Anthony Mackie Says He Originally Wanted to Play BLACK PANTHER In The MCU

Anthony Mackie has had quite a journey as Sam Wilson in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and that journey led him to take on the mantle of Captain America in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. He’s now currently shooting Captain America: Brave New World.

Well, it turns out that Mackie originally wanted T’Challa/Black Panther in the MCU. During a recent interview with Inverse interview, Mackie said that when he was growing up, “he f–king loved Black Panther.” He went on to say that he reached out to Marvel about the role:

“I had been contacting Marvel a lot about Black Panther. 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–king loved Black Panther.”

As you know, things ended up very different, and the late Chadwick Boseman landed the role of Black Panther. But, I think Mackie works great for the role of Sam Wilson, and it’s going to be interesting to see how his story arc continues to play out.

We don’t really know what the story for New World Order entails, but we do know that Harrison Ford’s Thaddeus Ross will be president of the United States. Mackie also previously discussed the role of Captain America and how his character is different from Steve Rogers and the rest of the superheroes in the MCU. He explained:

"Sam is the only character without superpowers. He's just a regular dude hanging out with a bunch of weirdos. Being from New Orleans, I've been in a few fights. And heart and charisma never helped me in a fight. That usually just got me beat up. So that might cause an issue when you go fight somebody like Thanos.

"So, I think with him, he has to come to the stage with a very different understanding of what it is to be a good guy or be a bad guy and what are the decisions that make you toe that line in the way that you did. So, I just see him as more of a humane Cap as opposed to a distinctive judge Cap -- [a] Cap of judgment, where this is right and this is wrong. There are decisions that make you choose right or wrong."

Julius Onah (The Cloverfield Paradox) is set to direct the film from a script penned by Dalan Musson and Malcolm Spellman, both of whom wrote for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Spellman will produce with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige.

Brave New World hits theaters on May 3, 2024. 024.