If you're a breakout character from a very well off franchise, chances are you just might be invited to start a franchise of your own. However, don't expect Anthony Mackie to be saying yes to any standalone Falcon films anytime soon, as he's having too much fun working in a pack.
IGN spoke to Anthony Mackie during a recent interview promoting his latest film, Triple 9, and with Deadpool's success being a topic of much buzz, they asked if Sam Wilson might want to follow in the footsteps of that very X-Men character. Before much hope could be raised, Mackie shut that line of thinking down with the following reasoning:
I like going to work with good people. … To be able to go to work and meet these people and see the way they work and kind of delve into their process as well is really a learning experience for me. So I feel like when you go to work and it’s just you and it’s me - ‘Look at me, haha’ - it takes away from that. … I don’t know. That means my dudes are not going to be there. So Chris [Evans] is not going to be there. Sebastian [Stan] is not going to be there.
While Anthony Mackie could obviously carry an entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe alone, it's actually kind of refreshing that he's not interested in doing so – at least for the time being. His introduction in Captain America: The Winter Soldier was one of those moments where you realize just how strong the MCU can be when they cast top tier talent in supporting roles. And, admittedly, Sam Wilson / Falcon is one of those characters that we'd love to see blast off on his own, in an adventure that's so far removed from the normal course of Marvel films that it could serve as a gritty palette cleanser. Though while The Falcon could make a great side franchise in the Marvel canon, it also makes for great performances that play Mackie's talents off of his equally talented cast members. His big fight sequence in Ant-Man is pretty much the best evidence you can get to this effect, at least outside of a Captain America film.
This also feeds into another excellent reason that Anthony Mackie might want to stay away from a solo performance in the Marvel Studios spotlight: it frees up his schedule to do other projects. If Mackie were confined to appearances as The Falcon in his own line of films, he more than likely wouldn't have time to star in projects like The Night Before or All The Way. The deeper you go down Mackie's resume, the more you begin to sense that he's a bit of a restless spirit when it comes to his projects. Not only that, but if you look at the co-stars he's worked with, Anthony Mackie obviously likes working with as many interesting collaborators as he can.
Despite our own greedy wishes for a Falcon solo flight, we can't fault the man for doing what any good actor would do and keeping his options open. And while breaking Sam Wilson into his own slate of adventures would be satisfying, it would be kind of weird not seeing him with Chris Evans and Sebastian Stan. That association will only grow after seeing Captain America: Civil War, which will be hitting out theaters on May 6th. In the meantime, you can catch Anthony Mackie in Triple 9, when it's released next Friday.
