According to Thunderbolts star Wyatt Russell, while many people have come to believe that his casting as the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s version of US Agent was meant to be a commentary on black//white racial dynamics in the United States, this idea is nothing more than “Wikipedia bullshit”.
RELATED: ‘Thunderbolts’ Director Says Credit Montage Added Because Test Audiences Were Confused By ‘New Avengers’ Name Change: “I Assumed There’d Be A Cheer; It Was More Of An Uncertain, Halting Applause”
Russell, who first debuted as John Walker in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and will reprise the role in the upcoming Avengers Doomsday, shut down this bit of internet disinformation during a recent interview given to The Hollywood Reporter‘s Seth Abramovitch.
At one point during their time together, Abramovitch pointed his guest to the Wikipedia page for TFATWS, specifically the claim made therein that Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige had supposedly cast Russell as a sort of “commentary on how the U.S. government would not want a Black man like Wilson to take on that role [of Captain America]”.
This supposed read of the Disney Plus series stems from a 2021 interview given by Feige to ESPN’s “black identity“-centric subsidiary Andscape, where upon being asked if there was any consideration to US race relations when developing the the series’ take on both John Walker and Sam Wilson.
“I think that’s what we’re sending,” said the eternally baseball-capped producer. “You know, Sam Wilson says ‘I’m putting the shield away’, and a white senator says ‘Good decision son, that’s a good decision you made there’. And next thing he knows, on TV, here’s a blonde, blue-eyed man getting it. And whether that was conscious or not on the part of the people that made that decision, within the government of the story, it certainly is making a statement.”
[Time Stamp: 22:36]
RELATED: ‘Thunderbolts’ Writer Says NYC Heroes Like Spider-Man, Daredevil Absent From Climactic Sentry Fight Because Of “Void Space” Rules
Pressed by Abramovitch if this was truly “all how it went down?”, Russell pushed back, “No, I don’t think so.”
“I mean, that’s, like, Wikipedia bullshit,” the actor said. “He’s a white guy in the comics and he’s an overzealous war hero turned superhero by the government in the void left by Steve Rogers (played by Chris Evans). And Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) didn’t want the shield and so they needed somebody to take it. And they hired this guy who is a decorated war veteran, and all of his insecurities when he takes the superhero serum come to the surface.”
“That was what I found interesting about the character,” Russell added. “You can play an insecure superhero who’s still good at his job, but needs to learn things about himself to become fully realized.”
“So there’s an arc I can play over however many series or movies and still make the character interesting,” he ultimately asserted. “And that’s what I enjoyed about it. The John Walker I played in Falcon and the Winter Soldier in 2020 is completely different version than the guy in Thunderbolts* and I think will be completely different again in Avengers: Doomsday.”
NEXT: Sentry Creator Imagined ‘Thunderbolts’ Member “Could Be For People Struggling With Mental Health What Black Panther Was For People Of Color”
More About:Movies
