Marvel star "almost fired" for "leaking" news

Marvel Studios is the biggest titan in Hollywood. Their Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise is the untouchable champion of the box office, having grossed a collective $30 billion in the years since it all began with the release of Iron Man in 2008. It has truly changed the face of cinema with its 34 MCU movies, with fans flocking to the movie theaters to see the next major Marvel superhero film every single time one of them is released.

The Marvel Mania has been going strong for two decades, so it's no surprise that the fans are more passionate now than ever. Heck, they are so passionate that they need to know every single details about every single release. And with a fanbase that hungry for information, it becomes challenging for the actors involved to keep that information close to the vest.

We've all heard the jokes about how some of the MCU's leading stars can't be told everything about the projects they star in out of fear that they might accidentally spoil it. And as the years go on, and the projects get more and more ambitious, that gets truer and truer.

It also sounds like it nearly cost a veteran Marvel star his role whenever he was still part of the franchise.

Frank Grillo reveals Marvel "almost fired" him over accidentally leaking news

Actor Frank Grillo has revealed that Marvel "almost fired" him for nearly leaking news about the MCU movies he appeared in. That's one of the reasons why he always struggles to answer questions about these major franchises as he never wants to lie.

The actor, who has now joined Peter Safran and James Gunn's DC Universe as Rick Flag Sr., recently spoke to ComicBook.com ahead of his debut in the role on Max's animated series Creature Commandos this December. The outlet reveals that he was "hesitant" to say too much about the role as doing so during his time with Marvel nearly cost him his MCU role. He said:

"I’m so bad at this. Marvel almost fired me 36 f-ing times because I don’t know, I never want to lie… But I've been warned."

Grillo portrayed the character of Brock Rumlow in the MCU, appearing in the movies Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Captain America: Civil War. The character, also known as Crossbones, was killed when he detonated a bomb that the Scarlet Witch attempted to divert from a crowded area. Grillo would, however, reprise his role in 2019's Avengers: Endgame, which brought about an end to the Infinity Saga.

While Grillo was great in the role, fans have often felt that Crossbones was somewhat underutilized in the MCU and could have been a much stronger villain, especially after The Winter Soldier set up his return extremely well.

His comments certainly reflect how seriously Marvel takes keeping its storylines under wraps until the release of each respective project because, again, this isn't the first time we've heard of actors struggling to avoid answers about those projects. Some of the franchise faces, such as Mark Ruffalo (who plays the Incredible Hulk) and Tom Holland (who portrays Spider-Man), have notoriously spoiled plot developments by accident.

They also joke about how they are afraid that they will do it again, so Marvel tends to send them scrips with redacted information. And they aren't the only actors who joke about Marvel, with actresses such as Elizabeth Olsen and Emilia Clarke pointing out how seriously they take the security of their storylines, and that goes to show how passionate they are about the fans enjoying their projects entirely unspoiled.

Grillo now joins the DCU in the role of Rick Flag Sr., starting with voicing the character in Creature Commandos. But the role also extends to the live-action properties of the franchise, as he will appear in both the Gunn-directed Superman and Peacemaker season 2.