Our New Captain America

By Amir Muhammad | April 4, 2025

Captain America traditionally represents the stars and stripes, but now that Anthony Mackie is reviving the role, the character represents so much more. 

Before Captain America: Brave New World was released, there was already some controversy surrounding the movie. 

“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,” Mackie said in an interview while on a press tour promoting the movie.

Saying Captain America didn’t truly represent America made many fans angry, pointing out that the character literally has ‘America’ in the name. Mackie’s intention in saying this was not to anger fans, but to express what is universally appealing about Captain America.

Having the core values of honor, dignity, and integrity should never be just for one group of people. And even though Mackie didn’t word it correctly, we all slip up sometimes and don’t clarify what we mean. That story died down, and the movie was released to immediate negativity on platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and X. 

To the negativity, I say it is completely unjust. To those who haven’t seen the movie yet, watch it and gain your own opinion before making judgments. Mackie proved that he can have the leading role in future Marvel movies and beyond.  

Some said this movie was more of a Hulk movie than a Captain America movie, and to them I say, what did you think Sam Wilson, aka Captain America, and Juaquin Torres, aka Falcon, the main characters of this film, were going to do?  They are both humans with no powers, but they still fight like they have the super soldier serum in their veins.

If you can find nothing to like in this movie, yet you have been one of the Marvel fans saying that you want a more grounded and level movie, this is it. We get a nice balance of fighting, politics, and one brilliant mastermind stringing everyone along for a wild ride. 

For a movie with tons of redos, this was a lot of fun for me. To see Mackie as a Black man on screen taking on the role so wonderfully was an excellent sight. I can’t wait for the movie to come out on Disney+ so that I can experience it all over again.