Captain America may well become Anthony Mackie’s most iconic role when his first solo movie hits theaters, but Sam Wilson has to compete with the actor’s unforgettable character from The Hurt Locker. Throughout his storied acting career, Mackie has given a wide range of performances in a variety of projects. He played Tupac Shakur in Notorious, Martin Luther King, Jr. in All the Way, a gang leader in 8 Mile, a post-apocalyptic milkman in Twisted Metal, and a rebel on the run in a dystopian future in Altered Carbon.
Although he started out playing Steve Rogers’ sidekick, the Falcon, Mackie is set to become one of the biggest players in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as he takes on Steve’s mantle in his own solo adventure, Captain America: Brave New World. Mackie’s first solo MCU outing will arrive in theaters on February 14. In the meantime, one of Mackie’s best previous movies is available to stream on Prime Video.
Six years before making his Marvel debut, Mackie appeared alongside fellow Avenger Jeremy Renner in Kathryn Bigelow’s nail-biting war thriller The Hurt Locker. This gripping movie revolves around an Explosive Ordnance Disposal team in Iraq, getting targeted by insurgents. The film explores the deep psychological impact of the stress and trauma of warfare, with Mackie playing Sergeant J.T. Sanborn. This character often clashes with Renner’s Staff Sergeant William James because he prefers to defuse devices by hand and does not always inform his team about his plans.
The Hurt Locker boasts a near-perfect Rotten Tomatoes score of 96%. At the 2010 Academy Awards, the film was nominated for nine Oscars and won six, including Best Picture, Best Director for Bigelow, and Best Original Screenplay for Mark Boal. Boal drew on his experiences as a war correspondent to depict the combat as accurately as possible, making The Hurt Locker a shockingly visceral depiction of the conflict in Iraq. The film captures the war on a human level, focusing on the characters’ relationships and their responses to constant loss and near-death experiences.
While Sam Wilson is a likable Marvel hero with some memorable one-liners, Sanborn is a more three-dimensional and complex character. Although Sam has experienced some interesting internal conflict since Steve gave him his shield and title, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier did not delve deeply enough into that conflict. In contrast, The Hurt Locker presents deeper dramatic themes and offers richer character development than any Marvel movie. Sanborn’s conflicts with James—and his internal struggles—make him one of Anthony Mackie’s most fascinating roles.