Anthony Mackie says it is ‘monumental’ to be playing a black Captain America

Anthony Mackie has admitted that it feels “monumental” to be playing a black Captain America.

Mackie is taking on the mantle of the superhero for Disney+’s The Falcon And The Winter Soldier, following Steve Rogers’ departure from the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Avengers: Endgame.

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For those of you that don’t remember, right at the end of the blockbuster Rogers travelled back in time to return the Infinity Stones, but then stayed in the past to live out his life with his true love Peggy Carter. At the end of the film, an elderly Rogers emerged and gave the Vibranium Shield to Wilson.

During his recent appearance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Mackie admitted, “It is monumental, man. I mean… to have Marvel select a young black man in America to represent the moniker of Captain America is unprecedented. There’s nothing that can compare to that.”

“There’s – it… it moves me not only that my kids get to see a black man as Captain America, but all of their friends white, black, Latino, and Asia can see a black man as Captain America.”

This isn’t the first time that Mackie has admitted he finds it incredibly emotional to be playing Captain America, as he told Deadline back in November, "You know what, to be honest, it's very emotional. I’ve been in the business for 20 years and I've been fortunate enough to do some amazing stuff and work with amazing people.”

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“For me, to be a Black man in 2019 and be given he helm of Captain America with the history of Black men in this country is a monumental step, not only in entertainment, but also in my life. It's been extremely emotional. Look, my grandfather was a sharecropper, you know what I mean? There's a lot of history and pain and triumph and joy that comes along with me being Captain America."