In the 181-minute runtime of Avengers: Endgame, there were plenty of surprising moments. But one of the ones that had people talking the most was the end of Captain America’s story. Not only did Steve Rogers travel back in time to change his own history, opting to stay in the past and live out his life with his beloved Peggy, but then he came back as an old man and decided to pass the shield over to his good friend, Sam Wilson.
Going into Endgame with the knowledge that Evans wouldn’t be returning, many fans were wondering who the next Cap would be. The two most fitting choices were Sam and Bucky, given that both went on to become Captain America in the comics. But Steve ultimately chose Falcon as his replacement.
Not too many headlines have been directed towards The Hurt Locker star following the film’s April release, but Mackie was asked about his new responsibility during a panel at Celebrity Fan Fest this weekend. Instead of answering the question head on though, he first went into a story about how the news was broken to him.
“We were shooting in Atlanta and Chris Evans had a bunch of us over to his house to watch a football game, because we all hate the Patriots and he loves the Patriots,” Mackie began. “He and I go downstairs and he’s showing me the house and he’s like, ‘So are you excited?’ I’m like, ‘I mean yeah, it’s gonna be a football game. I love football, I watch football every week, but I didn’t know you were this into it.’ And he’s like, ‘No, about the script. You haven’t read the scene?’ I was like, ‘No.’ So he jumps up, runs out of the room and back in with the script and hits me with the script. He’s like ‘Page 85! Read it! Read it!’ And he sits there like a kid watching [me read it].”
“It was a cool moment, the fact that usually they sit you down, and it’s Kevin Feige and all the producers and they’re like, ‘You’re gonna do this.’ But it was a cool moment that I got to learn it from one of my dear friends, instead of somebody else.”
So, how’s Mackie going to handle this role in the future? The 40-year-old actor went on to explain that he takes this responsibility very seriously, but also that he wants to take the character in a new direction.
“I love Chris. Chris is an amazing Cap,” he said. “And I feel like, what he’s been able to do with that character, very few people have been able to do in any cinematic universe or span of films. Because he’s played Cap for A LOT of movies. To take that over, to be a part of that, the legacy of that, is a huge challenge.
It’s something where a lot of people are going to expect me to be Chris Evans in the same suit, but a black dude. And that’s definitely not gonna happen.”
So, it sounds like Mackie’s Cap is going to be a bit of a departure from Evans’, which is certainly interesting to hear. But we want to know what your thoughts are. Tell us, are you looking forward to Mackie’s Captain America after Avengers: Endgame? Or do you wish the suit and shield would’ve stayed with America’s ass?