Let's just say Wyatt Russell did not get cast as John Walker in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier because of his extensive Marvel knowledge.
Instead, shockingly, he knew very little. "I didn't grow up knowing much about comic books," Wyatt, the son of Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn, admitted to Jimmy Kimmel on his show Monday, March 29. "My heroes were athletes."
Still, the actor tried not to show how out of the loop he was during the casting process for the new Captain America on the series...to little success. "They showed me a picture of the guy," Wyatt explained, "and I was like, 'Oh, alright. Yeah!'"
Eventually, however, he had to come clean. "Finally, about 15 minutes into the explanation of why I am who I am," he recalled, "I had to look at her and just go, 'I'm really sorry Zoie [Nagelhout]. I don't know any of this stuff.'"
Fortunately, they kindly explained from the beginning, though Wyatt still had questions on set. "When I came on set, I was asking like, 'Ok, what does that mean?' or 'Who's that person?' or 'How do they fit in?'" he said. "Finally Sebastian [Stan] was like, 'Dude, stop asking questions. You're going to get more confused than you are...When you get answers, it's going to be worse.'"
However, being a stranger to the Marvel Universe had one silver lining. "It kind of works for the character because he's new and he's not part of the old universe," Wyatt pointed out. Still, "It was semi-embarrassing to be in the Marvel office going 'I don't know.'"
Plus, putting on the Captain America suit for the first time did little to calm his worries. "It was 'Oh god, take it off,'" he joked to Jimmy, recalling looking in the mirror while in costume. "'You got the wrong guy. Send me back. You're gonna lose so much money!'"
For more of Wyatt's hilarious interview, watch it above!
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is streaming now on Disney+.