Now that Anthony Mackie is part of the Marvel movie universe, you would have thought that he is able to look after himself when it comes to shooting the myriad of action scenes he is involved in. Unfortunately it doesn’t sound as if that’s the case. Mackie, who played Falcon in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, admitted that while he was filming the blockbuster, he was knocked out cold while trying to land after flying.
Anthony Mackie told his story to Access Hollywood in his usual energetic fashion. After being asked if he filmed any stunts for the sequel he explained, "I did a bunch of the stuff leading up to the other stunts." It was at this point that he admitted that the one big stunt that he did try to film resulted in him running head first into a parked car. Anthony Mackie’s interviewer then insisted that she needed to know further details regarding his brush with death. This forced Mackie, to go on the defensive, proclaiming that he was tricked into his accident because he didn’t have a clue how to fly. He then noted that when you add the fact that he had to also "land, walk, talk and stop" as part of the scene, it was always a recipe for disaster.
However he wasn’t close to concluding his version of events. Anthony Mackie went into intimate detail about what occurred, and it really sounds as if he should sue Marvel for a lot of money.
They pull me up 40 feet off the ground. And I’m like, ‘This doesn’t feel right.’ They let me go and I’m coming down at Mach 2. I look at Chris [Evans’] face and he goes, ‘You’re going to die.’ Like he looked at me with concern like, ‘You’re going to die.’ I’m flying in and I’m trying to tuck my junk under me so I can put my feet down and walk. But my junk won’t tuck. So I end up tackling Chris and he moves and I go face first … I miss Chris and go face first into a parked van. At that point I realised I had the best stuntman in Hollywood."
You can check out a clip of Falcon battling alongside Captain America below. There's a good chance that Anthony Mackie wasn't involved in any of the filming for these scenes, though.
Fortunately for Mackie the production staff on Captain America: The Winter Soldier took the fact that he’d just been "punched in the face by a van" as a sign that he shouldn’t film anymore of his own stunts. I’m just disappointed that Captain America himself, Chris Evans, wasn’t able to swoop in and save him. What sort of superhero leaves his BFF to get injured by a parked car?
