Marvel Studios
Captain America: Brave New World star Anthony Mackie has revealed that his predecessor, co-star and friend Chris Evans is the one who told him that he’d be the next Captain America. Mackie is set to star as Captain America in Captain America: Brave New World when it hits theaters on February 14, having previously portrayed the role in the Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
While on the press tour for Captain America: Brave New World, Anthony Mackie — who is one of the longest-tenured members of the Marvel Cinematic Universe having made his debut in 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier — told the story of Chris Evans breaking the news to him while the pair were just chilling on the couch watching sports — real guys being dudes stuff.
“I found out from him [Chris Evans]. And it was just us, jumping around in a circle, high-fiving like two 12-year-olds that just met Mickey Mouse,” Mackie told Fandango while promoting Captain America: Brave New World.
“We were shooting in Atlanta, it was a bunch of us at his house, he had this crazy house. We’re sitting there watching a game, shooting the s—. So, he goes, ‘Have you reard the new script?’ I said no. He’s like, ‘You don’t know?!’ And you know me, being Black, I’m like, ‘Imma die, damn!’ They’re getting rid of me, man. I don’t even cause no trouble, I stand in the back, I don’t bother nobody. So he’s like, ‘Come on, come on.’ In his house he had a like a trap door that went to a basement that was like the man cave of all man caves. He has all of his Marvel stuff laid out, his new script. He goes to like the last 10 pages and goes, ‘Read it!’ I’m reading the scene between us, and it goes, ‘He hands him the shield.’ I’m like, ‘So why’d you give me the shield?’ He’s like, ‘Because you’re f—— Captain America!’.”
Watch Anthony Mackie reveal how he learned he was the new Captain America in our first Big Ticket interview of 2025! Get tickets now for #CaptainAmerica: #BraveNewWorld – in theaters February 14. https://t.co/85SaAJmJtT pic.twitter.com/IdQkG47R8S
— Fandango (@Fandango) January 17, 2025
The scene that Mackie is discussing comes in the closing moments of 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, which sees an elderly Steve Rogers literally and metaphorically pass the mantle of Captain America to Mackie’s Sam Wilson.
Alongside Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson/Captain America, Captain America: Brave New World stars Harrison ford, Danny Ramirez, Shira Haas, Carl Lumbly, Xosha Roquemore, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson, Giancarlo Esposito, and Tim Blake Nelson. Check out the official synopsis and trailer for the film, which hits theaters on February 14, below.
“After meeting with newly elected U.S. President Thaddeus Ross, played by Harrison Ford in his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut, Sam finds himself in the middle of an international incident. He must discover the reason behind a nefarious global plot before the true mastermind has the entire world seeing red.”