Anthony Mackie and Tom Holland have been Marvel Cinematic Universe costars since the latter debuted as Spider-Man in Captain America: Civil War, and since then they’ve maintained an amusing faux feud akin to the dynamic Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman have. Among the more recent examples of this came in late June when Holland threw shade at Mackie’s golf skills, but he hasn’t been alone in doing this, as Samuel L. Jackson, a.k.a. the MCU’s Nick Fury, has also gotten in on this playful ribbing against the actor leading next year’s Captain America: Brave New World. Now Mackie has responded to the golf shade directed at him in a very on-brand way.
During an interview with IMDB, Anthony Mackie was asked where he thinks he ranks among the best golfers in the MCU. He didn’t waste any time hitting back at Tom Holland, who’d previously said that Mackie was “probably fucking terrible” at golf, while Jackson had once said that the Sam Wilson actor definitely isn't the cream of the MCU's golf crop. As Mackie put it:
Tom Holland talks a lot about it, but he don't hit the ball that far. We've played before and I out-drove him by 40, 50 yards. I'm not worried about him. Don Cheadle is sneaky good. The reason I started playing golf was because of Sam Jackson, so I've never been able to beat him. I could probably beat everyone except Sam. And Don is just too competitive, man. Don is the type of dude that'll put something in your bag to mess up your game just to sabotage you.
Hitting back against Holland would have been more than enough for Anthony Mackie, but I like how he also used the golf question to both compliment Cheadle’s golf game and acknowledge that the War Machine actor can get too competitive. With Samuel L. Jackson though, Mackie gave him nothing but props; along with the screen time shared between Sam Wilson and Nick Fury in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the two actors co-starred together in 2020’s The Banker, which can be watched with an Apple TV+ subscription.
But just because Anthony Mackie showed Samuel L. Jackson some respect doesn’t mean he’s getting complacent. As seen below, he’s determined to beat Jackson at golf… and of course he threw in another swipe at Tom Holland:
I'm going to beat Sam Jackson. And I know for a fact that I can beat Tom Holland, especially with my new clubs. I'm unstoppable.
Along with the aforementioned individuals, the lineup of MCU golfers also includes Kathryn Newton, who playfully challenged Tom Holland to a game after proclaiming herself to be the best golfer in the Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania cast and potentially even the entire superhero franchise. Months later, Holland went viral on TikTok for responding to the Cassie Lang actress’ claim and said he’d love to play with her. I feel like it’s only a matter of time before an MCU golf game, if not an entire tournament is organized, and that’s when Anthony Mackie will have the opportunity to prove he can walk the golf walk, and not just talk the talk. Whether he were to beat Holland or vice versa, we the fans win either way.
Following Sam Wilson officially becoming the new Captain America in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, we’ll see Anthony Mackie’s character back in action when Captain America: Brave New World opens on July 26, 2024. Although Tom Holland is set to reprise Peter Parker for the MCU’s fourth Spider-Man movie, it’s still in the early days of development and nowhere near close to getting a spot on the upcoming Marvel movies calendar.
