Speaking to Total Film (via CBM), Marvel Cinematic Universe newcomer Anthony Mackie has discussed his role as Sam Wilson – a.k.a. Falcon – in the upcoming superhero sequel Captain America: The Winter Soldier, discussing how his character gets his name, and revealing that his costume is set to evolve in future Captain America sequels.
“The Air Force had a specialty group,” said Mackie on the origin of the name Falcon. “Like the Navy SEALs. But instead of giving them the ability to quietly go in and manoeuvre through hazardous territories, they gave them the ability to fly. It’s a lot of me on wires screaming and them saying ‘Action’ and me flying around. I’m deathly afraid of heights, they always say, ‘Oh, we’re just gonna take you this high.’ Then they take me and swing me… It’s 10 times tougher performing with wings. I’m like, ‘Wait, I’m the only dude that’s on strings? Everybody else gets to walk around or drive cars and I gotta fly?’ When we had our first conversation about the movie, my biggest statement to the Russos was, ‘You better not make me look like an idiot.’ That was my greatest fear. Even though I wanted to wear red spandex, I was hugely afraid of looking like a pigeon!”
Mackie then went on to discuss his suit, stating that: “As the Falcon aged [in the comics] and grew up, his uniform grew up. The uniform we have now is the uniform of an adult… The Ultimate look gives him a sense of purpose and makes him look like a badass. The wings can look funny at times, so you have to do something to combat that – at no point in time do you want him to show up on film and have people laugh. That’s what we’ve been able to find, between the tactical suit and the Ultimate suit. As the franchise goes on and you see more of me and Captain America, the suit will evolve into the Ultimate look, the hard-leather black look. The suit that he has in this movie is more of a military suit because it’s the first time you see it.”
And finally, he also expressed his interest in reuniting with the likes of Chris Evans (Captain America), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury) and Cobie Smulders (Maria Hill) in 2015’s The Avengers: Age of Ultron: ” “I call all of them at Marvel every Monday,” Mackie told Total Film. “I’m like, ‘So have y’all decided if I’m in Avengers 2 yet? I’ll get on the bus to Albuquerque tomorrow!’ I wanted to be a superhero from the first day that I started in this business, and to have the opportunity to be a superhero is kind of remarkable. If I get the opportunity to be in The Avengers 2, 3, 7 and 18, there’s no way I would complain or balk at any part of that…”
Captain America: The Winter Soldier also stars Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes / The Winter Soldier), Hayley Atwell (Peggy Carter), Toby Jones (Arnim Zola) and Maximiliano Hernandez (Agent Jasper Sitwell) alongside franchise newcomers Emily VanCamp (Revenge) as Sharon Carter / Agent 13, Frank Grillo (Zero Dark Thirty) as Brock Rumlow / Crossbones, George St-Pierre (Death Warrior) as Georges Batroc / Batroc the Leaper, and Robert Redford (All Is Lost) as Alexander Pierce. The film opens in the UK on March 26th and in North America on April 4th.
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Originally published February 14, 2014. Updated December 13, 2019.
