Anthony Mackie Originally Thought The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Was Going to Be Like the Old-School Batman

WandaVision has officially begun on Disney+, which means The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is not far behind. The second Marvel Cinematic Universe series to hit the streaming service will debut in March and follow Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson/Falcon and Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier. The show is also expected to feature Captain America: Civil War's Sharon Carter (Emily VanCamp) and Helmut Zemo (Daniel Brühl) as well as new "interesting characters" Flag Smasher (Erin Kellyman) and U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell). Mackie recently had a chat with Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast and revealed he was originally hesitant about the whole idea after Horowitz asked, "When did you first hear the rumblings about this? When did they tell you that this was in the plans?"

"Right after we wrapped Endgame," Mackie explained. "After the big party premiere splish-splash, you know, I have a meeting with everybody and they're like, 'We're going streaming and you're gonna be in a streaming show.' and I was like…" Mackie must have made a face because Horowitz chimed in in, "Not so thrilled at first?"

"'Really?' Because you think there's no way Marvel would be able to keep the level of sophistication, quality… there's no way you'll be able to do the exact same thing on television," Mackie continued. "So basically, I thought this show was gonna be like the old school Batman. Like with the 'pow,' I thought it was gonna be like some sh*tty or, you know, some of the other shows where it's like soap operas and stuff. The quality of our show with the acting, with the scripts, with the development of the characters, everything is so high level so high brow, I didn't think there was any way Marvel would be able to carry that on to television."

Horowitz also asked if The Falcon and the Winter Soldier feels more episodic or like a movie and Mackie said it's "a great mixture of both."

"This phase is very different than the first phase. There are a lot of interesting characters that they're bringing to life and a lot of different things that will be happening that people won't expect," Mackie told ET Canada ahead of his new Netflix movie Outside the Wire. "I'm excited to see the audience's reactions to everything."

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier premieres Friday, March 19, only on Disney+.