Mackie deserves the best of Marvel Studio creatives

The best way to embark on a Brave New World is by taking a first step forward. For Mackie and the MCU, they need it to be a positive one.

" I said no a bunch, and every time I said no, I woke up the next morning so happy and content. I kept saying no; they kept coming back. And eventually I was like, 'You know what? This is your biggest fear—this is exactly what you have to do,” said Chris Evans in an interview with GQ on accepting the role of Steve Rogers in “Captain America: The First Avenger (2011).” It is a little mind-blowing to consider how much has happened in the 14 years since then for Evans, the MCU, and pretty much everything else.

Being 11 years old at the time, I was as far away from understanding the cultural fervor surrounding the bold casting of Evans. I thought picking a girl I liked in pickup basketball at recess was the best way to express how much I liked them. Or having a package of Pop-Tarts a day was, you know, the only way to get the day off to a firing start.

The recent emergence of the Pop-Tarts Bowl does give my 11-year-old self some vindication, but I digress. The point is that we had no idea what anything would be like in 2025 back in 2011.

Especially the future representation of Captain America in film.

Granted, this is not the first time we are witnessing Anthony Mackie as Captain America on-screen (that would be the Disney+ series “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” from 2021). However, we will soon see him for the first time as a leading character in “Captain America: Brave New World.” For many, this will be the first time they see Captain America not as the oh-so-familiar Chris Evans.

Momentously, it will be the first time some viewers see Captain America played by a Black man.

Admittedly, I am not a resident MCU or comic book fanatic. I have watched many of their movies in a casual, “way to pass time” type of setting. There seems to be a lot going wrong for the MCU “post-Endgame” as of late. The decision to cast Mackie as their “North Star” for the next decade is one of the few correct choices they have made.

The best thing Marvel can do for its future and Mackie is to release a good movie. It is that simple. The best way to embark on a Brave New World is by taking a first step forward. For Mackie and the MCU, they need it to be a positive one.

For me, I am more than delighted to see Mackie continue to ascend as he gets deeper into his acting career. I still remember his role in 2006’s “Half Nelson” in a very fond manner. He has the acting chops and the persona on-and-off the screen to take the Captain America mantle.

Rightfully, the Marvel machine is not shying away from the momentous casting decision either. For months now, I have watched trailers for the upcoming film. The viewer will hear Harrison Ford as President Thaddeus Ross in the film telling Mackie’s character, “You may be Captain America, but you’re not Steve Rogers.” Where then the camera pans to Mackie, and he states in such a matter-of-fact way, “You’re right. I’m not.”

The plainness. The lack of flare or outward animosity from Mackie in that response. The notion this is not the first time Mackie has said this aloud or inside his head.

It is a bit of a lay-up to point out the fact that Ford in this film is playing a White, older, traditional president. He, like many, is quick to haphazardly call out the change from Evans to Mackie. And Mackie knew the conversation around him being Captain America would be as important off-screen as it is on-screen.

“The expectations of what comes along with this role is something that nobody talks about [...] When I walk out of this hotel, I don’t walk out of this hotel as Anthony Mackie. I walk out of this hotel as Captain America,” said Mackie in a recent sit-down with Esquire. Certainly, a man who understands where he is now in the culture.

Perhaps a bit unfamiliar to fans of the MCU, Mackie does seem adamant on how he envisions his future as Captain America. In the grand scheme of the MCU, Mackie represents the future. After many years of being a side character, he is now, deservingly, the centerpiece.

As we head into the future of Mackie as Captain America, I cannot help but think of the emergence of Chadwick Boseman as the Black Panther. Similarly, Chadwick Boseman first appeared as Black Panther as a side character before his eventual starring role in “Black Panther.” And in an even more comparable fashion, we saw both of these men with successful careers outside of the MCU orbit.

For a litany of reasons, including the character arc of Boseman’s T’Challa and the brilliance of director Ryan Coogler, the future for Boseman and the Black Panther character had as high of a ceiling as any figure in the MCU. Mournfully, we never quite saw those proverbial heights of Boseman as the Black Panther. We will never see what the MCU could have become with Boseman as their driving force.

One could say that the first Black Panther movie signaled the beginning of the end for the best of the MCU. What is important to remember is that the creatives at Marvel Studios have prior success in elevating their Black talent.

Mackie has already cemented a career that 99% of actors would want. Now it is his time to receive the plaudits as a leading man.

Like Evans before him, Mackie is well aware of the possible perils and backlash that come with playing the iconic Captain America. He also knows that he has no idea what the future has in store — which is part of the excitement.

For Mackie, the pressure is twofold. The duty is now with the creative team at Marvel Studios to ease the concerns surrounding Mackie as Captain America and the MCU’s future.