Erin Kellyman’s two most prominent roles to date have both been about her playing a masked rebel. In the first of the two roles, we saw her as Enfys Nest, the leader of a pirate band known as Cloud-Riders in Solo: A Star Wars Story.

And in her latest work, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, we see her as Karli Morgenthau, a gender-bent version of the original Karl Morgenthau, a.k.a Flag-Smasher.

While Kellyman is very much in her comfortable spot playing a masked rebel, the actress says she had been star-struck multiple times while filming for the show.

Kellyman Starstruck During Filming

Kellyman co-stars alongside Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s (MCU) latest series. As she is a part of the antagonist group, the Flag-Smashers, she faces off against Falcon and Winter Soldier multiple times.

And while she has done an excellent job portraying her character, Malcolm Spellman, the head writer of the show, described her as “glue for the series,” Kellyman says she was star-struck while filming the fight scenes.

When talking to EW, the actress shared her experience working on the show, calling it surreal.

I’ve seen these characters in these costumes since I was a kid, and now to be the other half of the scene, to be the one they’re fighting against, is such a surreal experience. My head kept going up in the clouds and [I had to] be like, ‘Stay down! Focus on what you’re doing!’

Kellyman does a brilliant job as Karli Morgenthau, holding her weight against both Falcon and Winter Soldier splendidly. One thing that helped her achieve this was the weeks of stunt training she had to go through.

The focus of the training was primarily parkour and boxing, as the show avoids using weapons where it’s not needed.

Karli Morgenthau Is a Reinvention of the Original Flag-Smasher

Kellyman’s character, Karli Morgenthau, is based on the original Marvel character, Flag-Smasher, the distinct opposite of Captain America. But the gender of the character isn’t the only thing that’s been changed in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

While Karli shares the same goal as the original character to unite humankind and the world by removing national boundaries, Kellyman says Karli is a reinvention of the character.

I’m looking at it as a reinvention, I think they are quite different. There are some similarities... Karl is in there somewhere but… their drive is a bit different and their experiences are a bit different as well.

  Kellyman also added that she was looking forward to viewers of the show getting to know Karli and the Flag-Smashers better and learn about their drive and goals.