Anthony Mackie got the 'Avengers: Endgame' script early but how?

Chris Evans has been the face of Captain America for nearly a decade. But now Anthony Mackie has stepped into his shoes.

It's a heavy responsibility, one the actor has carried for almost a decade.

Yet when Mackie first learned he was replacing Evans as Captain America, it came directly from the latter.

In an interview with Cigar Aficionado, the actor said, “Chris Evans is somebody who I hold near and dear."

He recalled, “We’re at Chris’ house, and because he’s Captain America, he gets the [script] pages first."

Mackie continued, So he’s like, ‘Yo, did you read the new scene?’ I’m like, ‘Nah, what’s up?’ So, he takes me down… and he gave me the script and let me read it."

"And it was really great and really emotional to learn it from a friend…I don’t know a lot of actors who would have appreciated or celebrated that moment with a fellow actor in that way because I was taking his job for all intents and purposes.”

Evans first appeared as Captain America in his namesake movie in 2011.

Mackie got the shield from his co-star at the end of Avengers: Endgame in 2019.