Anthony Mackie is officially set to star in Captain America 4
By Lacy Baugher
It’s official: Anthony Mackie will wield Captain America’s shield on the big screen.
A Mackie-led Captain America 4 has been in development since Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier concluded earlier this year, but Deadline has confirmed that the star has closed a deal to lead this next phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
According to Deadline, this is apparently not the same Marvel project that former Captain America Chris Evans is rumored to be returning in, just in case you had already started getting your hopes up about seeing Steve’s reaction to Sam’s decision to suit up with the shield.
Falcon and the Winter Soldier creator and head writer Malcolm Spellman is set to pen the script, alongside Dalan Musson, who worked with him on the series. Given the FATWS-vibes of it all, it seems a fair question whether Sebastian Stan will cross back over to the feature film side of the MCU as Bucky Barnes to reteam with Mackie, but there’s no information to be had about that just yet.
If you ask me, it seems fairly likely, at least in some small capacity, if only because another Captain America feature film pretty much pushes pauses on any continuation of Sam and Bucky’s DIsney+ adventures. Perhaps Captain America and the Winter Soldier can take place in the gap following the release of Captain America 4? It would make sense, a most of the Disney+ series appear to be meant to serve as a sort of high-end connective tissue between the movies.
Captain America 4 – which is most likely not the film’s official title – will mark Mackie’s sixth Marvel film since his first appearance in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. It does not yet have a director attached, but Kevin Feige is set to produce. Marvel, unsurprisingly, is being predictably tight-lipped about the project, but if the story of Falcon and the Winter Soldier showed us anything, it’s that they’re well aware of both how necessary a Black Captain America is and how important it is to tell Sam’s story with care.
No word yet on when we might see Captain America 4 in theaters – and given Marvel’s massive pending release calendar, it could be a while – but we’ll keep you posted.
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What would you like to see in a Sam Wilson Captain America movie? Sound off in the comments.