Anthony Mackie Sent Letters to Marvel About Black Panther Before Securing Falcon Role

Anthony Mackie sent several letters to Marvel Studios asking to play Black Panther before he joined the MCU as Sam Wilson, aka Falcon.

Mackie told Inverse he set his sights on Marvel in the early 2010s, though he was pursuing a different role than the one he ended up with. He put his name forward to play Prince T’Challa because he was keen to see Black Panther’s story on the big screen.

“I had been contacting Marvel a lot about Black Panther,” Mackie admitted. “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.”

His persistence clearly caught the studio’s attention as he secured a meeting with longtime Marvel producer Nate Moore, and Anthony Russo and Joe Russo, the directing duo behind 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Solider, which would become Mackie’s first MCU project.

“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,” he recalled. “I was like, ‘You know what, I like y’all dudes. I’ll do it. I’ll go on this ride with you.’ “

Mackie agreed to star in the movie without knowing which character he would be taking on but assumed he would be starring as Black Panther after he lobbied to play the Wakandan superhero, so he was surprised to find out a few weeks later that Marvel had cast him as Sam Wilson.

“What other major comic book figure has enough of a presence to have his own movie?” he said. “So when they hit me up, and they were like, ‘Yo, so it’s Sam Wilson,’ I’m like, ‘Really?’ “

In the years since his initial MCU debut, Mackie has starred as Wilson in Ant-Man, Captain America: Civil War, and three Avengers movies. He most recently reprised the role in the Disney+ miniseries The Falcon and the Winter Solider, which set him up as the new Captain America.

He will next appear in Captain America: Brave New World, formerly titled New World Order, which hits theaters July 26, 2024. Mackie noted it felt different to be leading his own Marvel movie, but feels supported by his co-stars, one of which is Harrison Ford.

“There’s a huge amount of pressure,” he shared. “You throw my dumb ass in the water, and you’re like, ‘Swim.’ I’m like, ‘S**t.’ But at the same time, it’s all in the state of mind. I’ve been given a great cast. I’ve been given a great group of people who I’ve worked with before.

“The first day was so intimidating,” Mackie continued. “I was so f**king nervous I couldn’t remember my lines. He’s Harrison f**king Ford. There is this aura about him. But he dispels that really quickly because he’s such a cool guy. He’s everything a movie star should be. He would say, ‘Let’s shoot this piece of s**t.’ And everybody was like, ‘Yeah, let’s shoot this sh*t.’ “

Julius Onah is directing Brave New World from a script by Falcon head writer and creator Malcolm Spellman, as well as series staff writer Dalan Musson. The movie will explore “what makes somebody Captain America”, and dive into Wilson’s underdog status as the new Cap.

Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.