‘The Falcon And The Winter Soldier’ Star Anthony Mackie Didn’t Know What An Easter Egg Is Until.. When?

Despite being a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe for the better part of a decade, Anthony Mackie only just learned what an Easter egg is this week. For the record, we’re not talking about literal Easter eggs, even though the holiday is just around the corner, we’re talking about visual references or seemingly throwaway lines that have a hidden meaning to diehard fans. While The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (so far) has nowhere near the amount of Easter eggs as WandaVision, the Disney+ series does have its share of Marvel clues, but Mackie and Sebastian Stan won’t totally nerd out over them.

While calling in to The Jess Cagle Show, Mackie responded to a question about fan theories by revealing that he only recently learned about Easter eggs, which blew away host Julia Cunningham, who couldn’t believe he’s only just now hearing about them despite doing Marvel films for so long. But Mackie offered a pretty logical explanation.

“We don’t go around saying, “Yo, you saw that Easter egg'” he said. “That’s just not a conversation you have as an actor.”

Mackie’s explanation makes sense. As an actor, his job is to say the lines and worry about his performance in the scene, so he’s not going to be paying attention to every detail in the background that might not even be there because it was added in post-production. As for Stan, he offered a much more blunt explanation.

“We try not to think about it as much as you think we do,” Stan responded. “I have like this weird thing to say, it’s like a very strange thing, but we are actually not these characters. I mean, I know that’s just got to be so fascinatingly interesting to decipher, but we’re not these characters.”

In other words, don’t ask Sebastian if Bucky is Mephisto.