Falcon is not the new Captain America, says Anthony Mackie

SINGAPORE - Unusually for a television series, the media were not given a preview of the highly anticipated Marvel miniseries The Falcon And The Winter Soldier.

So at an online press conference for the six-episode show, which premieres on Disney+ on Friday (March 19), Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan, its two leading actors, were peppered with questions about the plot and characters.

The secrecy likely has to do with the show's pivotal role in introducing the next cycle of Marvel Cinematic Universe movies as well as the gap it fills on the Disney+ schedule after Marvel series WandaVision ended its run earlier this month.

Mackie, 42, who plays Sam Wilson, also known as the Falcon, an air force veteran who operates a high-tech, weapon-laden flying suit, was careful not to give too much away.

He reminded the press about the events of Avengers: Endgame (2019). At the end of the film, Captain America, played by Chris Evans, offers his iconic shield to the Falcon in a symbolic transfer of title and responsibility.

Wilson takes the shield, leading the audience to believe that he will be the next Captain America. Fans will have to let go of that belief, Mackie says.

"At no time after Endgame does the Falcon accept the moniker of Captain America, nor does he accept the shield. In fact, when Steve gave the Falcon the shield, Sam said, 'It feels like it's for someone else'."

The series will show the Falcon being himself, he adds. "Sam is a great Falcon. He's always rocked the Falcon. If you expect him to be the Falcon, Sam's got you on that one."

The show will focus on the two title characters adapting after restoring the world as it was before the blip, the event shown in Avengers: Infinity War (2018) in which the villain Thanos caused half of all living things to vanish.

They do not start out as buddies, hints Stan, 38, who plays the cybernetically enhanced warrior Bucky Barnes, also called the Winter Soldier.

He says: "They both start out in very different places and have to come together by the end. It comes from them having to figure out that they need each other more than they were willing to admit."

The series explores the responsibilities people have for one another in a topsy-turvy, post-blip world, adds Mackie, who uses as an analogy 2005's Hurricane Katrina which struck the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas.

Just like how the disaster created a refugee crisis, the post-blip world will teem with the returned.

The actor, who is born in New Orleans, says: "You have billions who have come back to Earth, asking 'What's my place in society?'

"After Katrina, people were refugees in their own country, their own city. How do you take care of them? How do you make them feel whole and equal? That's the theme of the show for me."

The Falcon And The Winter Soldier premieres on Disney+ on Friday (March 19).