Anthony Mackie, Who Plays Captain America In The MCU, Under Fire For Saying His Character Doesn’t Represent America

Captain America isn’t representative of America? That’s odd…

Marvel and its parent company of Disney are going into full blown panic mode right now. Why? Because the actor who plays Captain America – Anthony Mackie – just undercut the entire character. Mackie took over the stars, stripe and shield back in 2019, when the actor who had played Cap for almost a decade – Chris Evans – handed over the duties at the end of Avengers: Endgame.

So it’s been over five years now, and we’ve really only seen Anthony Mackie play the character once in the limited-series Captain America and the Winter Soldier in 2021 (that aired on Disney+). Fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe will finally get to see Mackie play the beloved character on the big screen in February, when Captain America: Brave New World comes out on Valentine’s Day.

Mackie has been on the press tour for the upcoming film as of late, and seemingly like a lot of actors and actresses these days, his latest comments about the character is surely causing headaches at Marvel and Disney headquarters. We all saw how well Rachel Zegler’s comments about Snow White were received by the general public. The backlash resulted in the movie’s release getting delayed until March of this year, and let’s just say, it’s not expected to do well.

Captain America: Brave New World is in a similar boat. The movie was already projecting to struggle a bit at the box office, and Anthony Mackie suggesting that the character of Captain America really doesn’t represent America in a recent interview probably won’t help drive people to the movies:

“For me, Captain America represents a lot of different things, and I don’t think the term ‘America’ should be one of those representations. It’s about a man who keeps his word, who has honor, dignity and integrity. Someone who is trustworthy and dependable.”

Anthony Mackie explains what Captain America represents for him:

“Captain America represents a lot of different things & I don’t think the term ‘America’ should be one of those representations. It’s about a man who keeps his word, who has honor, dignity and integrity.”

(Source:… pic.twitter.com/d5bvqIbreF

— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) January 28, 2025

Hey, all those things are fine to say about Captain America… but you’ve just got say that the character represents America right there. It’s in the name, dude…

I guess in defense of Anthony Mackie, both Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Captain America: Civil War (the franchise’s second and third installments) were about Captain America (then played by Chris Evans) not siding with the United States government, and actually fighting against them. So there is that…

However, with only weeks leading up to the movie’s premiere, you’ve got to drum up excitement about the film… not hesitance. And much of the social media world have taken offense to Captain America himself saying that he’s not representative of America:

Well that’s sure to sit well with your American audience

— Walter Strongkite (@Headlines_Fix) January 28, 2025

So… hang on, hang on, hang on… Captain America…. shouldn’t represent… America?

— Latentem (@Latentem) January 28, 2025

Well, his name is Captain America. He represents American values. Get used to it.

— WizardRonin (@WizardsOGL) January 28, 2025

Strange take. Captain America literally has America in the name and represents American values of freedom, justice, and standing up for what’s right. Why try to separate that? The character’s whole origin is tied to WW2 America.

— Divine3rd (@Divine3rd) January 28, 2025

What Captain America represents to everybody else is America, because it’s literally in the name. The stars and stripes on the uniform? Should be a big tip off.

— David Gaw 🇺🇸🇺🇦🇮🇱 (@davidgaw) January 28, 2025

That makes me not want to watch it now

— Milty’s World (@MiltysWorldX) January 28, 2025

And Mackie’s comments also go against one of the taglines in the trailer below. About halfway through the sneak peak at the movie, the words “One symbol stands for all” flashes across the screen.

That certainly seems like it’s at the very least America adjacent, am I right?