If Marvel Cinematic Universe fans can embrace and accept giant green rage monsters, Norse gods, various aliens of all shapes and sizes, a talking space raccoon, a sentient tree and Benedict Cumberbatch in a fake goatee teaming up to save the universe, then there’s no real reason why they wouldn’t be fully on board with a black Captain America.
It’s not as if the franchise is tearing up the playbook given that Sam Wilson first donned the star spangled costume in the pages of Marvel Comics back in 2014, which was ironically when Anthony Mackie made his MCU debut in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, so a lot of folks have known for a long time where his character arc was ultimately heading, especially when Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers handed over the shield at the end of Avengers: Endgame.
The transition was admittedly made much easier by having Sam take it back from an all-round asshole like Wyatt Russell’s John Walker, instead of stepping directly into the shoes of a wholesome hero such as Steve. And in a new interview, Mackie revealed that he hasn’t experienced any sort of negativity or pushback since he officially assumed the role in the finale of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
“But you know as soon as you take that shield from the white dude, there’s a lot of people that are gonna be like, ‘Oh, you’re getting the shield just because you’re a black man, you’ve got the shield now because… Why the black man gotta have a shield?’. You get what I’m saying? What’s been interesting, and I expected to have those conversations, I expected that to be the internet buzz, but I haven’t received that or seen that at all. Like, you know, it’s easy for us to look at the news and look at what’s going on and say, ‘All people are bad, the world is going to sh*t’, but the reality of it is, most people are good people, you know.
And a lot of people are really excited about the idea of the Falcon becoming Captain America and what that means not only in the cinematic universe and the comic book universe, but in our true reality. Because it gives a younger generation a different perspective and a different way to look at the world. And that’s what’s cool and that’s what I’m so excited about.”
Unfortunately, if you dig deep enough on the internet, you’ll probably find plenty of backlash for a number of reasons, but Sam Wilson is Captain America now, and he will be for a long time seeing as his solo debut was announced to be in active development just a few hours after The Falcon and the Winter Soldier concluded. So, whether folks like it or not, it seems the new Cap is here to stay in the MCU.