Not Falcon, but Anthony Mackie wanted to play this superhero role in MCU world

Anthony Mackie wanted to be the Black Panther of the Marvel world! Way before Mackie took on the mantle of the new Captain America in the Marvel universe, he wanted to play King T'Challa. But unfortunately, playing the Black superhero was not in his luck.

During an interview with Inverse, Anthony revealed that after he started getting noticed in the industry, he decided to write to Marvel to make a movie about Black Panther.

"I had been contacting Marvel a lot about Black Panther," he said. "I had written them letters. I was trying to find a way to make them make Black Panther. And I wanted to be Black Panther because growing up I f*****g loved Black Panther."

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Further, Mackie recalled his first meeting with Marvel producer Nate Moore and directors Joe and Anthony Russo. And, how the director duodid offer him a role butrefused to disclose the role to the actor in their first meeting.

"I’ll never forget, Joe Russo said, ‘Listen, so we’re doing this movie. We want you to be in it. We can’t say what character you’re playing or who else is going to be in it. Would you do it?’ " Mackie told. "And that was it. I was like, ‘You know what, I like y’all dudes. I’ll do it. I’ll go on this ride with you.’ "

No one disclosed to Mackie the role he was going to play in the MCU world until a few weeks later. Nevertheless, he got the offer to join the superhero world, but as Sam Wilson, not Black Panther.

Recalling his shocking reaction when he came to know about his superhero role, the actor said, "What other major comic book figure has enough of a presence to have his own movie?" Mackie said. "So when they hit me up and they were like, ‘Yo, so it’s Sam Wilson,’ I’m like, ‘Really?’"

Marvel made the Black Panther movie with the late actor Chadwick Boseman. The movie was a blockbuster hit.

Anthony Mackie made his Marvel debut in 2014 with The Winter Soldier. He went on to play the character in films like - Ant-Man (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019).

He finally got the lead role in the 2021 series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, after he was confirmed as the new Captain America. He's all set to play the role in the upcoming film, Captain America: Brave New World.

Talking about leading the Marvel movie for the first time, the actor said, "There’s a huge amount of pressure.''

''You throw my dumb ass in the water, and you’re like, ‘Swim.’ I’m like, ‘S**t.’ But at the same time, it’s all in the state of mind. I’ve been given a great cast. I’ve been given a great group of people who I’ve worked with before,'' he added.

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