Anthony Mackie is Officially Starring in Fourth 'Captain America' Film

The inevitable is now official: Anthony Mackie has signed on to be the lead in Marvel Studios’ next instalment of the Captain America franchise.

For those unfamiliar, Mackie has portrayed Wilson since 2014 when he made his debut as the Falcon in “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”. He became a close friend and ally to the original Captain America, Steve Rogers, (played of course by Chris Evans), appearing in five subsequent MCU features.

At the end of “Avengers : Endgame”, Rogers passed on his shield to Wilson to continue the fight for justice. He got to fulfill that destiny in the Disney+ series “The Falcon and The Winter Soldier”, where he teamed up with Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes. There is still no word about Stan’s involvement in this new film.

The announcement of a fourth ‘Captain America’ was made hours after ‘Falcon’ aired its finale in April which saw Wilson suit up for the first time in the superhero’s signature uniform. Although plot details are still to be revealed, the film will likely build on the events from the series and also connect with the other MCU projects in the pipeline.

Outside of Marvel, Mackie has been a reliable presence on screen for nearly 20 years. After making his debut in 2002’s “8 Mile”, he made supporting appearances in “Million Dollar Baby” and “Half Nelson” before making his breakthrough in 2008 with Kathryn Bigelow’s Best Picture winner “The Hurt Locker”. This success helped Mackie secure many more roles in movies and television shows that would ultimately land him the Marvel gig that has only increased his stock.

With Evans’ arc wrapped up, yet the potential still out there for the Captain America name to continue in the future, making Mackie the central focus seems to be both the right move and a sign of how committed Kevin Feige and his team at Marvel are to bringing more diverse voices to the highly profitable franchise. With a charismatic actor that has proven his worth in the past and many more surprises that are sure to be revealed in the months ahead, the future is very bright for this iconic hero.

As for when we should expect to see this new adventure, the earliest date is likely to be 2023 as Marvel already has three more films scheduled for this year and four confirmed for 2022.