Anthony Mackie Wanted Donald Trump Reference In Falcon and the Winter Soldier
Shortly after the season finale of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, "One Word, One People," was released, it was revealed that the show's head writer Malcolm Spellman would be developing a fourth Captain America film starring Anthony Mackie.
Mackie has already expressed his excitement for the film and said that he'd be around for "a solid six to eight [years]" in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. So obviously, Sam Wilson as Captain America is going to stick around for quite some time. The film will likely attempt to be as political as the series, although there might be some aspects it won't touch.
A TRUMP REFERENCE FROM CAPTAIN AMERICA?
During Marvel Studios and Disney’s Drive-In FYC event at the Rose Bowl Stadium (via Variety), Anthony Mackie reportedly had a lot of freedom when contributing to Sam Wilson's character. It helped embed Mackie more into the role, but some suggestions were not considered, as Mackie explained was the case in the final episode:
“With all of the protests and everything that went on in 2020, there were just as many Brown people as Black people as white people as Asian people. Everyone, everyone in this country at this time wants to see a change, and that monologue sums that up a beautiful way."
Mackie said that one aspect of his monologue that got shot down in the final episode was it ending with Wilson co-opting an infamous campaign slogan used by former U.S. President Donald Trump:
“One thing I wanted to put at the end of the monologue — and it got shot down — was if we’re going to ‘make America great again,’ it has to be done by Americans. And no matter what your race, creed, color or sexuality is, you’re an American. And that’s what I think the new Captain America captures.”
SOME THINGS CAN'T BE CO-OPTED
An excellent call was made, whoever ended up making it, not to end Sam Wilson's speech with an attempt to co-opt a slogan made popular by Donald Trump. Yes, the slogan has existed in politics for decades before, most prominently with Ronald Reagan, but it definitely would have been taken out of context quickly by the parties Wilson's speech was directly criticizing.
Not to mention that, in the context of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Donald Trump didn't become President of the United States. This means the slogan's inclusion in Wilson's speech would only have meaning to audiences, not the people Wilson was speaking to.
It's understandable why Anthony Mackie would want to include it in his Captain America speech, as he would be co-opting this slogan from someone with this kind of history, but too much could have gone wrong with the execution.
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