Falcon and the Winter Soldier Star Anthony Mackie Addresses Sam Wilson's Controversial Comics History

Anthony Mackie is addressing Sam Wilson's controversial comics history ahead of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. Marvel had a press conference before the Disney+ series got underway. For those who don't know, Sam Wilson used to be a street hustler earlier in his comics incarnation, before being "reformed" and becoming a sidekick to Captain America. That blaxploitation angle is kind of hard to see now, but Mackie sees it as an opportunity to improve on that bedrock. With the full focus of the MCU fandom, they're going to get their chance to explore both Sam and Bucky. The creative team will try to explore each man's unique past as it pertains to the larger universe. Maybe fans won't get a direct reference to "Snap Wilson", but they might get a better idea of who Falcon is apart from following Captain America into battle for the last decade or so.

The star began, "The idea of Sam Wilson, he's always evolved in the world of the Marvel comic books and now he's evolved in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. If you remember when Sam first started out, he was a hustler, and as African American culture evolved, Stan Lee evolved him into different iterations of himself. I'm exited for the world to see the new and improved version of Sam Wilson."

"The idea of Sam Wilson and the character and the evolution of what's now known as the Falcon, to be able to go back and dive into his backstory and his family and his surroundings only betters the character for the audience," Mackie added. "We're in a place now where we want the audience to know and learn these new characters especially since Kevin Feige killed Iron Man, we have to put ourselves in a position where we have to introduce these new characters to the audience and give them that relationship, that history they've built over 10 years, we now have 6 years to platy catch up, post-Blip."

For those who are still a little nervous about Sam Wilson's arc heading into The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Makcie says that the script is really great. In fact, the two characters overlap in one surprising way.

"It's always a surprise when the minds get together and the information trickles down to you. When I first read the script, I was really happy and acknowledged the fact from Louisiana, specifically, because that's the best state in the union and New Orleans is the best city in the world," Mackie gloated. "I had one request that if he was from Louisiana that I had to eat crawfish on camera. I don't know who said no but somebody said no!"

What would you like to see of Falcon's past in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier? Let us know down in the comments!