Anthony Mackie Opens Up About The MCU’s Creative Limitations

Anthony Mackie, best known for his role as The Falcon-turned-Captain America in Disney’s MCU, stated that it can be difficult to experiment in Marvel films because “there’s only so much you can do.”

In an interview with RadioTimes, Mackie was asked about working on Marvel projects vs. Peacock’s Twisted Metal. He then explained that working with Marvel differs because “it’s such a space of controlled entertainment.”

“Like, there’s only so much you can do. There’s only so much creativity you can bring to the table because Stan Lee gave us so much content,” Mackie said. “Whereas with this [Twisted Metal], it was like, ‘There’s a guy and a girl go.’ So we were really able to build the world around it.”

As the interview continued, Mackie explained that he felt that a large reason Twisted Metal did well was that there was nothing tied to his character, so it allowed him to try more things. At the same time, the writing and directing team managed to “stay true to the characters in the video games.”

Mackie added that this process is dramatically different to the one used in the MCU, as once a character is introduced in it has to “coincide with what Stan had already gave us.” Mackie continues that although this may be a challenge, “it’s an interesting juggle to be a part of that world.” And this was more like, ‘Let’s just have fun and figure it out as we go.'”

Season 1 of Twisted Metal debuted in 2023, and upon its release, it was an immediate hit for Peacock. Because of the show’s success, it’s already been confirmed for another season.