There were perhaps no dry eyes in the cinema halls when viewers watched an old Captain America handing over his shield to Falcon in Avengers: Endgame and actor Anthony Mackie has revealed it was Chris Evans who broke the ending to him before they started shooting.
Evans and Mackie first worked together as Cap/ Steve Rogers and Falcon in 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which was also directed by Endgame filmmakers The Russo Brothers.
The actor said he hadn’t read the script and got to know about the big shift from the man himself. “We were at his (Evans) house and he goes, ‘You excited?’ And I go, ‘What are you talking about?’ and he goes, ‘You don’t know?’ He jumps up, runs out of the room and comes back in with the script,” Mackie told IMDb.
He admitted he was overwhelmed after reading the climax.
“We cried. We drank. We laughed. I am very happy I got that moment with Chris, for him to not only pass me the shield, but to tell me it was happening. We’re catching Steve at the end of the life he wanted to live. He found that happiness that Tony (Stark, played by Robert Downey Jr) was telling him about,” Mackie said of Rogers getting to spend his life with true love Peggy Carter.
The transfer of the shield to Falcon sends a powerful message about inclusion and empowerment and Mackie said filming the scene was a cathartic experience.
“It means a lot to me for my sons to see Captain America as a black dude and for me to be that dude to my sons. So that moment was not just, ‘Hey, we’re acting.’ It was more of a thing. And then they cut and I cried. And Chris cried. And the Russos cried. And everyone cried. It was an emotional day,” he said.
Mackie is set to co-star with Sebastian Stan in a Disney+ series called Falcon & Winter Soldier.