As The Falcon, Anthony Mackie has appeared in three Marvel Cinematic Universe movies: "Captain America: Winter Soldier," "Avengers: Age of Ultron," and "Ant-Man." While that's a strong lineup, it's not nearly enough for an ethnic superhero.
Traditionally, the superhero genre has been dominated by white males. While Mackie will soon be accompanied by Chadwick Boseman's Black Panther and a female-led "Captain Marvel" film, he still believes the MCU (and the superhero genre in general) needs more diversity.
"I feel like kids don't get race," he told The Salt Lake Tribune. "We preach so much to kids that you can be anything you want to be, and then we follow it up with 'except,' and we have to leave that 'except' off."
Mackie went on to explain that as a child, he didn't believe he could be Superman because the character did not share his skin color. Mackie believes the addition of a more diverse roster of characters will help fans understand race more.
To that end, superheroes of different genders and color are beginning to pop up more frequently. In addition to Mackie and Boseman, Zoe Saldana's Gamora, Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury and Don Cheadle's War Machine have become important pieces of the MCU.
On the flip side of things, Warner Bros. and DC have Will Smith set to play Deadshot, a traditionally white character from the cmoics, in next year's "Suicide Squad." Jason Momoa and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson have been cast in "Aquaman" and "Shazam," respectively. Plus, DC will beat Marvel to the punch with a female-driven blockbuster in 2017's "Wonder Woman."
That's a start, but it's not enough. Unfortunately, the powers that be can't always respond accordingly. The public outcry over Fox's decision to cast the African American Michael B. Jordan as the Human Torch in "The Fantastic Four" received considerable backlash and was one of the major storylines throughout the film's troubled production. Fans seemed to forget that Jordan was one of Hollywood's rising stars and focused solely on his race as a deterring factor.
Hopefully, the large handfuls of superhero films set to be released over the next few years will paint a picture of successful diversity.
