Who has the right to carry the shield? That’s the core of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier as Anthony Mackie‘s high-flying hero Falcon grapples with what it means to take on the mantle of Captain America.
The show answered the question a number of ways, sometimes by showing us who didn’t deserve to stand within that heroic identity. Sebastian Stan‘s Winter Soldier knew his past full of misdeeds made him unworthy, and Wyatt Russell‘s John Walker proved his temperament and arrogance made him perhaps the worst possible choice.
Carl Lumbly‘s Isaiah Bradley was an abused former soldier, experimented on against his will and imprisoned by the very country he fought to protect. He told Mackie’s Sam Wilson bluntly: “They will never let a Black Man be Captain America. And even if they did, no self-respecting Black Man would ever want to be.”
The 73-year-old actor, best known for his work on Cagney & Lacey, Alias, and The Shining sequel Doctor Sleep, spoke with Vanity Fair‘s Still Watching podcast about the qualities he believes someone should have if they take on the symbolism of being Captain America. (It starts below at the 33:30 mark.)
“Captain America should want to recruit the skills and the aspirations and the dreams of Americans, across the board,” Lumbly said. “His judgements about the way he goes about doing what he does should involve compassion, as well as … what’s the word? Efficiency. In dealing with things that should not be, he should take stands that he feels strongly about, and that perhaps not everyone might agree with.”
He suggested one other unexpected quality that particular hero should possess: “I think Captain America needs to be a listener. Of course, just to assess whatever he is being told and make decisions, but even more than that, to allow people to have a say.”
Lumbly was born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he worked for many years as a journalist before becoming a full-time actor. As a Black American, the son of immigrants, and a citizen from the city where Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd, he had powerful insights into the ideas The Falcon and The Winter Soldier was trying to explore, especially as the show and that real-life trial played out simultaneously.
How is he faring after the verdict? “There’s a tremendous amount of joy,” he said. “It might seem strange because when one looked at what one had as evidence, it’s hard to think that there could have been another verdict. Yet we know there not only could have been, but there have been other verdicts where things have been quite evident to us as viewers, but for one reason or another justice was not done.”
The outcome stirred a sense of pride and affection for the suffering his home town has endured. “There are all sorts of reasons that I have not been wildly enthusiastic about Minneapolis through my life. Winter is a part of that,” he joked. “But on this particular day, and I must say actually since the 25th of May last year,” when Floyd was killed, “I’m aware that I’ve been away from Minneapolis. I had been away for quite a while. And it had changed tremendously.
“I had all sorts of friends and acquaintances in Minnesota. There were some very good, good, good white people, some very, very good, good, good Black people, some excellent Native American people, Asian people, a mix of people. But the problem was always placed on the people of color. It was up to us. Our strides were applauded, but they were our strides. You know, we were running in a separate event. I think I’m proud of Minneapolis today because I think a lot of people are running in the same event and helping one another along.”
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