New Captain America actor admits to knowing nothing about Marvel

Spoiler warning: Do not read ahead if you haven’t started watching The Falcon and The Winter Soldier.

Following on from the success of WandaVision, Marvel’s next television series sees fans reunite with two other Avengers, Sam Wilson aka The Falcon and Bucky Barnes aka The Winter Soldier for another adventure in the MCU.

However, an unfamiliar face in a very familiar costume is also along for the ride.

In the absence of Steve Rogers, a new individual has been given the mantle of Captain America, much to the chagrin of Rogers friends, Sam and Bucky, played by Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan respectively.

The new Captain, John Walker (also known as US Agent in Marvel comics) is played by Wyatt Russell, the son of Hollywood legends Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell, who also starred in the MCU as Ego, the villain in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2.

Read more:

• Chinese takeaway goes viral for savage responses to customers
• Man’s marriage proposal brutally rejected in front of a busy shopping mall
• David Lammy hailed for perfect response to caller who says he’ll ‘never be English’
• 35 of the funniest memes about the Ever Given
• Lady Gaga’s dog walker posts an emotional update after lung removal

However, in a recent interview with Jimmy Kimmel, Russell revealed that, despite getting the role, he really doesn’t know anything about the MCU.

“When I was growing up I didn’t know much about comic books” Russell explained, adding “My heroes were athletes so when I came on set I was asking ‘what does that mean?’ ‘who’s that person?’ ‘how do they fit in?’ Finally, Sebastian stepped in and told me to stop asking so many questions and confusing myself.”

Kimmel then asks the actor if there was ever a point where he had to pretend like he knew what was going on to impress the bosses. The 34-year-old admitted that he tried to wing knowing the entire history of the MCU and why his character is now Captain America – but after 15 minutes he decided to give up the charade and say: “I’m really sorry. I don’t know any of this.”

Fortunately, this didn’t seem to dent Russell’s chances of getting the role and he even adds that it works for the character as he is new and perhaps naively believes he can fill the iconic boots of Steve Rogers. Russell does admit that it was “semi-embarrassing” to be sitting in the Marvel office and admitting that he doesn’t know anything about the universe he’s about to be joining but he does redeem himself by correctly naming what Captain America’s shield is made out of (Vibranium, in case you were wondering).

You can watch the full interview in the video below.

More: The memes that brought us some joy in the darkest times of the pandemic