Anthony Mackie claims to be surprised just like the rest of us by the recent title change to Captain America: Brave New World. Formerly titled Captain America: New World Order, the fourth Captain America film will be the first starring Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson. Marvel Studios revealed the updated title earlier this month, with Mackie sharing a photo alongside co-star Harrison Ford. Of course, fans were caught by surprise to see New World Order change to Brave New World, but surely its headlining actor was aware of the change, right? Anthony Mackie recently set the record straight.
Inverse spoke to Anthony Mackie about his upcoming role in Peacock’s adaptation of the popularย Twisted Metal video game franchise, as well as Captain America: Brave New World. However, Mackie claimed innocence when it came to knowledge about the updated title. “I have no idea. They were like, ‘We’re changing the title.’ I was like, ‘All right, let’s do it.’ So that was it,” he said.
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Now, it’s totally possible Mackie is only pretending to not be aware of the reasons behind Captain America: Brave New World‘s title change. Marvel actors are simultaneously pros at not leaking any secrets regarding their projects, while also being kept in the dark by Marvel Studios. After all, Mackie said he didn’t know what role he was accepting when directors Joe and Anthony Russo first spoke to him about playing Sam Wilson in 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, though he was hoping to play Black Panther.
Anthony Mackie Talks About “Intimidating” Scenes With Harrison Ford
Marvel Studiosย is currently filming a bunch of projectsย that range from television to film, and fans are excited for the next wave of releases.ย Captain America 4,ย akaย Captain America: Brave New World,ย is one of those projects currently filming. Harrison Ford is taking over the late great William Hurt’s role as Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, and it’s already been revealed that there are some big plans for the character. Mackie has filmed with some of the greatest actors of all time during his tenure in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but filming with the likes of Ford may have been a little intimidating.ย
“The first day was so intimidating,” Anthony Mackie told Inverse. “I was so f*cking nervous I couldn’t remember my lines. He’s Harrison f*cking Ford. There is this aura about him. But he dispels that really quickly because he’s such a cool guy. He’s everything a movie star should be. He would say, ‘Let’s shoot this piece of sh*t.’ And everybody was like, ‘Yeah, let’s shoot this sh*t.’” Mackie can’t go into specifics about his scenes with Ford, but he notes that there are plenty of them. “We spent a good bit of time together. Ross and Cap have always had that relationship, where they were friends and they respected each other, but they always bumped heads. That’s their relationship in the storyline.”
Captain America: Brave New World now has a release date of July 26, 2024.