Over recent years we have seen a few batons passed on in the Marvel universe. Jeremy Renner passed the Hawkeye baton to Hailee Steinfeld while Florence Pugh inherited the Black Window mantel from Scarlett Johansson.
In the finale of Avengers: Endgame we saw Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) hand his Captain America shield to Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie). However, the move wasn’t as smooth as it had been for other characters. As explored in the The Falcon And The Winter Soldier television series Wilson didn’t feel comfortably taking on the role of Captain America and wanted to continue as The Falcon.
Now big screen fans of Marvel get to see where the inner turmoil of Wilson ended up as he finally takes the title of Captain America in Captain America: Brave New World. Recently I was able to sit down with Anthony Mackie to hear his thoughts on this latest chapter in the Marvel Universe.
The interview started with the question we all expected – what was it like for Anthony Mackie to finally take control of the role.
“The biggest thing for me, our first day on set, all these people I had known for over a decade now, and everybody just came up and said congratulations,” he says with a humbling tone. “You know, it’s weird. Like Bob Moore, who was my dresser, was my dresser on Captain America: Winter Soldier. And you know, Russell Bobbitt, who did props on every movie I’ve been on. You know, the Bobbitts did the props for Captain America: Brave New World. So, it was just like that family thing, where you see this character grow into fruition and get his moment to shine. So, I’m glad that, you know, I was able to do it with a host of stars and friends that I started with.”
Of course Sam and Steve are different characters so how did Anthony see his character evolve in the film?
“Well, this movie establishes Sam as his own being, his own entity or incarnation of Captain America,” he explains. “ And the fact that he’s never taken the serum, the fact that he’s every man’s Captain America, I think that’ll have an effect and will pay off greatly in the future of the franchise, because he can give the perspective of the regular guy, as opposed to the super guy. And I think that’s something with the character that’s unique and rare and that people, you know, can gravitate to and acknowledge and see themselves in.”
So does he see Sam and Steve as similar Captain Americas?
“I think Sam and Steve are similar in a lot of ways,” he says after thinking for a moment. “ I think that’s why Steve chose Sam to give the shield to, because of his distinct integrity and humanity. But you know, with Sam, there’s a certain level of compassion and understanding that comes into Sam Wilson because, remember when we met him, he was a counselor. He was a veteran. He was just a open book of intentions and goodwill. So, I think with that, you know, that informs who he is as Captain America and, you know, who he is as a human being. It takes a very compassionate person to be a listener and a counselor.”
“And, you know, Julius (the film’s director) and I have talked about that from the beginning,” he continues. “ How do we get that understanding, that compassion, and that caring into an action movie of this magnitude, to display how beautiful of a human being Sam Wilson is, as opposed to a brunt, a brute, a force of nature?”
To finish the interview Mackie is hit with the big question. What does he hope people will take away from the film where he becomes on of the most important pieces of the Avengers?
“I remember one day. Weirdly, we were on set and Kevin (Feige – Marvel Executive Producer) came and we were talking,” Mackie answers. “Kevin was like, you know, it’s gonna take some time. We were on set of Endgame. And Kevin said just honestly, it’s gonna take some time for people to get over Endgame. It’s gonna take us time to get over, as, you know, the cast and the crew. It’s gonna take us time to get over Endgame, because it was such a crescendo of emotion.
“It was such a unbelievable storm that we witnessed of just film excellence, culminating to that moment,” he continues. “And I think of Captain America: The First Avenger, which started all this. And it was a foundation. It was a building block that, you know, the MCU built and built and built to that amazing moment of Steve Rogers standing on that peak, looking out at Thanos’s army and all of us standing there with him, knowing that this was the end, you know? Like, the movie was called Endgame for a reason. It was the end the game, you know? And I feel like this movie, Brave New World, just like Captain America: The First Avenger, is that foundation, that building block to build to that next crescendo, massive moment in the MCU universe. And I just, I’m proud that we’re here at the beginning. Like, I’m proud to say that we’re that footprint that is at the beginning of that walk.
“And I feel like Marvel gave me the best crew, the best script, the best cast, the best opportunity possible for us to make the best movie we could,” he says finishing off. “And I’m just, I’m proud of it. Looking at all the stuff that they done before, and this being now, I’m just, I’m really proud of it. “
Captain America: Brave New World opens in cinemas this week.
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