There were plenty of massive surprises throughout the three-hour runtime of Avengers: Endgame. However, one of the moments that had people talking the most after it was over revolved around the ending of Captain America’s story. Not only did Steve Rogers travel back in time to change his own history, but he returned to the present to pass his shield and mantle onto his good friend and partner, Sam Wilson.
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Fans wondered for a long time whether the shield would go to Sam or Bucky, given that both went on to become Captain America in the comics at one point or another. Steve ultimately chose Falcon as his replacement, making actor Anthony Mackie the new Captain America.
During a panel at Celebrity Fan Fest over the weekend, Mackie was asked about this new responsibility, and how he learned that he would be getting the role of Captain America. The actor quickly went into a story about how Evans was the one who actually broke the news to him.
“We were shooting in Atlanta and Chris Evans had a bunch of us over to his house to watch a football game, because we all hate the Patriots and he loves the Patriots,” Mackie began. “He and I go downstairs and he’s showing me the house and he’s like, ‘So are you excited?’ I’m like, ‘I mean yeah, it’s gonna be a football game. I love football, I watch football every week, but I didn’t know you were this into it.’ And he’s like, ‘No, about the script. You haven’t read the scene?’ I was like, ‘No.’ So he jumps up, runs out of the room and back in with the script and hits me with the script. He’s like ‘Page 85! Read it! Read it!’ And he sits there like a kid watching [me read it].”
“It was a cool moment, the fact that usually they sit you down, and it’s Kevin Feige and all the producers and they’re like, ‘You’re gonna do this.’ But it was a cool moment that I got to learn it from one of my dear friends, instead of somebody else.”
So how is Mackie going to handle the responsibility going forward? The actor when on to explain that it’s a responsibility that he takes very seriously, but that he won’t play the role the same way Evans did.
“I love Chris. Chris is an amazing Cap,” he said. “And I feel like, what he’s been able to do with that character, very few people have been able to do in any cinematic universe or span of films. Because he’s played Cap for A LOT of movies. To take that over, to be a part of that, the legacy of that, is a huge challenge. It’s something where a lot of people are going to expect me to be Chris Evans in the same suit, but a black dude. And that’s definitely not gonna happen.”
Are you looking forward to seeing Mackie’s version of Captain America on the screen sometime soon? Let us know in the comments!
