Anthony Mackie’s Falcon just got a big promotion in the MCU and his future is certainly an exciting one between all the goodbyes and uncertainty Endgame left fans with otherwise. But we're here now to discuss the past, as how the actor first got his foot in Marvel's door (or more fittingly his wings through Marvel’s window) is a surprising story. Rather than waiting for someone to contact him, he reached out to the studio via email first… and according to the actor, this is what he wrote:
My line was ‘Yo, I’m the black dude from The Hurt Locker. I would love to work with you guys.’
Okay, so there's a chance that wasn’t the word-for-word message Marvel Studios received from the actor, but what's certainly most significant is the fact that the message apparently worked – big time. Being able to name drop six-time Oscar winner The Hurt Locker to the folks over at the studio seemingly gave Mackie a nice boost, and all without mentioning that his work was primarily alongside fellow Avenger Jeremy Renner.
Anthony Mackie told Men’s Health that the email first nabbed him an audition for the role of Mandarin in Iron Man 3. Although he didn’t ultimately face off against Robert Downey Jr’s Tony Stark, since Ben Kingsley got the part instead, his screen test stuck in the minds of the folks at Marvel Studios. He was eventually invited to a lunch with Joe Russo and Captain America: Winter Soldier producer Nate Moore, and it was from this meeting that he fully started on his path to being cast as Falcon in the 2014 Cap sequel.
The actor said he first reached out to the studio simply because he always wanted to play a superhero, and he lucked out that he got a chance to play a character he already admired for much of his life. Mackie told the magazine,
Growing up, I’d always loved Falcon, because he was a comic-book hero who was black who didn’t have ‘Black’ in the title. He stood on his morals. He stood on who he was.
Since his debut, Anthony Mackie’s Falcon has appeared in six MCU films and is gearing up to star alongside Sebastian Stan’s Bucky in the upcoming Disney+ series Falcon & Winter Soldier (title change potentially pending) in 2020. Details about the streaming show are scarce, and it’s unclear if he’ll be suiting up as the new Captain America in the show - but word is Daniel Brühl’s Zemo and Emily VanCamp’s Sharon Carter will be a part of the cast.
While Anthony Mackie has recently described his future in the MCU as a “huge challenge” considering Chris Evans’ legacy as Captain America, he did get learn of the Endgame twist with the Captain America actor, and recalled how it all went down during the interview:
We were at [Chris Evans’] house and he goes, 'You excited?' And I go, 'What are you talking about?' and he goes, 'You don't know?' He jumps up, runs out of the room and comes back in with the script… We cried. We drank. We laughed. I am very happy I got that moment with Chris, for him to not only pass me the shield, but to tell me it was happening.
Following Avengers: Endgame, Marvel Studios will soon have Spider-Man: Far From Home in theaters - specifically next Tuesday, July 2nd. The film was apparently originally going to feature Mackie as Captain America in a cameo, but the producers decided against it to keep the film’s focus on Peter Parker stepping up without additional superhero help.
Of course, you can still catch Anthony Mackie in Avengers: Endgame, which is now getting an extended theatrical release that starts this weekend.
