Captain America Star Anthony Mackie Reveals “The Hard Thing” About Working in the MCU

Anthony Mackie details some of the harder aspects of working within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The actor portrays Sam Wilson, the former Falcon and new Captain America of the MCU. Steve Rogers passed on the mantle of Captain America to Sam Wilson in the final moments of 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, with Sam’s journey of becoming Cap continuing in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier series on Disney+. One of the new feature film projects is Captain America: Brave New World, with Anthony Mackie front and center opposite Harrison Ford’s Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, who is replacing the late William Hurt. Mackie is a 10-year veteran of the MCU, but even he admits there are parts of the MCU that make it hard.

“I would say the Marvel thing is completely different, just because it’s such a space of controlled entertainment,” Anthony Mackie told RadioTimes when asked if acting in the MCU prepared him for his role in the Paramount+ original series Twisted Metal. “Like, there’s only so much you can do. There’s only so much creativity you can bring to the table, because Stan Lee gave us so much content.”

He added, “Whereas with this [Twisted Metal], it was like, ‘There’s a guy and a girl… go!’ So we were really able to build the world around it.”

Captain America: Brave New World won’t include Sebastian Stan

The bromance between Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson and Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes has been one of the highlights of the Captain America franchise. After mostly being known for being sidekicks of Captain America, they both had character-defining arcs in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Naturally, Marvel fans assumed that Bucky would be a part of the Captain America: Brave New World cast, but according to Anthony Mackie, that isn’t the case.

In the same interview, Mackie revealed that his buddies Sebastian Stan and Daniel Brühl (Baron Zemo) aren’t a part of Captain America: Brave New World. “The Falcon and [the] Winter Soldier, I really enjoyed doing that show,” Mackie explained. “I was actually excited to do a second season, just so me and Sebastian [Stan] can get paid to hang out. Because it’s like me, him and Daniel Brühl. It’s kind of like the perfect storm of happiness.”

He added, “When they decided to go back to the movies, it is what it is, but I don’t have my friends anymore, so it kind of dampens it a little bit. Anything I can do to hang out with Daniel, a dancing Daniel Brühl, makes me very happy.”

Instead, fans will have to wait to see Sebastian Stan in Thunderbolts.