Looking out for his partner in crime! Anthony Mackie had some sound advice for David Harbour when it came to working with pal Sebastian Stan — and warned him not to take anything too personally.
“Sebastian is a very nice person. Don’t take his quietness and standoffishness as him being mean or rude,” Mackie, 44, told Entertainment Tonight when asked if he had any words of wisdom for Harbour, 47, who is set to star alongside Stan, 40, in Marvel’s upcoming ensemble film Thunderbolts. “You just have to warm him up a little bit. You know, give him some almond butter, talk to him a little bit. He’ll be fine.”
Mackie and Stan got acquainted working together in various films throughout the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes, respectively, with their most recent project being Disney+’s 2020 fantasy series Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Harbour, for his part, made his MCU debut as Alexi Shostakov — also known as Red Guardian — in 2021’s Black Widow.
Now, the Stranger Things star and Gossip Girl alum will reprise their respective roles in the franchise’s Thunderbolts alongside Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belva, Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine and Wyatt Russell’s John Walker. While the project is still in early development, it will follow the band of misfits as they are recruited to go on missions for the government.
While speaking at the Marvel Studios panel at the D23 expo in September 2022, the Violent Night star explained that he was highly anticipating his character’s possible wardrobe changes.
“I was told I would get a new suit,” he joked. “I don’t wanna say the f-word, but I am really psyched about that! You watch Captain America and you see him in all these different movies and you see him with all these different [costumes] with a white star, a black star — just a full closet of suits — so I’m well on my way.”
Marvel CEO Kevin Feige, meanwhile, told Entertainment Weekly earlier this month that fans will be excited to see Stan lead what promises to be a chaotic group of anti-heroes.
“What’s fun about that, and I sort of said this at D23, is that they are barely heroes. None of them would consider themselves heroes. When your de facto leader is Bucky Barnes, that’s sort of all you need to know,” he explained. “That’s the trickle down.”
Mackie, for his part, will be busy taking on the Captain America mantle in the star-spangled superhero’s fourth film. Chris Evans, who portrayed the character for the first four phases in the MCU, has been open about his support of the Black Mirror alum’s promotion after stepping down from the role.
“No one better to do it. I mean, [Mackie] honestly does it justice,” Evans, 41, told Yahoo in June 2022. “I’m so proud of him. I can’t wait to see what they do in the future with it, but if there’s any tear shed, it’s just for the sweet memories I had.”
