Anthony Mackie, the not-so-fresh, no-so-new face of Captain America, told a press crowd in Rome this week, "To me, Captain America represents a lot of different things and I don't think the term, 'America,' should be one of them."
That sound you just heard was a dozen Disney executives slapping a dozen Disney foreheads. Presumably their own, but honestly, who knows or cares?
Kidding aside, there might have been a method to Mackie's off-putting madness, believe it or not.
One of my internet pals goes by the online name of George MF Washington and in real life is a (quietly) conservative Hollywood screenwriter. If you aren't reading his Substack, you should be. George reminded me on X this morning that it's Disney's practice to "neuter" (my word) its movies of patriotically American themes to tailor them for foreign audiences — like Communist China.
"So desperate not to offend foreign movie audiences that they made Captain Generic Moral Code #5," George told me. It might very well be that Disney marketing told Mackie to say that Captain America shouldn't represent America. Because he's both good and strong, I suppose.
"I would remind Marvel that if you don’t know who you’re making the movie for," George continued, "you’re making it for nobody."
Indeed. Here's what I had to say on X about that: "People want the story in the book to match the cover. We want the cereal that's on the box. We want the shirt to match the label. So when the dude's name is CAPTAIN AMERICA, you'd better put some all-caps AMERICA in the damn movie."
But to address George's point, there's this:
Broadly speaking, superhero, sci-fi, and horror flicks are made for teen boys, young men, middle-aged men wishing we were still young, and the women who put up with us. That's the demo.
— Stephen Green (@VodkaPundit) January 28, 2025
Do you want to know how to write, produce, and (to today's point) market a movie with Captain America in it?
That's an easy one. You put a moment like this in the movie and all over the promotional materials:
That clip is from the first Avengers movie that came out in 2012. I must have watched the whole movie a dozen times, but that moment still puts a lump in my throat. Steve Rogers — the original and only genuine Captain America — was unapologetically American. Because it says AMERICA right there on the box in big letters. Because he was both strong and good.
Mackie's Marvel movie character, Sam "The Falcon" Wilson, adopted the Captain America name and shield in the cringe-inducingly woke Disney+ series, "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier." It was not well-received.
Nevertheless, Disney doubled down with a movie that has gone through two or three titles, massive rewrites, budget-busting reshoots, and delays. Now called "Captain America: Brave New World," the flick is tracking for a meh-ish $90 million opening weekend.
But because of all those rewrites and reshoots, the budget — not including marketing — is believed to be somewhere north of $400 million. Including marketing, "Brave New World" will have to break ONE BILLION DOLLARS to show a profit.
Mackie and Disney are sitting in a steaming bowl of Not Gonna Happen.
My advice to Mackie is simple. Ignore the bone-headed marketing people who hate America and just read the room, man — or, more accurately, read the MAGA country. Now is not the time to be mocking America. I haven't heard words so ill-timed since the third act of "Star Wars" when Grand Moff Tarkin was told by an aide that they'd analyzed the Rebel's attack plan, and they might blow up the Death Star. Would he care to abandon ship? "Evacuate, in our moment of triumph?" Tarkin mockingly replied. Then Luke Skywalker blew up the Death Star.
Yet I'd wager next month's car payment that a massive space station going boom still won't be as big a bomb as "Captain America: Brave New World." As for the Disney board, I'm certain they've already written off Brave New World as a Very Expensive Flop.
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P.S. You should follow me on X although I do tend to cuss there.
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