Anthony Mackie Talks Marvel’s Diversity: “I Think it’s Very Important That Little Girls Have Representation”

Anthony Mackie broken our hearts earlier this year when he said on the Wendy Williams Show that women should “make daddy a sandwich” (cue incoherent rage yelling), but during an ECCC panel over the weekend, the actor’s remarks were way more positive.

When asked by an audience member what kind of an impact he thinks Falcon has on young viewers, Mackie replied:

It’s a huge responsibility. I do events like this because so many people become superheroes and celebrities, and they detach themselves from reality. That scares me. When I meet people, when I meet kids, that informs characters I play down the line. I tell kids, when you think something can’t happen, you think you can’t read that well, when certain people didn’t expect anything of you — I was that kid. I was the kid they wanted to put on Ritalin and kick out of school because they thought I was a bad kid.

I think it’s very important that little girls have representation. That’s why I love Scarlett Johansson so much. That’s why I’m so excited they’re introducing all these female characters into the universe. That’s important. It’s to give everybody a little bit. The funny thing about movies is, growing up, I said, ‘Man, I wanted to be Superman.’ But this past Halloween, my son said he wanted to be Captain America.

The actor when on to describe a situation where another parent told him her child wanted to be Falcon for Halloween but couldn’t “‘because, y’know.'” “I’m like, ‘No, I don’t know. What, you couldn’t find a costume?’ ‘No, you’re Black.'” That is the problem. We always talk about representation, but I never understood representation until that conversation. It is important to look at the screen and see you.”

Mackie also spoke about his own road to joining the Marvel Universe, saying that he originally wrote Marvel Studios asking to be in the franchise: “I was initially writing them because I wanted to be Black Panther.” He’s come a long way since that first letter: to quote Mackie, “Marvel literally owns the hair on my face.”

(via Comic Book Resources)

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