With the end of “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” revealing that Anthony Mackie has become the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s new Captain America, there has already been a lot of effects being felt in the culture. Captain America isn’t just Chris Evans, a handsome white guy. The character is now a Black man with no superpowers who brings a new perspective to the star-spangled hero.
Speaking in a new interview with Variety, Anthony Mackie talked about his new role as Captain America in the MCU and what he hopes the future might hold for Sam Wilson’s version of Cap. He began by talking about a story of a young Black special needs boy in Florida who was caught by his teacher doing pull-ups at a playground at school.
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“A friend of mine is a teacher down in Homestead, Florida, and she works with special needs kids,” Mackie said. “She’s like, ‘What are you doing? You’re gonna hurt yourself.’ And the kid tells her, ‘Well, Captain America looks like me now, so I need to get in shape, if he needs my help.’ And I thought that was the coolest thing.”
He added, “For this kid to see a six-hour series and get enough strength within himself to think that he needs to be prepared and ready, that made all of the work that we had to do to put it together worthwhile for me.”
But Mackie doesn’t want fans to think that he’s just “Black Cap.” That’s not what his version of the character represents. He pointed to a monologue in the final episode of ‘Falcon’ that showcased the unique side of his version of Captain America that he hopes to bring moving forward.
“The humanitarian side of him was something that I feel is his superpower, his ability to have empathy and sympathy for those around him is your superpower,” Mackie said. “So that monologue was about him showing that if one of us is mistreated, we’re all to blame. And that’s the overall theme of the new Captain America, not Black Cap, or Cap for the people, he’s Captain America for all.”
So, with Chris Evans out of the picture and Mackie taking over as Cap, the inevitable question is how long this will last? How long will the new Captain America exist in the MCU. Well, if Mackie has anything to say about it, there is a bit of a ticking clock that he is well aware of.
“I definitely don’t want to be a 55-year-old Captain America, so I’ve got a solid six to eight [years] in me,” the actor said.
While we don’t know how many films and TV series Captain America will appear in moving forward, we do know that Marvel Studios is working on “Captain America 4” right now, obviously with Mackie in the title role. That film doesn’t have a release date yet.