Frank Grillo spent some time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe playing Brock Rumlow, a.k.a. Crossbones, but it’s safe to say that his upcoming turn as Rick Flag Sr. in the new DC Universe franchise will give him a lot more to do. Grillo will first be heard voicing the character in Creature Commandos, which premiers to Max subscription holders in December, and that will be followed by him bringing Flag to life in live-action in James Gunn’s Superman movie and Peacemaker Season 2. Gunn, who also co-runs DC Studios with Peter Safran, explained why Flag will be important in the early days of the DC Universe.
While confirming Grillo will appear in Superman after paparazzi photos leaked of him on the set of this upcoming 2025 movie, Gunn described Rick Flag Sr. as a “really cool character that Frank has been molding,” as well as noted that he’s one of the “primary characters” in the next season of Peacemaker. That latter part isn’t too surprising considering he was always going to have beef with John Cena’s Christopher Smith, who killed his son, Joel Kinnaman’s Rick Flag Jr., in The Suicide Squad (yes, that movie counts as DCU canon). Gunn then said to EW:
This isn't just a good guy, not at all. We see all different sides of his character. He is morally a complex human being. Grillo is somebody who I've known for a little while, and I've wanted to work with him for a long time. He was one of the first people that I talked to when I took over the studio, like 'we're going to find something cool for you,' and now he is everywhere.
Rick Flag Sr. will first be seen as the leader of the Creature Commandos, which is comprised of David Harbour’s Frankenstein, Indira Varma’s The Bride, Alan Tudyk’s Doctor Phosphorous (who may end up appearing in Superman, too), Zoë Chao’s Nina Mazursky, G.I. Robot and Weasel, with Sean Gunn playing both of those latter roles. Following the events of The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker Season 1, Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller is no longer allowed to use humans in her clandestine A.R.G.U.S. operations. As such, she’s assembled this team of monsters to carry out her directives, and it’ll be Flag’s job to keep them in line.
Along with Rick Flag Sr.’s narrative importance, James Gunn mentioned that this will be the first example for the policy he and Peter Safran previously announced where characters will be played by the same actors across live-action and animated projects. So Frank Grillo’s getting first crack at this multimedia approach, with Gunn saying:
The actors have to be able to work within different genres, and that's something Frank's really been good at. He's been really good at the comedy of Creature Commandos and also really good at the drama of Peacemaker and Superman.
We’ll get our first taste of Frank Grillo’s Rick Flag Sr. when Creature Commandos premieres December 5 on Max. Superman will then arrive on July 11, 2025, and while Peacemaker Season 2 doesn’t have an official release date yet, it’s also expected to be released next year. Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more news on Flag and other major DC Universe players.
