When Anthony Mackie was 7 years old, his early aspiration was to simply perform at the kids tent at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.

But he easily leapfrogged that goal and, 24 years into his busy acting career, he is embracing a role he never imagined as a child who loved Christopher Reeves in the “Superman” movies: lead in “Captain America: Brave New World,” the Marvel film now in theaters.

“My grandfather was a sharecropper,” Mackie, 46, said in a recent interview. “My dad was a roofer. I’m Captain America. That’s the American dream. That’s why people come here. That’s why it’s the greatest country in the world.”

Acting, he said, enables him to interpret the written word in a way that inspires people and makes them think. “Captain America does all of that for me. It’s a nice little pin in my hat ... I can now say I played Papa Doc, Tupac, Martin Luther King Jr. and, now, Captain America.”

Mackie has been promoting the film in recent weeks in Europe and North America, stopping in Atlanta, where the film was produced, to meet with media members and Morehouse College students.

“Atlanta has meant a lot of different things for me at different points in my life,” Mackie said. “My brother went to Morehouse and Georgia Tech, so when I was a kid, the furthest place I’d go from home was Atlanta.”

He noted that key early scenes in “Brave New World” were shot at Tyler Perry Studios, where Perry built a replica of the White House for his BET+ show “The Oval” and has been used in films ranging from “Civil War” to Perry’s “Six Triple Eight.”

“It really meant a lot to stand on those grounds that Tyler Perry built from nothing,” he said. “You’re talking about someone who lived in a car and built himself up to who he is ... It meant a lot to all of us to shoot a part of this there. The idea of history. The idea of culture. The idea of charm in a city like Atlanta. It only adds to a movie like this.”

Being bestowed the Captain America title after years in a secondary role “was humbling, then emotional,” Mackie said. “I was cool with it until my first wardrobe fitting. When I saw myself in the costume, it got me.”

He said when Chris Evans as Steve Rogers handed off the shield to Mackie as Sam Wilson in 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame,” “he meant it. I didn’t take it as acting. I felt it. It was really just my first career out- of-body experience. It was my friend telling me, ‘Congrats, dude.’ Everyone in the world just happened to witness it.”

He acknowledged there is a contingent of fans who still have a hard time seeing Sam Wilson as Captain America and who gleefully jumped on this comment he made while promoting the new film in Italy: “To me Captain America represents a lot of different things and I don’t think the term ‘America’ should be one of those representations. It’s about a man who keeps his word, who has honor, dignity and integrity. Someone who is trustworthy and dependable.”

Mackie later felt compelled to clarify his comment on social media, noting that he’s “a proud American and taking on the shield of a hero like CAP is the honor of a lifetime. I have the utmost respect for those who serve and have served our country.”

When asked in Atlanta about this, he took several seconds to ponder his answer. “It hurt because the reality of it is, Sam Wilson is the embodiment of the best parts of us. When we were shooting the movie, I spoke with (director) Julius (Onah) every day, and two words kept coming up: compassion and empathy. That represents Sam Wilson.”

This film features the very busy Harrison Ford as President Thaddeus Ross/Red Hulk, replacing the late William Hurt.

Early on in production, Mackie recalled sitting in a cooling tent with several of the other actors, aware that Ford was in a different VIP location set aside just for him. “We then see Harrison dragging his chair across set and come into our tent with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and starts talking,” Mackie said. “Danny (Ramirez, who co-stars as the new Falcon) whispered to me, ‘We’re eating peanut butter and jelly with Harrison Ford!’ ”

Although Mackie is the titular star of the film, he said Ford was the star on set. “It was (an) unusual experience for the star of the show to just come and kick it with the team,” he said. “He set the tone for the morale of the crew. We all knew that Harrison was one of us even without trying. It spoke volumes.”

It has been 17 years since the Marvel Cinematic Universe burst out of the gate with “Iron Man,” followed by hit after hit for more than a decade. Mackie’s Wilson was along for the ride as supporting superhero Falcon in several of those massive hits, from “Captain America: The First Avenger” in 2011 to “Avengers: Endgame.”

At the end of that film, Rogers passing the Captain America shield to Wilson was the first time a character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe bestowed a title to another. This led to the Disney+ series “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” as Wilson adjusted to life as Captain America. Now Mackie leads his own Marvel movie, “Captain America: Brave New World.”