Actor Frank Grillo is one of the few people to have had roles in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and James Gunn’s upcoming DC Universe. He plays Brock Rumlow/Crossbones in the Marvel Universe and will play Rick Flag Sr. in the DCCU. As such, he has a unique perspective on both series.
In an interview with Cinema Blend, the actor said Marvel “Got into a little bit of trouble because I guess they were out of their skiing range, so to speak.“Then he elaborated on how James Gunn and Peter Safran are building the DCU.”Create cohesion and understanding of the role“By using the same actors in both animated and live-action projects.
Grillo continued: “More importantly, [Gunn] Learn how to leverage them in every story. So there’s not going to be a lot of people like you, ‘Why is he here?’ What’s this? Did they want to put this character in just because? They have different methods. We’ll see how it turns out. But I feel like there’s something different about it. Grillo is expected to appear in many of the DCU’s upcoming projects, including From biocommandos to superhumans. This certainly corroborates his statement that Washington is placing greater emphasis on shared continuity.
Grillo knows better than many how the experience of starring in the DCU compares to the experience of being in the MCU. His comments about DC doing better than Marvel lately might do them some good. However, there are two things worth noting.
First, Grillo starred in the MCU during the Infinity Saga, when general audiences better resonated with the studio’s work. Secondly, he only had supporting roles in two movies. While his time in Crossbones was impressive, it was a smaller role than the one he played in the DCU.
Regardless, the actor’s comments bode well for the future of Gunn and Safran’s DCU. Having a cohesive plan for how each story connects to each other and fits into the broader continuity is part of the success of the original MCU films. Gunn and Safran are making their mark in the same way, utilizing performers like Grillo across multiple mediums.
RELATED: Will Frank Grillo’s Rick Flag Sr. Become the DCU’s Nick Fury?
Notably, Frank Grillo’s Rick Flag Sr. will reprise his role in the DCU’s animated series Creatures, the live-action Superman movies, and Peacemaker Starring in the second season. To that end, I wonder if he’ll be the Nick Fury of the MCU or Agent Phil Coulson in the DCU, a key figure who serves as connective tissue between projects.
This overarching story is something that recent Marvel movies have lacked, creating an interesting opportunity for DC to potentially surpass their biggest rivals in the superhero space. Either way, the DCU has to impress audiences to dilute the MCU’s level of success.
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Marvel Cinematic UniverseThe Marvel Cinematic Universe is a multimedia superhero franchise that began with Paramount’s “Iron Man” in 2008, starring Robert Downey Jr. The series quickly became popular, and Disney eventually purchased Marvel Entertainment in 2009. The Marvel Cinematic Universe consists of dozens of movies and TV shows, most notably Avengers: Endgame, WandaVision and Loki.
Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson, Jeremy Renner, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Edward Norton , Paul Rudd, Tom Holland, Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Mackie, Cobie Smulders, Brie Larson, Chadwick Boseman, Seth Bastian Stan, Chris Pratt, Dave Bar Tista, Zoe Saldana, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, Pom Klementieff, Josh Brolin, Karen Gillan, Clark Gregg , Paul Bettany, Don Cheadle, Benedict Cumberbatch, Evangeline Lilly, Simu Liu, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Angelina Jolie, Kit Ha Clinton, Salma Hayek, Richard Madden, Barry Keoghan, Gemma Chan, Dong-Seok Ma, Brian Tyree Henry, Kumail Nanjiani, Lauren Ridloff, Leah McHugh, Jonathan Majors
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- DC Universe
The DC Universe is one of the largest comic book franchises, often competing with Marvel. DC Comics was originally a nationally syndicated publishing house founded by Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson in 1935. Since then, the series has exploded in comic books, movies, TV shows, and video games. 2013 marked the beginning of the latest iteration of superheroes, with Zack Snyder bringing in Henry Cavill as Superman. After a few films that received mixed reviews, DC has launched a soft reboot under the leadership of James Gunn and Peter Safran.
Starring Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Ezra Miller, Ray Fisher, Jason Momoa, Emma M. Adams, Jesse Eisenberg, Laurence Fishburne, Jeremy Irons, Will Smith, Jared Leto, Margot Robbie, Joel Kinnaman, Viola Davis, Jai Courtney, Jay Hernand Si, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaji, Cara Delevingne, Chris Pine , Robin Wright, Zachary Levi, Dwayne Johnson, Amber Heard, Patrick Wilson, Yahya Abdul-Mateen, Mark Strong , Arthur Angel, Jack Dylan Grazer, Djimon Hounsou, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jurnee Smollett, Rosie Perez, Ella Jay Basco, Ali Wong, Ewan McGregor, Idris Elba, John Cena, Michael Keaton, George Clooney, Solo Mariduna
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Marvel Cinematic Universe
DC Universe