Marvel’s “Captain America: Brave New World” launches Anthony Mackie’s feature film takeover of the resolute superhero with his distinctive shield.
Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) passed the iconic weapon to Sam Wilson, the new Captain. He had taken the role initially in the Disney+ 2021 streaming series “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.”
Now in an epic feature film available in IMAX Sam/Captain shows he’s got all the right stuff to go with that red-white-&-blue shield.
“This is really all about Sam Wilson as Captain America and continuing,” said Marvel supreme honcho Kevin Feige during last week’s global press conference.
“We saw him in the biggest movie we’ve ever made, ‘Avengers: Endgame.’ We saw Steve Rogers pass it to Sam Wilson. We wanted to continue that story. Because it’s always about bringing new characters to the MCU (the Marvel Cinematic Universe), and this amazing cast did just that.”
Asked what, personally, was most important about taking up Captain America’s shield, Mackie, 46, allowed, “Just enjoy it.”
He remembered how on the first day of filming, “All these people I had known for over a decade just came up and said, ‘Congratulations.’ It’s weird, people like Bob Moore, my dresser, was my dresser on ‘Captain America: Winter Soldier.’ Russell Bobbitt, who did props on every movie I’ve been on, did the props for ‘Captain America: Brave New World.’
“So, it was just that family thing where you see this character grow into fruition and get his moment to shine. I’m glad I was able to do it with friends I started with.”
As he brings his Captain America into the Avengers franchise, “This movie establishes Sam as his own being, his own incarnation of Captain America. The fact is that he’s every man’s Captain America, that will have an effect and pay off greatly in the future of the franchise.
“Because he can give the perspective of the regular guy. As opposed to the super guy. That’s something with the character that’s unique and rare and that people can gravitate to and acknowledge and see themselves in. I like that.”
“Brave New World” director Julius Onah likes the fact that while, yes, this may be the 4th “Captain America” feature film and the 35th in the MCU, “Anybody can walk into this film as a first film and go on the journey with Sam Wilson and all the characters in his orbit. That was really important to me.
“This is a new Cap. A Cap who has the superpower of empathy that we lean into and that no matter who you are, whether you’ve read comics or not, you can really enjoy this as a movie.”
“Captain America: Brave New World” opens Friday