On Wednesday, Marvel Comics announced just such a promotion as Falcon, the African-American character born and raised in Harlem, will become the new Captain America. (Comic book aficionado and The Root’s Grapevine editor, Yesha Callahan, does not believe that Falcon’s rise to Captain America makes him the first, since she notes that Isaiah Bradley, widely regarded as "Black Captain America," held that position.)

"It’s about time," Marvel Executive Editor Tom Brevoort told the New York Daily News. "In 2014 this should be a thing that we shrug off. It shouldn’t be seen as revolutionary, but it still feels exciting."