'Boycott' Calls Erupt After Marvel's New Captain America Turns Into 'Captain Woke'
In case you missed it, fledgling Disney plans to trot out yet another installment in the once-beloved Marvel movie franchise.
Now, thanks to lead actor Anthony Mackie, “Captain America: Brave New World” will debut on Feb. 14 amid self-inflicted controversy.
In a clip posted Monday to the social media platform X, Mackie inexplicably told an interviewer that the movie’s title character should not represent “America,” prompting calls for a boycott from X users, as well as derisive references to Mackie and the film itself as “Captain Woke.”
“For me Captain America represents a lot of different things, and I don’t think the term ‘America’ should be one of those representations,” Mackie said.
According to the entertainment news website Bounding Into Comics, Mackie made those comments while speaking at a media event in Rome, Italy, on Monday.
“It’s about a man who keeps his word, who has honor, dignity, and integrity, someone who is trustworthy and dependable,” the actor added.
That would make sense if the movie’s iconic hero called himself “Captain Dignity” or “Captain Dependable.”
Comic book and movie audiences, however, fell in love with “Captain America.” And they did so for a reason.
Of course, one would have loved to hear Mackie’s explanation of why Captain America should not represent America. Alas, the actor spent nearly a minute searching for words and then babbling about dreams, dragons, and princesses.
Framed properly, those dragon- and princess-related comments would have had some promise as an avenue toward timeless truth. From Mackie, however, they came across as irrelevant to the anti-“America” statement that preceded them.
Anthony Mackie explains what Captain America represents for him:
“Captain America represents a lot of different things & 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.”
(Source:… pic.twitter.com/d5bvqIbreF
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) January 28, 2025
As one might expect, X users had very little good to say about Mackie’s remarks. Some called for boycotts, while others referred to both the actor and the upcoming movie as “Captain Woke.”
Really??
But you don’t mind making millions of us Americans.I am boycotting the film Captain America. https://t.co/MAnMFRqa1L
— LC (@McintoshEl97841) January 28, 2025
Captain Woke https://t.co/1bSJ5oyQ2g
— Real Samuel Elvis (@SamuelElvis20) January 28, 2025
Does it make any sense that Captain America shouldn’t represent America? Captain Woke should be the name of the movie. https://t.co/ycEKGYls5T
— Doreen Linder (@DorLinder) January 28, 2025
Mackie, of course, created a poorly-timed public-relations nightmare for Disney.
In truth, however, the Marvel franchise began building that nightmare years ago when it embraced wokeness in the first place.
For my money, 2018’s “Avengers: Infinity War” gave us the last great superhero film in the franchise.
My own personal alienation from Marvel began shortly thereafter, when 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame” subjected audiences to a notoriously cringe-worthy “girl power” scene featuring a cowering Spider-Man aided by Marvel’s female heroines, who assembled in one place for a purpose intended as dramatic but that came across as sanctimonious. Readers may watch that brief scene in the YouTube video below.
Truth be told, however, I still wanted the franchise to succeed. And the 2021 streaming miniseries “Hawkeye” — to give credit where due — delivered in an exceptionally charming and entertaining way.
Unfortunately, it was not enough to salvage my diminishing interest in Marvel. The coup de grâce had come earlier that same year, and Mackie, ironically, had a big hand in it.
“The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” starring Mackie as Sam Wilson/The Falcon and Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier, ostensibly carried Captain America’s story forward.
At the conclusion of “Endgame,” an aging Captain America (played by Chris Evans) handed his shield to his friend Wilson. Audiences rightly interpreted that gesture as a passing of the torch.
In “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” Wilson wrestled with the problem of inheriting that mantle. Audiences might have enjoyed that particular arc had he done so from fear of unworthiness and letting down his friend. But Wilson, who is black, wrestled with that problem for the most nauseating reason imaginable: race. In short, others preferred a white man as Captain America.
Indeed, in a 2021 review of the series, Erik Kain of Forbes identified “preachy politics” among the show’s major problems.
“Racial politics are littered throughout the show, often in ways that are at once preachy and puzzling,” Kain wrote.
More from the reviewer: “The heavy-handed politics just keep coming, unfortunately. The idea that Sam [Wilson] was passed over for the job of Captain America and it was given to a white dude — who is clearly the World’s Greatest Monster for taking said job — permeates the show. By the end, when Sam just decides to take the mantle of Captain America for himself, it’s not just the right man for the job stepping up, it’s driven home over and over again that he’s black and that this is somehow (because the show tells us, mainly) a Very Big Deal. This despite the numerous black superheroes that nobody has a problem with.”
If that sounds like a show you want to watch, then you have my sympathies. I watched and later regretted every minute of it.
Thus, Mackie might have made headlines with his foolish comment on Monday. But Marvel made its own woke bed, with help from Mackie and many others, a long time ago.
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