Anthony Mackie, who will play Falcon in the upcoming "Captain America: Civil War" alongside lead Chris Evans, made his stand clear when he made a statement that the race of the person to helm the "Black Panther" film was not important.

Mackie's statement came amid the topic on whether a black filmmaker should take over the tutelage of the Marvel's 2018 standalone film.

The 37-year-old actor stated that the director's job was to tell a story, Entertainment Weekly learned. That said, what evidently mattered to Mackie was the director's ability to relay a story and do justice with it.

Anthony Mackie's Falcon will fly to the big screen in 2016 when "Captain America: Civil War" premieres. But did you know that he was originally interested in playing the Black Panther?

For years the "Avengers: Age of Ultron" star dreamed of becoming the Black Panther Black Panther, but the role eventually landed on Chadwick Boseman. If you didn't know that then you might have not known these five facts about the actor behind Captain America's so-called sidekick.

1. He still supports the Black Panther.

There are no hard feelings here. Despite not being cast as T'Challa, the King of Wakanda, "Captain America: Civil War's" Falcon still shows his support with the Boseman, the character and his upcoming "Black Panther" movie, as per Cinemablend.

2. Bodybuilding changed the "Captain America: Civil War "actor's lifestyle.

Part of his preparation for the "Pain & Gain" is to become fit. A good friend of his, who is a bodybuilder, helped him and he revealed that the experience changed every aspect of his life.

He told Games Radar that he couldn't eat his usual diet and had to get an eight-hour sleep. He had to eat 3,500 to 4,000 calories, run three to four miles and went to the gym twice a day.

3. Mackie thought he was in good shape, until he stood next to Dwayne Johnson.

"When I showed up everybody was like, 'Damn, you're really big.' Dwayne showed up and they were like, 'Uhhh, you need to grow some more," he shared.

Johnson, apparently, have some challenging appeal on Mackie as he revealed that he started hitting the gym hard once he stood next to the "Fast & the Furious 7" star.

4. He didn't know he would be in "Ant-Man" - how's that possible?

The "Captain America: Civil War" actor did not know when he was in Paul Rudd's movie, he told The Daily Beast. Mackie revealed that he got a call from Kevin Fiege asking him what he was doing over the next weekend.

The same thing happened with Avengers. He also received a call asking what he would be doing in two weeks.

5. He views himself as a self-starter.

Anthony Mackie shared with Oprah.com that he was raised having the idea not letting someone tell him what he can or cannot do. So instead of becoming an engineer, he decided to move to New York and be an actor.