This is Crossbones, Merciless Merc. He’s the second iteration of Crossbones for Marvel Crisis Protocol; I have to admit that I never thought that he’d be seen as important enough to warrant further attention in the game! Unlike the first version, this Crossbones is slightly more focused on ranged attacks which is probably just as well as he remains the slowest character in the entire game. I haven’t explored Crossbones as much as I might have done yet, but he gains power at a very nice rate which makes him a very nice companion for the new Red Skull. I guess that he’s thematically also quite a good minor baddy henchman for the Master of the World! Crossbones is at his best on narrow scenarios where his lack of movement is less of a liability and his funky beam attack is likely to catch several victims at ones.
I really like this sculpt for Crossbones; it’s a rare mini in MCP that isn’t in some ludicrous action pose and the Merciless Merc’s stoic look fits him very nicely. Leaving aside his fairly normal looking appearance in the MCU, I’ve only ever seen Crossbones dressed in his black clothes with white face place to his hat. Since I think that suits him perfectly I definitely saw no reason to deviate. I spent a bit more time than usual highlighting the dark combat clothes in blue but it never shows up hugely after my traditional bathing of the mini in Nuln Oil!
Next on the painting table: Medusa.
The Bovine Overlord 
I do like this pose, but I also like the original Crossbones sculpt. I get that this new CB is shooty, but that gun is right outta GW!
Thank you 😊
He has a Tactics Card about experimental weaponry so I always assumed that one of his stories was about using some kind of future gun to cause mayhem. But maybe you’re right and it’s just the sculptor seeing some 40K minis and thinking ‘that enormous weapon looks hilarious, I can’t wait to do my own version’!
I think I’m with you on this pose. Seems more fitting. I never thought Crossbones would become so popular either. He seemed like a tier 2 character who would be forgotten after awhile. I guess maybe he became more popular with Brubaker’s Death of Captain America run?
Both of his iterations have been in the MCP core boxes so I guess it’s to show that they have a commitment to somewhat obscure characters as well as headliners. Maybe there is a big collective of Crossbones fans out there advocating for his appearance centre stage in all forms of media? 🤣
I have no doubt it’s because of his MCU tie-in. Which was the result of Brubaker’s very successful Captain America run.
Crossbones getting two sculpts is pretty wild! He’s kind of a pushover in everything I’ve seen and read. He looks cool but when push comes to shove, he’s going down pretty easily! I’d put him at a B or C tier for villains. Certainly better than The Owl or Stilt Man, but he’s no Ultron or Thanos either 🙂
Exactly, he’s the kind of character that the heroes beat up early in the story to show how powerful they are and making it a bigger deal when they struggle with (and ultimately triumph over) the main baddy.
Great work on bones!
Thank you!