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The actor is proud to take over as Captain America, but has some thoughts about the character itself.
Anthony Mackie has strong feelings about the Captain America franchise, in which he now stars in under the titular role.
During a recent press event in Rome, Italy, held on Monday (Jan. 27), the actor expressed, “For me, ‘Captain America’ represents a lot of things and I don’t think the term ‘America’ should be one of those representations.”
Mackie explained, “It’s about a man who keeps his word, who has honor, dignity, and integrity. Someone who is trustworthy and dependable.”
The backlash came swiftly as commenters flooded Twitter/X with their takes.
“He just sealed the fate of this franchise,” one person tweeted. Another replied, “Strange take.”
“Well that’s sure to sit well with your American audience,” someone else wrote as another questioned, “What? Captain America shouldn’t represent America??”
Mackie, who took over the role from Chris Evans and made history as the first Black actor to portray Captain America, gushed over the moment. “This is kinda like an aspect of a dream coming true,” he told the crowd.
“All of us as actors, I believe, wanna get back to that day when someone told us ‘no,'” he shared. The New Orleans native shared an analogy of a five-year-old who imagines being the knight in shining armor and having to slay a dragon to save the princess in a tower.
“As an actor, I feel like our job is get back to the day where we see that dragon and we slay that dragon to save that princess and that’s kinda what [‘Captain America: Brave New World’] was for me,” he shared.
Mackie also spoke the importance of Black kids seeing representation in this way.
Per the New York Post, he stated, “Growing up, one of my favorite superheroes was green. It wasn’t about race or anything. It was about him being a good guy trying to do the right thing. It’s very important for kids of all races to be able to watch something and have someone to look up to no matter what they look like, and see that that package comes with a good human being as opposed to what they’ve been perceived as by everyone else.”
Evans played Captain America in 11 Marvel Cinematic Universe movies. His version ended when he went back in time at the end of Avengers: Endgame to live with the love of his life, Peggy Carter. He then passed the proverbial baton on to Mackie’s Sam Wilson.
Captain America: Brave New World hits theaters on Feb. 14.
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