Anthony Mackie opens up on 'overwhelming' fan response on him becoming next Captain America
'Avengers Endgame' ended on a bittersweet note. After the death of Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr), Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) decided to live out his life with Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell).
The film ended with him passing the shield to Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), as Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) watched. Mackie and Stan will return in 'The Falcon And The Winter Soldier' this year, which will focus on their characters teaming up.
Mackie spoke to The Daily Beast about the reaction to the reveal from 'Avengers: Endgame' that he's the next Captain America. "The response has been really overwhelming. I feel like it’s calmed down some now, but the movie still has this iconic place in our generation, because people were so affected by it," he said.
He continued, "I was in Vancouver shooting Altered Carbon when Endgame came out. My stuntman, whom I’ve worked with forever and who did 'Endgame' and was also doing 'Altered Carbon', got us Thursday night tickets to the first screening. We go to the screening, and it’s midnight, and everyone’s tired and quiet. Then Tony Stark dies and you just hear people openly weeping in the theater. You never expect to have that effect on people. But you have adults openly affected by these characters. I think it says a lot about what Joe and Anthony [Russo] were able to do as directors, and what Robert Downey Jr. has been able to do as an actor for the past 15 years."
Mackie revealed that the shooting process for 'The Falcon And The Winter Soldier' has been intense and that it is deserving of the Marvel Studios banner. "I feel like, if we’re going to fail, we should fail 100 percent. Don’t fail halfway. But it’s been fun, man. There’s so much stuff going on in the Marvel Universe since Disney has gotten involved, and we have a really supportive team. It’s Victoria [Alonso] and Louis [D’Esposito] and Kevin [Feige] and all the other guys over there—we always have people we can talk to if we feel like stuff isn’t going right. So it’s been great. We’ve definitely stumbled a few times, but we’re running full steam ahead to get these shows done."
'The Falcon And The Winter Soldier' will release on Disney+ this year.
