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This is a guy who knows how to pick a theme and stick with it.
Ex-CIA agent William Cross uses his espionage training and brainwashing technology to wreak havoc on superhumans with chaos as his goal.
When Marvel decided they had too many low-tier villains in their universe, they created the Scourge of the Underworld, a guy running around just killing off loser villains by himself; when DC decided they had too many low-tier villains, they created the Suicide Squad, a government-backed team where the characters could be put into dangerous situations and die. In-universe, this gave the villains a chance at redemption, in that it let them work off their prison sentences; out-of-universe, this gave the villains a chance at redemption, in that the writers could use the space and regular appearances to make them interesting characters who readers wanted to see more of. Crossfire is Deadshot minus Suicide Squad.
Originally created as a foe for Moon Knight (he and Marc Spector had been mercenaries together), Crossfire got shuffled to Hawkeye in the same miniseries where the Sky-Cycle originated, and he's honestly never looked back. He's the closest thing Hawkeye has to an archenemy. His left eye and ear are cybernetic, because one time his headquarters blew up with him inside it.
His costume was probably supposed to look intimidating,
with its blood-red body and the cross iconography everywhere, but honestly it just ends up making him look Swiss. Captain Switzerland, here to neutrally observe another super-battle! How else do you dress a guy named "Crossfire"? Well, I don't know, but then I'm also not a professional artist being paid to figure that out. It's a good thing he's from Wisconsin, though, and not a more "states' rights-y" part of the country, or a name like "Cross Fire" would lead you to expect that, at best, the colors on the costume would be reversed.
Most of the toy's costume details are painted on,
with only his belt being a new piece (sculpted, like the head, by May Thamtarana). On that looks like it would jab him in the dick every time he sat down. That does mean the carefully aligned stripes on this body will really only line up in one pose; any more than that, and you'll have to be choosy about what angle you view him from. This body has a balljointed head, hinged neck, swivel/hinge shoulders, swivel biceps, double-hinged elbows, swivel/hinge wrists, hinged torso, swivel waist, balljointed hips, swivel thighs, double-hinged knees, swivel shins, and swivel/hinged ankles, but you only need to worry about keeping the lines straight on his shoulders.
The toy includes an alternate pair of fists,
but you're never going to use them: he's not a physical fighter, he's a gun guy. To that end, he as the same sniper rifle Black Widow had, done in solid black with a white strap. There's also a yellow muzzle flare and dark grey gun smoke.
He also includes the left leg of this series' Build-A-Figure, Cassie Lang.
If you're wondering why a Hawkeye villain who originally came from Moon Knight is in an Ant-Man series, the answer lies in his civilian name: William Cross is the cousin of Darren Cross; you know, movie Yellowjacket. So he does relate to the theme of the series, just in a different way than you might expect. His crazy costume definitely makes him a "crowd filler" villain, but since we just got Clint and his hoverbike, it's cool the enemy he fought has also gotten his first-ever action figure.
-- 09/18/23
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