Captain America: The Winter Soldier is already set to be one of the biggest films of 2014, coming third in Marvel’s upcoming Phase Two, following Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World next year.

Chris Evans will be reprising his role as the patriotic superhero, and after Frank Grillo tweeted last week that he’d tested for a role, Variety are now confirming that he’s won the role of Crossbones, a key villain in the upcoming sequel.

““Captain America: The Winter Soldier” will pick-up where “Marvel’s The Avengers” leaves off, as Steve Rogers struggles to embrace his role in the modern world.”

As the subtitle points to, the film is set to bring Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes back, coming this time as the antagonist, The Winter Soldier.

Anthony Mackie will be joining the cast as Rogers’/Cap’s ally, The Falcon, with Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson, and Cobie Smulders expected to reprise their roles from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

There have also recently been rumours of the brilliant Mary Elizabeth Winstead joining the cast as the female lead, Sharon Carter, and hopefully we’ll have some confirmation on that soon, too.

Brothers Anthony and Joe Russo (Welcome to Collinwood, Arrested Development) will be directing the blockbuster, with a script from Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, who penned the first film.

In the meantime, it’s brilliant news that Grillo has signed on for the film. He was most recently seen in End of Watch (due out on 23rd Nov. in the UK), and will be seen in Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty before the year’s end, before Ruben Fleischer’s Gangster Squad in the New Year.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier is set for release on 4th April, 2014, with production scheduled to begin next year. We can’t wait. Roll on Spring 2014.