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SYFY WIRE The Falcon and the Winter Soldier

Anthony Mackie found out about Captain America 4 from his local grocery store clerk, Dwayne

By Josh Grossberg

When it comes to playing Cap, Anthony Mackie can do this all day. And it's looking more and more like he may just get the chance.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier star opened up about his reaction to the big news that Marvel has tapped the Disney+ series' showrunner Malcolm Spellman to pen a fourth Captain America movie.

"I literally found out yesterday in a grocery store," a surprised Mackie said. "The checkout guy named Dwayne, a cool cat, he's like, 'Yo, man. Is this real?!" [holds up a cell phone] "I'm like, 'I haven't heard anything.' That's what I love about working for Marvel. They call you, they're like, 'Come to L.A. We wanna tell you what's going on.' So, I'm excited to see what happens, but I haven't heard anything."

Mackie's excitement is palpable, considering the finale of the hit show in which he costars with Sebastian Stan ended last Friday with his regular guy counselor, Sam Wilson, aka Falcon, finally assuming the mantle of Captain America and being given a sparkling new uniform and flight suit courtesy of the Wakandans, as you can see by this new poster the streamer released.

"What would be really bad is if the movie [Captain America 4] starts and I get blown out of the sky," cracked the actor, who's the first African American to inhabit the role of America's patriotic protector.

Mackie went on to tell EW that the reality of Friday's big reveal still hasn't quite hit him, adding that he "foresaw something that was much more celebratory than just being 'Anthony with a new Twitter account.'"

The New Orleans-born thesp joked that he wouldn't mind if his hometown threw him a Mardi Gras-style Captain America parade, but was more than thrilled with the cake the crew gave him of a small Cap figure on a golf course.

"It's the same people I've been working with on these movies for eight years now," Mackie said. "So to go from my first day to now becoming Cap with the same people was really special. Everybody shared in it, from the props team to wardrobe, from the camera department to the people in the office. It was really a collective effort."

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier's ending brought things full circle for America's First Avenger. After original Cap Steve Rodgers (Chris Evans) bequeaths the shield to Sam at the end of Avengers: Endgame, the series opener finds him donating it to the Smithsonian, feeling unworthy of the role.

As the series progresses, the government turns around and appoints Wyatt Russell's John Walker the new Captain America, wielding a gun to go with the shield that Wilson gave up. The two eventually duke it out and Walker destroys Falcon's wingsuit, but not before the titular heroes break Walker's arm and take the shield back.

Friday's final episode saw Walker adopt a new uniform and more sinister code name as U.S. Agent, the newest addition to the MCU and a character willing to do the morally questionable dirty work that Captain America won't do when it comes to covert missions. And the end credits affirmed Mackie's new place in the MCU as it flashed an amended title: "Captain America and the Winter Soldier," seemingly putting to bed reports that Evans would reprise Rogers in a fourth go-round, rumors which he denied.

As for a Season 2 of Falcon Captain America and the Winter Soldier, Mackie said he was in the dark like the rest of us, but added "it would be fun as hell to do."