Brock Rumlow (Earth-616)

Young Brock Rumlow led the Savage Crims gang on New York's lower east side. After he brutalized fifteen year old Rachel Leighton, two of her brothers assaulted Brock; the elder was killed. Rumlow fled, entering the Taskmaster's school for criminals, and within three years became an instructor there under the name Bingo Brock. As a mercenary, he enlisted with the communist Red Skull (Albert Malik) in Algeria, serving him as "Frag" until he was sent to invade Arnim Zola's Switzerland chateau. Ultimately the only team member to survive the assault, Rumlow there met and impressed the Nazi Red Skull (Johann Schmidt); this Skull accepted Brock’s services, code-naming him “Crossbones.”

Sent to retrieve the five Bloodstone fragments, Crossbones shadowed Baron Helmut Zemo’s search for them. While Zemo battled Captain America, Crossbones knocked out Captain America's pilot, John Jameson, and stole two fragments; when he got near the other three, the five combined to re-animate Baron Heinrich Zemo's corpse under control of the alien Hellfire Helix. Unobserved, Crossbones destroyed the Helix (worn on the corpse's forehead) with a crossbow bolt. Brock then kidnapped Diamondback (whom he recognized as Rachel Leighton), using her as bait to trap Captain America; but when the Skull learned of Crossbones' involvement with the Captain, he ordered Crossbones to flee. Crossbones recruited the Controller and Voice of Doom to serve the Skull, led the Skeleton Crew against the Hellfire Club’s Selene, and, using psychic Tristam Micawber, located the Skull after Magneto kidnapped him. He attempted assassinating the Kingpin, was stopped by Typhoid Mary, and battled Bullseye when the Kingpin retaliated. He led the Skeleton Crew when they were captured by the Schutz-Heiligruppe (Blitzkrieg, Hauptmann Deutschland, Zeitgeist); after Arnim Zola rescued them, the Skull faked the assassination of himself, Mother Night, and Crossbones. The Red Skull finally fired Crossbones for questioning the Skull's decision to ally with the Viper.

Crossbones headed east, working briefly in Chicago for druglord Marco Sanzionare against Superpro. In New York, Crossbones kidnapped and brainwashed Diamondback by abusing her repeatedly and forcing her through a rigid combat training routine. Forcing Diamondback to steal Captain America's Super Soldier Serum treated blood from Avengers Mansion, Crossbones returned to the Skull. When the Skeleton Crew's new leader, Cutthroat (Diamondback's brother Daniel), 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 jailors’ 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. He was hired by New Son to assassinate Gambit, but despite allying with Batroc and Zaran, was defeated by the combined efforts of New Orleans' assassins' and thieves’ guilds; Crossbones was imprisoned in the Raft until Electro's break-in freed him. The Skull promptly rehired him, and he was aiding in re-powering a Cosmic Cube when Aleksander Lukin’s Winter Soldier assassinated the Red Skull and stole the Cube. Lukin anonymously blamed Captain America for the Skull’s death, but Crossbones soon realized the truth and began hunting Lukin. He continued to go through with the Skull's plans, running an offshoot branch of AIM, and kidnapping and brainwashing Sin (Synthia Schmidt), the daughter of the Red Skull.

The Red Skull eventually proved to have used the Cosmic Cube while dying to transfer his mind into Lukin's body. During the superhero Civil War, he orchestrated the assassination of his longtime archfoe, Captain America. The plan involved Sharon Carter of SHIELD, one of Cap's closest allies, being brainwashed by Doctor Faustus into shooting him at close range. This was supplemented by shots fired by a sniper, specifically Crossbones. He was soon captured by SHIELD. While in custody, he was interrogated by Wolverine and Daredevil, who had sneaked aboard the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier aided by the magic of Doctor Strange.

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Although Crossbones does not have any superhuman powers, he is still a very dangerous combatant; he kills lesser superheroes and villains with ease and has gone toe-to-toe with Captain America on a number of occasions. Crossbones physique has been developed to the point that he is nearly a match for the likes of Captain America, whose body is physically at the pinnacle of what any human could hope to achieve due to the super-soldier formula.

Abilities

Crossbones is one of the world's best hand-to-hand combatants, with extensive training in street-fighting, military combatives, various forms of martial arts, He has trained extensively with the Taskmaster to the point where he was actually made an instructor at the Taskmaster's school for criminals. Crossbones is also a superior marksman with guns, crossbows, and throwing knives. He also has some experience with torture and brainwashing, having effectively "reprogrammed" Sin and nearly so with Diamondback. He is also an expert pilot.

Strength level

Peak human

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Carries various communications devices, one of which is mounted in one of his gauntlets.

Weapons

His weaponry includes various firearms, a collapsible crossbow, a wrist spike, spring-loaded stiletto blades in his gauntlets, various explosives and poisoned knives.

Notes

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?)

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