Check Out Anthony Mackie as Falcon in New 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier' Images

There are always reasons to get excited for Marvel flicks, but what has me really amped up about Captain America: The Winter Soldier is the introduction of Anthony Mackie into the fold. He'll be taking on one of my personal favorite characters in Falcon, one of Captain America's closest friends and more than just another sidekick. Coming off Empire's recently-released images, a handful of new ones have been found, and among them is a better look at Falcon's militarized costume which looks nothing like the bird-inspired one he sports in the comics.

There's also another image of Robert Redford as a SHIELD higher-up, and I'm not convinced he's totally on the side of the good guys. Plus we see Frank Grillo as Crossbones, who I'm hoping will sport his awesome skull mask at some point. If there's reason to think the controversial "Death of Captain America" storyline may happen, it's having Crossbones around. We shall see.

Starring Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson, Sebastian Stan, Emily VanCamp, Cobie Smulders, Georges St-Pierre, Hayley Atwell, Toby Jones, and Maximiliano Hernández, Captain America: The Winter Soldier opens April 4th.