With Captain America 4 inbound, Anthony Mackie is going to be in the spotlight as one of the new faces of an MCU in need of a shot in the arm. Alasdair Stuart has loved his work as Sam Wilson from the start, and the determined, hard-travelling decency Mackie brings to the role is a perfect fit for the shield. As a performer he’s also got years of genre experience in a wide variety of fun roles. Some, including his work on Altered Carbon, are well known. The following aren’t. But deserve to be.

Outside the Wire (Netflix)

The movie is set in the middle of a Russian-sponsored Ukranian civil war, a choice that at the time was far more science fictional than it is now.

Harp (Damson Idris) is an American drone pilot who makes an impossible call. He’s pulled from his distanced job and put in the frontlines with Leo (Mackie). In short order he learns Leo is an advanced combat android and that Leo has plans which will take them both out into the warzone.

Netflix produced a bevy of these mid-level SF movies a while back and Mackie was a big part of two of the best of them. This role is a chance for him to show his teeth, and he has a lot of fun as a man who balances fanaticism with idealism and his own uniquely violent skill base. This would make a fascinating double bill with any of his Captain America work.

Synchronic (Available to buy through Amazon Prime, Apple TV and Sky Store. Also on DVD and Blu-ray)

Steve (Mackie) and Dennis (Jamie Dornan), are New Orleans paramedics investigating a series of overdoses due to a new designer drug. When Steve accidentally gets a dose of it they discover two things; that the drug alters the user’s perception of time and gives you the ability to travel through it.

Every single movie from writing and directing duo Benson and Moorhead is worth your time and this is no exception. Mackie and Dornan are an excellent double act, and the movie delivers a take on time travel that’s deeply rooted in New Orleans and life as a black man. Mackie is superb as a man struggling with selflessness, mortality and the chance to do something impossible, brilliant and truly right. Watch this, then every other movie they’ve done.

Io (Netflix)

Sam (Margaret Qualley) lives on an Earth close to abandonment because of pollution. She’s continuing her father’s work on bees that can survive in the new air, when a storm devastates her compound. The same storm brings Micah (Mackie), a balloonist into her life. He’s heading for the last shuttle to Io Station where most of humanity has fallen back to. Do they stay and try and save the world? Or flee with everyone else?

A gentle, character-driven dance around a quiet apocalypse. Mackie excels at this sort of quiet, stoical fundamentally decent man and Qualley, just before her hugely impressive current run of work (Everyone should watch Drive-Away Dolls especially) is excellent as the lead.

Black Mirror: Striking Vipers (Netflix)

One of those Black Mirror episodes that doesn’t get talked about enough. Mackie, along with Yahya Adbul-Mateen II and Nicole Beharie anchor a fascinating and weirdly sweet story about gender identity and sexuality in the near future.

Danny (Mackie) and Karl (Adbul-Mateen II) are best friends who love to play martial arts video game Striking Vipers. Danny is in a happy relationship with Theo (Nicole Beharie). But as he and Karl reconnect through the game, and become intimate, their perceptions of their own identities and sexuality begin to evolve.

A considered, complex episode with five excellent performances at its core that continues the conversation Black Mirror often has about sexuality and digital life.

Mackie is one of those performers who’s always good. Outside genre I’d cite his sterling early supporting work in 8 Mile and Million Dollar Baby. Inside genre, and the MCU, his work as Sam Wilson has been exemplary. I’m really looking forward to seeing where he takes the character and on the 14th, we find out.