fortress. The two were captured and imprisoned, and Crossbones was rehired on a temporary basis. He was later attacked by Cutthroat, new leader of the Skeleton Crew, who feared that Crossbones would try to take back his position as the Skull's right-hand man. Crossbones killed him, never realizing that Cutthroat was actually Diamondback's surviving elder brother, Danny. Crossbones later stabbed Diamondback during her escape attempt, only to save her with a blood transfusion in order to use her as bait. Ironically, he was himself critically wounded by flying shrapnel during an assault on the fortress by Captain America and Falcon.
After escaping from prison, Crossbones hired himself out as a mercenary to a number of villainous organizations. Eventually, after escaping from prison once again, he was rehired by the Red Skull, who was later assassinated by the Winter Soldier. Since that time, Crossbones and his new lover, Synthea Schmidt (the Red Skull's daughter), have been hunting the Soldier's commander, Aleksander Lukin. They plotted to crash a stolen World War 2 era plane into the new Kronas Headquarters in London, only to have their plane destroyed by Red Skull's Sleeper robot. Having escaped the destruction of the plane, they then found Agent 13, and were about to kill her, only to be stopped by the appearance of the Red Skull. They have since now joined with Red Skull/Lukin, whose minds both share Lukin's body.
[edit] Powers and abilities
Although Crossbones has no superhuman powers, he is still a very dangerous combatant, killing lesser superheroes and villains with ease and having gone toe-to-toe with Captain America on a number of occasions. Crossbones is one of the world's best hand-to-hand combatants, with extensive training in street-fighting, military combatives, and as a student of the Taskmaster. Physically, Crossbones is tall and very heavily muscled, but moves with an athletic grace uncommon for men of his bulk. He is also a skilled pilot and an expert marksman with guns, bows, and throwing knives. Crossbones usually arms himself with a fighting knife and a small crossbow.
[edit] Appearances in other media
Crossbones was a boss in the video game Captain America and the Avengers.
