Marvel's Anthony Mackie points out racism in 'Black Panther'

Anthony Mackie is urging Marvel to hire people for a project not based on their skin colour but on their skills and capabilities after he noticed the underlying racism in "Black Panther."

Mackie, who plays Marvel's Sam Wilson a.k.a. The Falcon, spoke up about the inherent racism and the lack of diversity in the entertainment industry in an interview with "Snowpiercer" lead Daveed Diggs for Variety's Actors on Actors issue. A conversation about the Black Lives Matter movement (BLM) prompted Diggs to ask the actor about his interactions on the movement, especially given the BLM protests happening across the U.S.

"I find a lot of my interactions are just trying to make things better in the gigs I have in front of me — how can I affect different kinds of representation? What is the thing you feel compelled to do? What is your participation in this moment?" Mackie replied.

The 41-year-old Louisiana native then opened up about racism in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He said that in the many years that he has been working with Marvel, it bothered him that most of the films' cast and crew that were hired were white.

"It really bothered me that I've done seven Marvel movies where every producer, every director, every stunt person, every costume designer, every PA, every single person has been white," he pointed out.

Mackie mentioned that Marvel only had one black producer so far, and his name was Nate Moore. He produced the blockbuster movie "Black Panther," which obviously is an ensemble of black actors. He even viewed the film as "racist" and enumerated his reasoning behind this observation.

"But then when you do 'Black Panther,' you have a black director, black producer, a black costume designer, a black stunt choreographer. And I'm like, that's more racist than anything else. Because if you only can hire the black people for the black movie, are you saying they're not good enough when you have a mostly white cast?" he explained.

Mackie then challenged Marvel with his "big push" that the studios consider diversity and "hire the best person for the job." He believes that this will eventually "build a new generation of people who can put something on their résumé to get them other jobs."