We all remember watching Avengers: Endgame for the first time – and we all remember our reaction to seeing Steve Rogers face off against Thanos's army all on his own. At least until those portals opened, and the blipped half of the MCU triumphantly returned to stand at his side, led by Anthony Mackie's Sam Wilson.
It's a huge moment Mackie himself draws on when GamesRadar+ meets with him in London to discuss Captain America: Brave New World, his first solo outing as the new Cap.
Mackie has previously said that Brave New World is "old-school Marvel," and when we asked him what about the movie makes him think that, he reflected on Endgame's emotional conclusion.
"Marvel has a very amazing system," he tells us. "And you know when you're in a Marvel movie, the first 20 minutes is the setup with a crazy action piece, right? And then you get into the bread and the butter and the meat of the story, and because now you're invested in these characters, you get to build and emotionally evolve with the characters to the point of the precipice, of the mass crescendo, where all of it could go wrong or all of it could go right, and that climax is what captures you with a Marvel movie.
"And I think we've seen it so many times. I feel like the best moment of it in cinematic history is the moment when Steve Rogers walks out on a cliff, we've all been blipped away, and you see him facing Thanos's army," he continues. "That one shot. Everybody in the theater went, 'Oh no!' And then everybody cheered. 'Yo Cap, can you hear me?' [Cheers] That emotional climax? Marvel has made it a science. And I feel like this movie does it extremely well. And Julius [Onah] as our director crafted it in a brilliant way with this movie."
Captain America: Brave New World sees Mackie return as Sam, with Danny Ramirez returning as Joaquin Torres – AKA the new Falcon – and Harrison Ford as President Ross, AKA Red Hulk.
The Marvel Phase 5 movie hits theaters this February 14. In the meantime, check out our guide to all the upcoming Marvel movies and shows for everything else the MCU has in store, or see our guide to watching the Marvel movies in order to plan a marathon.
