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Still, it’s also about the future and what we can look forward to for our kids to experience in this country.”įather to four boys, Mackie has already gotten a taste of the youth reaction to his tenure as Cap. So the idea of being Captain America recognizes all of the hardships and things that Black men and women have gone through in this country. “It’s something that needs to be rectified and healed. “The relationship between America and African American men is a very tumultuous, abusive relationship,” says Mackie. Burdened with the understanding that his position as Captain America will be objectionable to those more comfortable with his blond, blue-eyed predecessor, the character debates becoming the symbolic representation of a nation where people of color remain targets. I don’t know if anyone but Malcolm would have had the balls to do that.”īradley represents the abuses of the past, but it’s through Wilson that the complexities of being a Black man in 2021 are illustrated.
Captain america falcon series#
The fact that we have Isaiah Bradley in this series and everything he meant not only to the history of America and the forming of Captain America is monumental. “I don’t know if anybody else would have had the balls to do that. “I was blown away by it-Malcolm went in deep on these characters,” he says. Connecting to the news cycle within the fantasy of a world rife with Norse gods and time travelers could have been problematic, but Mackie credits screenwriter Malcolm Spellman for the series’ nuanced handling of real-world issues. government’s history of experimenting on Black bodies. Race informs every arc, whether it’s referenced via the indignity of Wilson getting pulled over by police for walking while Black, or through the struggles of Isaiah Bradley, a World War II–era super-soldier whose story directly parallels that of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study and the U.S. When you take the and spin it on its head, what do those conversations look like?”Ĭomics have a long history of social commentary- X-Men’s allusions to the HIV crisis, Black Panther’s debut at the height of the civil rights movement-and Falcon and the Winter Soldier’s exploration of America’s history of white supremacy continues that tradition. “I have four little Black boys, and now they’re also going to have a conversation with their white, Asian, and Latino friends. Now you have white kids who will look up to a Black Captain America,” Mackie told me via Zoom.
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Representation has become a media priority, but it’s still relatively rare for Black and Brown performers to serve as leads in tentpole franchise films, making Mackie’s ascension to de facto Avengers leader meaningful for the actor and audiences. It ends (spoiler alert) with Wilson stepping up to become the new Captain America and the first Black man to take up the mantle in a live-action production. This March, Mackie and his character graduated from his wingman post and took the lead in the Disney+ breakout miniseries Falcon and the Winter Soldier. The show, which ended its first season earlier this month, explores what it means to be a modern hero and a person of color in 2021. Falcon, the Air Force veteran turned superhero, who has served as a fan-favorite supporting player within the Avengers roster. For seven years and six films, he’s portrayed Sam Wilson, a.k.a. Over the last two decades, he’s defused bombs in Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker, rap battled Eminem in 8 Mile, and been a consistent scene-stealer in the movies and television shows that comprise the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Even if you aren’t familiar with his comic alter ego, Anthony Mackie is a familiar face.