Marvel Studios' Disney Plus TV initiative has paid off extraordinarily well in a year without cinema. Following the acclaimed release of WandaVision, the studio quickly followed up with the release of Falcon and the Winter Soldier. After the strangeness of WandaVision, FATWS was a typical Marvel storyline that introduced Anthony Mackie as Captain America.
Despite Marvel's previous attempts to move the MCU to TV, the studios' newest series have real ramifications on the franchise's future. While some were anxious to see the franchise change things up, the lack of theatrical releases made Marvel TV more important than ever.
Anthony Mackie on FATWS
Fans weren't the only ones scared of the MCU transitioning to TV. In a new interview with the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, Anthony Mackie revealed that the process was daunting for the actor. Mackie explained that he was concerned that the TV show quality wouldn't be as high as that of Marvel movies.
Anthony Mackie explained that he was of being the “guy in the first Marvel project that sucked”.
"It was nerve wracking. I was very shocked and afraid. I didn’t want to be the guy in the first Marvel project that sucked. So I didn’t know what to make it of it. But once we got into it, and they promised me that they were gonna keep the same level of work that we’d been doing on the movie screen, from the movie screen to the television screen. I got excited about it.
"Once Kari and Malcolm were put on this show, I got excited about it. I think everybody was kind of weird about what was going on, it was so secretive. Sebastian and I had our meetings on the same day, and it was like ‘So, what’re you going in for? I don’t know what you’re going in for.’ I thought it was gonna be a disaster, especially putting me and Sebastian together and letting us go."
Transcribed by The Direct
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The actor hated the show's pitch
During the interview, Mackie explained that he originally hated Marvel's pitch for Falcon and the Winter Soldier. After the end of Avengers: Endgame, Mackie felt confused about Sam turning down the shield. The actor said:
"We never talked about that when the pitch of the show came about. It was more about the continuation of what was gonna happen with the shield, if it was gonna be Bucky or if it was gonna be Sam. At the end of Endgame, Sam didn’t accept the shield, he told Steve ‘It feels like this is someone else’s, it feels like it’s yours.’ So at no point in time was he excited or looking forward to the idea of becoming Captain America.
"It was more so Kevin and Nate telling me ‘We’re not sure what’s happening, so the show will be more about the idea or the archetype of Captain America, not you becoming Captain America.’ So I was really confused leaving out of the meeting, and I wasn’t excited either. I hated the idea, I thought it was gonna be an awful idea!"
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