Credit: Marvel StudiosMarvel almost had a very different cast of characters going into Phase Two and Three.
Fans have come to love Steve Rogers’s sarcastic but loyal modern-day best friend, Sam Wilson, who’s had an incredible story arc of his own since debuting in the MCU in Captain America: The Winter Solider (2014). Sam became the Falcon, holding his own against the other Avengers throughout the lead-up to fighting Thanos in Avengers: Endgame (2019). Now, Sam has taken up the iconic star-spangled shield to become the next Captain America going into the next Phase of Marvel movies. It’s a character and a career movie that actor Anthony Mackie never saw for himself.
That’s not to say Mackie didn’t see himself as part of Marvel. In a new interview, Mackie claims that starting as far back as 2010, he started to reach out to Marvel, writing letters to them to try and convince them to adapt Black Panther. “I wanted to be Black Panther because growing up I f**king loved Black Panther,” he said, claiming that he had been contacting them “a lot.”
When Marvel finally did set up a meeting with him, they wouldn’t tell him what project they were working on or what character they wanted him for. Although cryptic, Mackie told them that he liked them and would “go on this ride with you.” He was flabbergasted when he found out that not only would he not be playing T’Challa, but that there were other Black characters Marvel was looking to bring into the MCU.
Although Sam Wilson started his MCU presence as Captain America’s sidekick, he’s more than grown into his own character and hero in his own right. Steve passed him the Captain America shield at the end of Endgame and he and Bucky starred in their own series on Disney+, which showed how they were dealing with the death of Steve and learning to work together while Sam struggles with donning the Captain America suit.
Now, Mackie will be donning the suit and shield again for the upcoming Captain America: Brave New World, which is set to release sometime next year. Chadwick Boseman, who donned the role of Black Panther for a solo movie and several team-up movies, lives on in the hearts of Marvel fans since his unfortunate passing in 2020 after a private battle with colon cancer.
Mackie’s desire to see Marvel adapt Black Panther became so much more than that, allowing him to have a bigger role in the MCU than his childhood could have ever dreamed up and featuring two major Black Marvel characters who have both amassed fans across the globe. It gives hope to other underrepresented minorities wanting to see themselves in superhero comics and movies, and proves that sometimes, the thing you want isn’t the best thing for you.
Are you excited to see Anthony Mackie take on the Captain America shield in the upcoming movie? Share your thoughts in the comments below!