Anthony Mackie Found Out About Captain America 4 From A Grocery Store Checkout Guy

Anthony Mackie was apparently more shocked than anyone to find out that he's starring as the new Captain America in Captain America 4. That's because The Falcon and the Winter Soldier star found out the news from a grocery clerk, before getting official confirmation from the powers that be at Marvel Studios. In a new interview, Anthony Mackie gives a shoutout to a clerk named Dwayne who was up-to-the-minute on the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe updates (thanks to handy sites like this one!) and gave Mackie the heads up about Captain America 4 as soon as the news hit the Internet.

As Anthony Mackie explained to EW:

"I literally found out yesterday in a grocery store. The checkout guy named Dwayne, a cool cat, he's like, 'Yo, man. Is this real?!" [holds up a cellphone] "I'm like, 'I haven't heard anything.' That's what I love about working for Marvel. They call you, they're like, 'Come to L.A. We wanna tell you what's going on.' So, I'm excited to see what happens, but I haven't heard anything."

That sounds about right. Marvel Studios and its head Kevin Feige are by now infamous for their intense level of secrecy. It makes sense that they don't share anything over phone calls or digital correspondence when it comes to informing actors about what the next step for their character/career is going to be. No worries when the only info given out is done so face-to-face. After that, you always know who to blame for any leaks (looking at you Tom Holland, Mark Ruffalo...).

So far, we know that The Falcon and the Winter Soldier showrunner Malcolm Spellman will be co-writing Captain America 4 alongside Dalan Musson, who co-wrote Episode 5 of the series, "Truth". Many fans of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier felt that "Truth" was one of the best (if not the best) episodes of the entire series. Spellman, Musson, and the rest of TFATWS creators were able to mix Marvel fantasy with serious topics of race and American history, which has a lot of fans excited that Captain America 4 will similarly deal with the complicated milestone of a black man becoming Captain America, rather than leaning toward a more easy-going Marvel blockbuster formula.

We'd love to know what Anthony Mackie learns on his trip to LA, as Captain America 4 has any number of big developments that fans want to see.

All episodes of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier are now streaming on Disney+. Marvel Studios has not announced a director or release date for the as-yet-untitled Captain America 4.