Anthony Mackie has called out Marvel for failing to hire more black crew members on any film other than Black Panther.
The actor, who has played the Falcon since 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Solider, said that only “[hiring] the black people for the black movie” could suggest that “they’re not good enough when you have a mostly white cast”.
“We’ve had one black producer; his name was Nate Moore,” Mackie told Daveed Diggs during Variety’s Actors on Actors interview series.
“He produced Black Panther. But then when you do Black Panther, you have a black director, black producer, a black costume designer, a black stunt choreographer. And I’m like, that’s more racist than anything else.”
Mackie urged Marvel to “hire the best person for the job”.
“Even if it means we’re going to get the best two women, we’re going to get the best two men – fine, I’m cool with those numbers for the next 10 years,” he said. “Because it starts to build a new generation of people who can put something on their résumé to get them other jobs.”
He said that, as a leading man, he will try to push for this as he has “the power and the ability to ask those questions”.
“It really bothered me that I’ve done seven Marvel movies where every producer, every director, every stunt person, every costume designer, every PA, every single person has been white,” he said.
Director Ryan Coogler assembled his behind-the-scenes crew for Black Panther, which included Hannah Beachler.
Beachler became the first African-American to win Best Production Design at the Oscars in 2019.
The Independent has contacted Disney and Marvel for comment.
Mackie will next be seen in the first of Disney+’s Marvel TV shows, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, alongside Sebastian Stan. Find out everything we know about the series here.
