Falcon and Winter Soldier: John Boyega praises Marvel for ‘elevating’ Black characters in Disney+ series

Actor previously said that white characters were given ‘all the nuance’ in Star Wars sequels

John Boyega has praised Marvel for “elevating” Black characters in the Disney Plus series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

The actor has previously spoken out about the way he and Kelly Marie Tran were treated while appearing in Disney’s Star Wars sequels, claiming that white characters were given “all the nuance” while they were sidelined.

Appearing on Fresh Air on NPR on Wednesday (19 May), the actor credited Marvel for giving Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson (aka Falcon) many of the show’s most important scenes.

“The characters are only as good as the moments that you give them,” Boyega said.

“When we talk about Captain America and [Sam] kind of facing off against Thanos and his army, when you talk about these moments that are given to characters, it’s only because these moments are written by somebody. These moments are put in there on purpose to elevate characters.”

He continued: “We’ve got people now watching Falcon and the Winter Soldier and a lot of people have been commenting about the elevation of Falcon’s character in the series and how they’ve really done well with bringing him up, which I also agree as well. That’s because you give characters these special moments.”

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier ran for six episodes between March and April.

At the end of the series, Sam was seen assuming the mantle of Captain America, which was previously held in the Captain America films by Steve Rogers (Chris Evans).

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is available to stream on Disney Plus.