Anthony Mackie Talks Replacing Chris Evans As The New Captain America

Captain America Chris Evans Anthony Mackie Falcon Winter Soldier

Anthony Mackie dished on taking up the mantle of Captain America following the exit of Chris Evans and teased a very different take on the Marvel superhero than what we’ve seen before.

Over the weekend, Anthony Mackie dropped by Celebrity Fan Fest in San Antonio, Texas, when he was asked about stepping up to the plate to replace Chris Evans as Captain America and the way in which he discovered the responsibility Marvel was going to bestow upon him. Anthony Mackie explained:

“We were shooting in Atlanta and Chris Evans had a bunch of us over to his house to watch a football game, because we all hate the Patriots and he loves the Patriots,” Mackie began. “He and I go downstairs and he’s showing me the house and he’s like, ‘So are you excited?’ I’m like, ‘I mean yeah, it’s gonna be a football game. I love football, I watch football every week, but I didn’t know you were this into it.’ And he’s like, ‘No, about the script. You haven’t read the scene?’ I was like, ‘No.’ So he jumps up, runs out of the room and back in with the script and hits me with the script. He’s like ‘Page 85! Read it! Read it!’ And he sits there like a kid watching [me read it].”

Anthony Mackie went on to explain how grateful he was to learn the news from Chris Evans himself, rather than Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige and the film’s producers:

“It was a cool moment, the fact that usually they sit you down, and it’s Kevin Feige and all the producers and they’re like, ‘You’re gonna do this.’ But it was a cool moment that I got to learn it from one of my dear friends, instead of somebody else.”

Taking it further, Anthony Mackie teased what to expect from his upcoming turn as Captain America, and promised a very different approach to the character than what we’ve seen from Chris Evans:

“I love Chris. Chris is an amazing Cap. And I feel like, what he’s been able to do with that character, very few people have been able to do in any cinematic universe or span of films. Because he’s played Cap for A LOT of movies. To take that over, to be a part of that, the legacy of that, is a huge challenge. It’s something where a lot of people are going to expect me to be Chris Evans in the same suit, but a black dude. And that’s definitely not gonna happen.”

You can check out the panel with Anthony Mackie, Benedict Wong, and Lee Pace in the video below!

Anthony Mackie is set to reprise his role as Sam Wilson in a new Disney+ series Falcon and the Winter Soldier with Sebastian Stan. The highly-anticipated show is expected to begin filming this fall. Anthony Mackie can last be seen as Falcon alongside Chris Evans as Captain America in Avengers: Endgame. Here’s the official synopsis:

The grave course of events set in motion by Thanos that wiped out half the universe and fractured the Avengers ranks compels the remaining Avengers to take one final stand in Marvel Studios’ grand conclusion to twenty-two films, “Avengers: Endgame.”

Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, Avengers:Endgame stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo,  Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Paul Rudd, Brie Larson, Karen Gillan, Danai Gurira, Benedict Wong, Jon Favreau, Bradley Cooper, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Josh Brolin.

Avengers: Endgame is now playing in theaters!

Source: YouTube

Michael Mistroff

Michael Mistroff

News Editor, Film/TV Reporter at Heroic Hollywood.