With The Falcon and the Winter Soldier finally nearing its Disney+ premiere after being delayed by the pandemic, Anthony Mackie is tempering expectations about whether or not the series will see him officially don the mantle of Captain America. While sitting down with The Jess Cagle Show, Mackie downplayed fan assumptions that his character, Sam Wilson/Falcon, will take up the shield despite promotional imagery heavily implying that’s exactly what’s going to happen. Via Collider:
“We don’t know that yet. The show, the idea of the show is basically, you know, and at the end of Endgame, Cap decided he was going into retirement and he asked me if I would take up the shield, but at no point in time did I agree to or say that I would be Captain America,” and went on to enigmatically remark, “So, the show walks the line of who is going to take up the shield and who’s going to be Captain America if Steve isn’t coming back.”
What’s interesting about Mackie’s remarks is that back in March of last year, it was confirmed that The Falcon and the Winter Soldier will show Falcon becoming the new Cap. The person who confirmed that information? Anthony Mackie. The Marvel star stopped by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert where he opened up about the feeling of playing the first Black Captain America on the big screen.
“It is monumental, man. I mean… to have Marvel select a young Black man in America to represent the moniker of Captain America is is unprecedented,” Mackie said. “There’s nothing that can compare to that. There’s – it… it moves me not only that my kids get to see a Black man as Captain America, but all of their friends white, Black, Latino, and Asia can see a Black man as Captain America.”
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier starts streaming March 19 on Disney+.
(Via The Jess Cagle Show)