Disney has once again altered promotional material for Captain America: Brave New World in China, this time taking things even further by completely removing Anthony Mackie’s likeness from a stand-up marketing display. The display, meant to showcase Captain America in an action scene against Red Hulk, features the villain prominently, along with the iconic Captain America shield—but instead of showing Mackie’s face or even his silhouette, Disney has replaced him with a featureless red figure, scrubbing his skin color and identity entirely.
In China, they won’t even show that he’s Black. pic.twitter.com/mPcwZJnnDH
— AngryVet🇺🇸 (@AngryVet101) February 8, 2025
While the display serves as a photo op that allows fans to stand in Captain America’s place, it rings particularly strange and overly convenient in the Chinese market, given the country’s long and well-documented history of hiding Black actors.
This latest move doubles down on what we previously reported regarding the Chinese poster for Brave New World, which had already diminished Mackie’s presence.
A new Chinese Poster for ‘CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD’ has been released.#CaptainAmericaBraveNewWorld hits Theaters February 14! pic.twitter.com/enV8MB8tDv
— The Cine Geek (@CineGeekNews) January 20, 2025
The Chinese poster pushed him into the background, partially obscuring his face. Now, in this new display, they have erased him completely.
Disney’s Long History of Bowing to Chinese Censorship
This is not the first time Disney has altered promotional materials to appease Chinese audiences. The company, which frequently champions diversity and inclusion in the West, has consistently caved to China’s market preferences when it comes to minimizing Black actors in its films.
When Star Wars: The Force Awakens was released in 2015, John Boyega’s character Finn, a major lead in the film, was significantly shrunk and moved to the background in the Chinese poster, despite being prominently featured in the U.S. version. The move was widely criticized, as it was clear Disney made the change to cater to China’s well-documented racial biases.
Disney can only be SO progressive pic.twitter.com/kWPMXs6rJA
— Ritan Man (@ManRitan) February 9, 2025
Then there was the Chinese poster for Black Panther, which originally featured Chadwick Boseman’s face in the U.S. version. But in the Chinese version, his entire face was obscured by the Black Panther helmet. Given that Boseman’s face was already well-known worldwide, there was no practical reason to make this change—other than to hide his skin color.
Now, Disney is doing the same to Anthony Mackie, despite years of virtue signaling about their commitment to diversity and inclusion.
Disney’s Hypocrisy on Full Display
The contrast between Disney’s actions in the Chinese market and its behavior in Western countries couldn’t be more blatant. In the U.S. and Europe, Disney relentlessly pushes diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, race-swapping beloved characters, and using its platforms to lecture audiences about social justice. Yet, when it comes to China—one of the world’s largest film markets—Disney conveniently abandons all of its supposed values, catering instead to a regime and culture that has repeatedly shown hostility toward non-Chinese representation in film.
Captain America/Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) in Marvel Studios’ CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD, exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2024 MARVEL.
This kind of hypocrisy is nothing new. Disney was more than happy to thank Chinese government agencies that oversee the Uyghur internment camps during the production of Mulan, even as it postures as a champion of human rights in the West.
Simply put, Disney’s values seem to be for sale. They push DEI messaging when it suits them in Western markets but quietly erase actors of color when money is on the line overseas. This makes their entire “commitment to diversity” ring hollow. If Disney truly believed in representation, they wouldn’t be so quick to erase Anthony Mackie from the very film where he is meant to be the leading hero.
The erasure of Mackie in Chinese marketing sends a clear message—not just about Disney’s hypocrisy but also about how little they actually believe in the values they claim to stand for. When given the choice between protecting their bottom line and standing by the representation they force-feed to audiences in the U.S., they always choose the money.
Harrison Ford as the Red Hulk in Captain America: Brave New World – YouTube, Marvel Entertainment
READ: EXCLUSIVE: U.S. Government Paid Over $14 Million of Taxpayer Funds to Suspected Disney Subsidiary
If Disney were consistent, they would take a stand, refusing to make these kinds of changes no matter the market. But as we’ve seen time and time again, their so-called principles only apply when they aren’t financially inconvenient.
With Captain America: Brave New World already struggling to generate interest due to poor box office projections and controversial statements from Anthony Mackie himself, Disney’s latest move in China only further alienates audiences. Fans who are told that representation matters are now watching the company erase their own leading man from the film’s marketing materials to appease a foreign audience.
Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson/Captain America in Marvel Studios’ CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD. Photo by Eli Adé. © 2024 MARVEL.
The message is clear: Disney doesn’t actually care about diversity or representation. They only care when it makes them money. And when that money is threatened, they’re more than willing to erase the very people they claim to be championing.
What do you think about Disney’s Captain America marketing in China? Sound off in the comment section and let us know!
Based China.
We can expect Mackie to treat this more or less the same way John Cena did when they made him apologize for saying that Taiwan is a country.
Marxists are very well known for changing trailers and the like for false advertising. That’s why I come to sites like this: to find out the truth before any money might be wasted on their products.
A problem of Disney’s own making. I don’t think the concept of Captain America would work in China either way.
A more realistic movie for China would be Captain Soros and the Fake Tiananmen Massacre
lol I just told Disney to stop doing this in comments of another article
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