We know very little about Avengers 4 – other than that most of our faves are dead – but now we have a teeny, tiny nugget of intrigue.

Actor Frank Grillo, who played Brock Rumlow/Crossbones in Captain America: Winter Soldier and Captain America: Civil War, revealed that he returned to the MCU for an Avengers 4 flashback.

“[Crossbones] makes an appearance in the next Avengers movie, but it’s a flashback," Grillo said. "And I’m allowed to say whatever I want because I’m never doing another Marvel movie.”

Though Grillo calls it a flashback, this might be time travel, a possible solution to defeating Thanos.

In Avengers: Infinity War, it was Time Stone protector Doctor Strange who crunched the numbers on the heroes' chance of defeating their genocidal foe, odds that were decidedly not in the Avengers' favor.

Crossbones worked for S.H.I.E.L.D. and famously exploded the last time he was on-screen in a Marvel movie: the opening of Captain America: Civil War.

He's got less skin in the game, but Grillo doesn't seem to have much patience for Disney/Marvel's utmost secrecy – not out of disrespect, but perhaps because he just doesn't care. Now that he's done with Marvel, he'll soon be free of those pesky nondisclosure agreements, red herrings, and spoiler protection.

Source: Mashable