Well.. even though there hasn't been an official announcement of this, I guess we can go ahead and say that Anthony Mackie is no longer "in talks" to play Falcon in the Captain America sequel; in the below interview with MTV, star Chris Evans pretty much confirms that Mackie is definitely going to play Falcon in the movie.

A quick recap… last August (2011), Chris Markus and Stephen McFeely, screenwriters of Captain America: The First Avenger, revealed what their hopes were for the sequel to that movie, stating that they were intrigued by the chance to explore some of the latter-day additions to the Captain America mythos, like his sidekick The Falcon, one of comics’ first black superheroes.

“I want both of them… Falcon is awesome. We can't play with time so much to have Cap go back to Harlem in the '70's and clean up the streets, but it would be awesome to go straight up, like, 'Shaft' with Cap and the Falcon.”

So said Markus in an interview with NBC Miami's Popcorn Biz program.

Fast-forward to July 2012, when it was announced that Mackie was "in negotiations" to star as Falcon, alongside Chris Evans in the sequel to Captain America: The First Avenger (to be titled Winter Soldier), which is being directed by Joe and Anthony Russo (recall that F. Gary Gray was once in the mix to helm the film, but dropped out of contention to focus on the NWA biopic).

Stan Lee introduced Falcon in Captain America #117 (September 1969),calling him "the first African American superhero."

The character, Sam Wilson, is Harlem-based and had many street adventures with Cap in the 1970s comics, when he served as his partner. In current comics, Falcon is a key player in many of Cap's espionage adventures.

His superhero abilities include: an empathic link with his pet falcon, has the ability to see through the eyes of nearby birds, can fly, is skilled in martial artist, and is a gymnast.

Winter Soldier will center heavily on the apparent resurrection of Bucky Barnes, played in Captain America: The First Avenger by Sebastian Stan.

As MTV notes:

In the comics, Bucky resurfaces in the form of a brainwashed Russian assassin known as the Winter Soldier, and it's up to his old partner and friend Steve Rogers to bring him back to the side of the angels. Exactly how faithful the Marvel Studios film plans to stick to that source material remains to be seen, but actor Chris Evans insists that the seeds for "Winter Soldier" were planted long ago.

And how involved will Falcon be in the story? That remains to be seen as well.

Marvel has set a release date of April 4, 2014.