Anthony Mackie Thought He Would Be Playing Black Panther In The MCU

Anthony Mackie is best known as the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Sam Wilson--formerly Falcon, and now Captain America. But originally, he thought he would be playing Black Panther, the actor revealed in an interview with Inverse.

As Marvel's star rose in the late 2000s, Mackie began campaigning for the role he wanted to bring to life.

"I had been contacting Marvel a lot about Black Panther," Mackie 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*cking loved Black Panther."

Finally, Mackie got a meeting with Captain America: The Winter Soldier directors Joe and Anthony Russo and Marvel producer Nate Moore.

"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?' And that was it," Mackie explained. "I was like, 'You know what, I like y'all dudes. I'll do it. I'll go on this ride with you.'"

Mackie assumed at the time that the meeting was a response to his letter-writing campaign and that he would be playing Prince T'Challa of Wakanda.

"What other major comic book figure has enough presence to have his own movie? So when they hit me up and they were like, 'Yo, so it's Sam Wilson,' I'm like, 'Really?'"

Since then, Mackie has played Wilson in two Captain America movies, three Avengers movies, and his dedicated Disney+ series, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Captain America: Brave New World, formerly titled New World Order, is currently scheduled to hit theaters on July 26, 2024.