Anthony Mackie on The Falcon and The Winter Soldier's MCU Impact

The Falcon and The Winter Soldier will not only be the first Marvel Studios show on the Disney+ streaming service but it will also be one of the earliest stories in the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Phase 4. The show directly follows Black Widow, which is a prequel. This means The Falcon and The Winter Soldier is the first entry to the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe following Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home. The Falcon himself Anthony Mackie recognizes this pressure but is not scared, promising they are taking a big swing at the future of the MCU.

Mackie says it is "not at all" daunting to to play a vital part in the next phase. "I feel like, if we're going to fail, we should fail 100 percent," he told DailyBeast. "Don't fail halfway. But it's been fun, man. There's so much stuff going on in the Marvel Universe since Disney has gotten involved, and we have a really supportive team. It's Victoria [Alonso] and Louis [D'Esposito] and Kevin [Feige] and all the other guys over there—we always have people we can talk to if we feel like stuff isn't going right. So it's been great. We've definitely stumbled a few times, but we're running full steam ahead to get these shows done."

As it turns out, Mackie went through quite a bit of training for The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, so his confidence is certainly not without a firm foundation to stand on.

As the story goes, Mackie's Sam Wilson inherited the iconic Captain America shield from Steve Rogers in the final moments of Avengers: Endgame. According to the actor, such a prop might be common in upcoming entries to the MCU. "The funny thing about the shield training is, I feel like everyone has had shield training," he said. "I went by WandaVision, and there was a random shield. I was like, everyone's getting shield training now!" The Falcon and The Winter Soldier is filming on the same lot outside of Atlanta as WandaVision.

Are you excited to see The Falcon and The Winter Soldier take us into the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Share your thoughts in the comment section or send them my way on Instagram and Twitter!

Mackie is currently starring Altered Carbon's second season on Netflix. The Falcon and The Winter Soldier hits Disney+ in August.