Anthony Mackie Confirms He Won’t Be the New Captain America

Marvel Studios had the entire D23 crowd in a lather on Thursday during the Disney+ panel. The Falcon and The Winter Soldier was a hot topic of conversation all-day, and Anthony Mackie just added some fuel to the fire with comments about what name his character will be called in the new series. Variety caught up with both he and Sebastian Stan to clarify why the show is called The Falcon and The Winter Soldier.

Mackie, in true Sam Wilson fashion, tried to play down any ideas that he would be dressed up like Captain Americathe next time fans saw him on camera. One fan even yelled out the character’s name while they were on stage during the presentation. The star just called her kind and didn’t really dwell on it. It sounds like The Falcon is here to stay even with that brand new shiny shield.

He said to Variety, “I am The Falcon, I will always be The Falcon. The moniker will stay the same.”

That seems pretty cut and dry like he won’t be the “new” Captain America. Instead, this would signal a sort of addition to his character as The Falcon rather than outright replacing Steve Rodgers. Mackie’s words here are sure to raise some eyebrows, but fans might have a reason to be skeptical of both stars and how they deflect these questions about the new shield bearer.

After all, as some had suspected in the wake of a Steve Rogers-less world, it looks like the upcoming Disney+ show will introduce one John Walker — probably more commonly known as U.S. Agent. Walker will be played by Wyatt Russell, of JJ Abrams’ Overlord . In addition to Russell joining the cast, both Daniel Brühl and Emily VanCamp have been confirmed to be reprising their roles as Baron Helmut Zemo and Agent Sharon Carter, respectively.

As the name suggests, U.S. Agent/John Walker was turned into a pseudo-Captain America experiment to work solely on behalf of the United States government. He did, however, make his comics debut as the supervillain Super-Patriot so it’s yet to be revealed if Russell’s take will be friend or foe to Captain America’s closest friends. As with most things at this stage in development, Marvel Studios remains pretty hush on the storyline, though Stan previously did tease what fans could expect.

“I think it’s time for Bucky to go out there and have an identity outside of the circumstances that we’ve met him through,” Stan said. “So, I don’t know, he might do all kinds of things. He might even go on a date. I don’t know. Scary world out there, you know? Apps, things like that. I don’t know what he’s gonna do. I can’t see him on an iPhone…I think it’s gonna be a lot of dealing with Anthony’s character and Anthony himself which is always another character.”

Do you think Falcon should be the new Captain America? What Disney+ show are you looking forward to most? Share your thoughts in the comments below!