Anthony Mackie talks Falcon in 'Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier' and Michael B. Jordan as Human Torch in 'Fantastic Four' movie

Anthony Mackie portrays Falcon in Marvel's superhero sequel Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The actor recently spoke to HuffPost Live and discussed his role as Falcon, the casting of Michael B. Jordan as an African-American Human Torch in Fantastic Four and more.

First, Mackie talked about his emotions when Marvel tapped him to play the part.

"When Marvel gave me the opportunity to bring this character to life, I was so emotional and overjoyed at the opportunity of being a part of not only a franchise like that, but a studio like that," he said (via ComicBook.com). HuffPost Live asked if Mackie was a big comic book fan as a kid, and he replied, "No, I was a baseball kid. I was everything. I was a sports kid. I was never into comic books. I was never that kid." 

The discussion then turned to the controversial casting of Jordan as Johnny Storm/Human Torch in Josh Trank's Fantastic Four reboot, and Mackie defended the choice.

"No, no, no, he's there. Michael B. Jordan is a very good friend of mine," he said. "I've known him since he was a teenager, and I'm so happy, for more than anybody else for him to be getting the accolades he's getting, because he deserves it."

Mackie also encouraged fans to be open-minded with such casting choices:

"I think with these type of movies, everything else aside, you need a good actor. Michael B. Jordan is a good actor, black or white. So what you have to realize is, and go back and forth and just say, 'Superman can't fly, Batman ain't real, the Human Torch don't really set himself on fire and fly around the room, so he can look like whatever they want him to look like.' You just have to allow yourself to see him that way. And if you can't do that, that says something about you. As an audience member if you can't do that, you need to look at yourself, because there's something going on with you, that you might need some help with."

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