John Boyega Praises Marvel Studios for Elevating Diverse Characters

Star Wars actor John Boyega had some praise for Marvel Studios as they elevate some of their diverse characters. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier brought Sam Wilson into the legendary moniker and the Sequel Trilogy star was happy to see it. He appeared on NPR’s Fresh Air to talk about his career and the perception of some of those characters. Finn was featured in a lot of Star Wars promotional materials when The Force Awakens was revealed to the world. However, some fans and the actor himself believed that he had a diminishing role as the trilogy continued. Well, Boyega is glad to see the same thing isn’t happening like that over at Marvel Studios. He explained his position to Ira Glass.

“The characters are only as good as the moments that you give them,” Boyega began. “When we talk about, you know, Captain America and him kind of facing off Thanos and his army, when you talk about these moments that are given to characters, it’s only because these moments are written by somebody. These moments are put in there on purpose to elevate characters.”

“We’ve got people now watching Falcon And The Winter Soldier, and a lot of people have been commenting about the elevation of Falcon’s character – right? – in the series and how they’ve really done well with bringing him up, which I also agree as well,” he continued. “You know, and we can see there is – that’s because you give characters these special moments, you know. But then what then happens when, you know, some moments feels like you’re being bypassed and it kind of goes for years and years and things pile on?”

In some previous comments, Anthony Mackie explained the struggle his character had to accept the mantle of Captain America.

“Well, because the shield belongs to Steve, and you know, Sam got into this because of his relationship with Steve. Sam wasn’t waiting in the wings, hoping and waiting to become Captain America,” Mackie elaborated. “The whole goal and idea was to save the world with Steve. So if he’s Cap, that means Steve is no longer with him,” Mackie added. “So, it takes the fun out of it. You know, the idea of being a superhero and being Captain America as a Black man, representing a symbol that for 500 years, has literally enslaved, downtrodden, and persecuted you people is a harsh reality to try and come to grips with.”

Do you think we’ll see even more legacy heroes in Phase 4? Let us know in the comments!