Anthony Mackie Talks Falcon As Captain America Controversy

At this past weekend's Wizard World Chicago Comic Con, Captain America: The Winter Soldier stars Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan were in attendance, and were part of a fan Q&A session.

One of the questions fielded by Mackie concerned diversity in media, which led him to touch on The Falcon, his character from the film, becoming Captain America in the comics. Here's what he had to say:

"I think its social responsibility. I think it's our responsibility to stand up and say what we want. It think if you look at television in the past two years, it's becoming the decade of the female. Like, all these new shows with female leads. Even if you look at television, as well as cable, as well as films, there's been a resurgence, as far as the leading woman in Hollywood, which is great. And I think we're also at the point now…you know, it's interesting. When they announced that Falcon was going to be Cap in the comic book, and the Internet went crazy! 'Marvel and their liberal jargon, and stupid Marvel, and I'm tired of - Thor's a woman, and she's stupid.' But, the thing is that's so funny, the first Cap was a black dude. He was a Tuskegee Airman. And, before this, the Falcon was Cap once before. So, for you to say now, 'they're making him black because of Obama,' it's like, dude, you need to read, because you have no idea what you're talking about. And I feel like that kind of ridiculousness is what's holding us back, as a group of people who are trying to create something great in the name of art."

The original Captain America that Mackie is referring to is Isaiah Bradley, from the series Truth: Red, White and Black.

Mackie went on to discuss the matter further with Stan and the crowd, and brought up a very key point in the whole argument: "It's all make believe."

Captain America 3 opens May 6, 2016.