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Marvel star Anthony Mackie has responded to the uncertain future of multiverse villain Kang the Conqueror, played by Jonathan Majors. In a new interview with Inverse, Mackie reiterated that he will not join the abuse allegations until there is more evidence.
“We are a country built on the principle, ‘Everyone is innocent until proven guilty,'” Mackie said in the interview. “It’s one of the staple foods of this country. Nothing has been proven about this guy. Nothing. So everyone is innocent until proven guilty. That’s all I can say. It’s crazy where we are as a society. But as a country everyone is innocent until proven guilty.”
Majors was arrested in March for assault and harassment. Police were responding to an 911 call at an apartment in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, where the actor was involved in a domestic dispute with a 30-year-old woman at the apartment. Since then, several alleged abuse victims have cooperated with the Manhattan Attorney’s Office, according to Variety.
Majors’ legal team has denied the woman’s allegations. A day after his court hearing, Majors made his own complaint to the police against the woman, claiming that he was the victim of the dispute. The domestic violence case against Majors in connection with his arrest in March is due to go to trial this summer. Judge Rachel Pauley has scheduled the next hearing for August 3.
In the wake of the allegations, talent manager Entertainment 360 and PR firm The Lede Company dumped the actor after news of his arrest broke. The US Army also ran ads featuring the actor.
Elsewhere in his interview with Inverse, Mackie recalled repeatedly contacting Marvel about the role of Black Panther. “I had written them letters,” he said. “I was trying to find a way to get them to do Black Panther. And I wanted to be Black Panther because I fucking loved Black Panther as a kid.”
Mackie was eventually cast to play Falcon, although he only knew about it after meeting Marvel producer Nate Moore and directors Joe and Anthony Russo.
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“I’ll never forget that Joe Russo said, ‘Listen, we’re doing this movie.’ We want you to be there. We can’t say what character you’ll be playing or who else will be in it. Would you do it?’ And that was it,” Mackie recalled. “I was like, ‘You know what, I like you all guys. I will do it. I’ll take this ride with you.’”
The actor also opened up about working with Harrison Ford, who fills in as Thunderbolt Ross in Captain America: Brave New World. Mackie had previously worked with Ford on 2003’s Hollywood Homicide but was still intimidated on the first day of shooting Captain America.
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“I was so damn nervous I couldn’t remember my lines. “He’s Harrison, damn Ford,” Mackie said. “He has this aura. But he brushes that off very quickly because he’s such a cool guy. He’s everything a movie star should be. He would say, “Let’s shoot this piece of shit.” And everyone was like, “Yeah, let’s shoot this shit.” … We spent a lot of time together. Ross and Cap have always had that relationship where they were friends and respected each other, but they always butted heads. That is their relationship in the story.”
Mackie recently took a break from the MCU to work as executive producer and main cast member on the Peacock series Twisted Metal. He recently told Rolling Stone that he accepted the gig because he was “looking for something different.”