Most of us know Comic-Con as the huge annual event in San Diego. What a lot of people don’t realize is that there are numerous other Comic-Cons that take place all over the world. So that means totally different demographics of attendees, which means the shows and movies that are popular in one area might not be as big a deal in another. It’s easy to forget that everyone doesn’t watch and enjoy the same things as you. So if they don’t watch the show, then they’re probably not going to recognize the cast.
Two years ago I was at a Midwestern Comic-Con visiting my friend Sam Huntington, who was there signing autographs after his show “Being Human” had wrapped. The crowd was fairly large. It obviously wasn’t as big as San Diego, but then again, no other Comic-Con is. So with this amount of people, every event, panel and speaker should have a packed room. It’s always interesting to see which celebrities have long lines of people waiting in line for autographs. The big draws for this one were Stan Lee, Matt Smith and Karen Gillan from “Doctor Who,” and, as always, the cast of “The Walking Dead.” Jason Momoa from “Game of Thrones” drew a crowd because the show was really starting to take off and WWE’s Randy Orton seemed to always have a huge line. But many of the other guests, who are certainly recognizable faces and names, only had a few people waiting at any given time. Some people simply may not have wanted to pay $25 for a signed photo of a celebrity they didn’t really follow, but many attendees simply had no idea who they were at all.
So begins the sad, sad tale of Anthony Mackie’s Midwestern Comic-Con experience.
Anthony Mackie is a wonderful actor and has appeared in numerous award-winning and successful films. He was a part of “Captain America,” “The Hurt Locker,” “Million Dollar Baby,” “Ant Man,” “The Avengers” and that movie where an all-knowing artificial intelligence is trying to ruin Shia LaBeouf’s life. Certainly, being booked for a Comic-Con as one of the featured celebrities would be a big deal. Here Mackie is, an up-and-coming star and a major part of the Marvel universe. Why wouldn’t he be excited for this?
Thankfully for me, Sam’s booth was next to Anthony Mackie’s booth. Sam had people come up who were fans of “Being Human” and some who remembered him from his childhood movies like “Jungle 2 Jungle.” It’s funny watching people meet and interact with celebrities because, as much as people think they’re playing it cool, most of them just come off like total doofuses. They either just list off their IMDb page, ask questions like, “Was it fun making that movie?” or fight through their nerves to quietly ask for a picture with them and then scamper off. It’s charming in small doses, but I’m sure after a while it can get a little old.
For the first 30 minutes I was there, not a single person walked up to Anthony Mackie’s booth. I mean, it’s not like everyone else was swarmed, but it seemed odd that no one was coming over. You could see his frustration growing. The small talk between him and his guys in the booth became less and less.
But then finally, someone walked up! It was a dad with his young son. He saw Captain America on the backdrop and said, “Oh is Chris Evans going to be here? My son LOVES Captain America!” Anthony Mackie politely smiled and told him no, but he’s here. The dad clearly had no idea who he was but tried to play along for a minute. “Hey look Elliott. Do you know who that is?” The kid, who was probably eight years old, had no clue. “That’s Captain America’s friend!” You could actually see Anthony Mackie’s soul leaving his body through his eyeballs. There was this awkward moment where absolutely no one wanted to be there, but also no one knew how to leave. The dad finally said something like, “Well the little guy’s getting a little feisty so I’d better keep him moving.” The kid wasn’t getting feisty at all. He was the most well-behaved kid on the planet.
Then Anthony Mackie started doing this thing where he would aggressively sign his pictures for no one in particular. He was silently letting out all of his frustration via his Sharpie. After he’d sign one, he’d slap it down on the stack of the others. A couple of other people wandered by and politely glanced at his booth, but for some reason, no one here had any idea who he was. It was baffling to me.
Then it happened.
A super fan spotted his booth and marched over to it. You could see Mackie light up because, well, that’s the reason he was there. This woman fan was middle-aged and sort of looked like Peter Griffin from “Family Guy,” if that makes any sense. She was going on and on about how great of an actor he is and how she’s seen so many of his movies and is just so excited to meet him. This was making that 30 minutes of silence fade away. This was making the dad with that fake feisty kid vanish into oblivion where they belonged. This was making it all worth it.
But then, she said this: “I loved you in those superhero movies, but I never miss an episode of ‘House of Lies.'” He looked puzzled for a second. She could tell, and tried to recover. “Oh! And that ‘Hotel Rwanda’ movie was incredible.”
She was talking about Don Cheadle. She thought he was Don Cheadle. He politely told her that she was thinking of someone else and she was sort of embarrassed but probably not as embarrassed as she should have been. Also it was sort of racist, but that’s a whole other set of issues. She said, “Well I’m going to have to be sure to watch some of your movies too, huh?” I wasn’t even involved in the conversation and it was so uncomfortable that I felt like crawling under the table and dying. She walked away and as soon as she was out of sight, Anthony Mackie said, “I think I’m gonna take a break.”
That was the last I saw of Anthony Mackie the rest of the day. God bless him for keeping a smile on his face through the whole ordeal. If you attend a Comic-Con and he’s there, go by and say hello. I’m sure he’d appreciate it.
As long as you don’t call him Don Cheadle.
Photos via Getty Images
