Twisted Metal has just premiered on the UK version of Paramount+ and Radio Times recently caught up with lead star Anthony Mackie. The show has a so-so 69% Rotten Tomatoes score and, like many streaming titles, it came and went last summer before being largely forgotten.
That's unfortunate for Mackie, though he does have Captain America: Brave New World on the horizon. After wielding the shield for the first time in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, the actor is going to suit up as the MCU's new Captain America in his own movie.
However, it sounds like Mackie is all too aware of the restrictions a Marvel Studios role brings with it.
"I would say the Marvel thing is completely different, just because it's such a space of controlled entertainment," he said when the site asked if his MCU work prepared him for the video game adaptation. "Like, there's only so much you can do. There's only so much creativity you can bring to the table, because Stan Lee gave us so much content.
"Whereas with this [Twisted Metal], it was like, 'There's a guy and a girl...go!' So we were really able to build the world around it."
Asked if that sort of freedom meant he and his fellow producers could shake things up in Twisted Metal by introducing new characters and unexpectedly killing people, Mackie added, "Exactly. And that's the hard thing about the Marvel universe. It's like, you can't really go outside of the lines of those comic books."
He added, "You know, when we introduced the Falcon, and the growth of the Falcon to Captain America, all of that had to coincide with what Stan had already gave us. So it's an interesting juggle to be a part of that world. And this was more like, 'Let's just have fun and figure it out as we go.'"
It doesn't appear as if Mackie is too bothered by the constraints of his MCU role, but is clearly well aware that "creative freedom" and "Marvel Studios" don't exactly go hand-in-hand!
Assuming they all make the cut following this summer's planned reshoots, Captain America: Brave New World stars Anthony Mackie, Harrison Ford, Danny Ramirez, Carl Lumbly, Tim Blake Nelson, Shira Haas, Liv Tyler, and WWE Superstar Seth Rollins.
Julius Onah helms the movie from a screenplay by Malcolm Spellman and Dalan Musson, though the director is believed to have also taken a pass at it. Matthew Orton, meanwhile, has written new scenes for the reshoots which are taking place later this year.
Captain America: Brave New World is set to arrive in theaters on February 14, 2025.