An Interview with Captain America’s Carl Lumbly

I recently spoke with actor, Carl Lumbly to talk about his career and about his most recent film project is, “Captain America: Brave New World,” where he returns playing Isaiah Bradley.

Carl shares the same publicist as Benjamin Byron Davies who I spoke with earlier for The Game of Nerds. It was truly a treat and honor, definitely nerding out as I am a huge fan of “Alias” so to me, he will always be Dixon, the partner to spy, Sydney Bristow. So without further ado, read along for the interview: 

Tara 

You are here for Captain America, which is back, but not with Steve Rogers. And so is your character who was introduced on screen from the mini-series, “Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” Isaiah Bradley.

So for people who might need a refresher or might not know, Isaiah Bradley was given the super serum along with other African-American men during the Korean War. And this is also based on true stories, unfortunately. It was based on the Tuskegee Experiment, where African-American men with syphilis, were promised treatments and free medical care. And for 40 years, they actually were not. There was no justice and many of them ended up dying.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this film is coming out in February, which is also Black History Month. So I was curious about how you personally, as well as the film, do any research or how you decide not to shy away from this part of American history of wrongdoing, particularly against African-American people, and also still honor and move forward?

Carl Lumbly

Well, I think I have to credit Marvel for that because it was their conception. So the timeline is there was project rebirth and in that, Steve Rogers accidentally became a super soldier and the same individuals who conducted that project broke off and decided to form the super soldier project utilizing testing on black GIs only to determine the right dosage of the serum and unfortunately in trying to find that proper dosage, 300 soldiers were killed and seven, I believe, made it out, Isaiah’s character being one of them. 

They sent him on a mission and it was not expected that he would survive. But he went in because like so many black men of that era, he not only believed in this country and loved this country, which I think is a key reason. I think it’s very appropriate that this film is coming out during not only Black History Month, but on Valentine’s Day.

He was a young man who left a pregnant wife and while he was away she gave birth to his daughter, and he never met the daughter. So that was the kind of sacrifice that was potentially possible but that he was willing to make because not only for love of country but for love of self and love for his people and a belief that in curing the racial problem it would cure America and I think that belief is still true and still here.

Sam Wilson is atypical and no, he doesn’t have the serum but I think he has something much more important.

He has the love, he has the heart, he comes from social work and he wants to right wrongs, allow voices that are unheard to be heard, and see if we don’t have other ways of bringing ourselves together through listening and finding the same love that we have inside ourselves and other people.

Tara 

Before we move on to other things, if you don’t mind, is there anything that you wanted to share about this film and the trajectory of how Marvel has moved on or Captain America or what it represents, not just Steve Rogers to Sam Wilson, to the introduction of Isaiah?

Carl Lumbly

Well, first I’ll share that I was never a comic book person, this is all kind of a brand new world for me. One of the things that I think is underestimated about what Marvel does is that I think the theme of love runs through this entire universe.

People looking for love, people who are betrayed in love, people who have all this love to give and no place to put it, people who don’t have all of the powers or all of the resources, but because they are so grounded in this sense of all of us sharing this common urge, which is an urge to love, to be safe, to be protected, to understand those kinds of things. I believe if you can elicit that in people, that is a superpower. So I think the Marvel world has a tremendous amount of fantastic things that are happening, but it is always bound by those relationships.

For me, approaching Isaiah from that standpoint, it becomes the challenge of if you have loved and been betrayed, do you have the capacity to love again?

From my brief time here in the Marvel world is that everyone has within them this capacity to be super heroic.

I remember when I was young and I read about this idea of hysterical strength a mother has when her child is pinned underneath the wheel of a car and without thinking, she runs and lifts the bumper of the car and she frees her child. What are we capable of? What is inside us when everything is meshed with a desire for safety, to see the safety of a loved one or for our own safety?

We have capacities within us. And that’s one of the brilliant things about Sam Wilson, Anthony Mackie’s Captain America, is that he’s maximizing that. And I suppose by suggestion that means if he, as a non-powered human being.

Tara

It’s been so great speaking with you and thank you so much for your time. Thank you.

Carl Lumby

Excellent. Well, thank you Tara. Good day to you.

For a longer interview where Carl and I spoke about his work on Alias, Doctor Sleep and other projects, you can listen or watch the MediaMaker Spotlight Podcast episode. It will be released on February 16th! 

Here is the trailer for Captain America: Brave New World which comes out in theaters February 14th.