New Captain America Will Be Black

Another day, another announcement that Marvel is diversifying its heroes.

Just one day after announcing that its new Thor would be a woman, Marvel’s Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada appeared on Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report to announce that the new Captain America would be a black man.

Quesada told Colbert on Wednesday night that the character Sam Wilson, who comic book fans might already know as The Falcon, would be taking over the role of Captain America in a new series launching in October.

Wilson first debuted in 1969’s Captain America #117 and was the first African-American super hero and has been a major player in Marvel comics ever since. The character will now take on the role of Captain America in Captain America #25.

The new series will mark Wilson as the seventh character to take up Captain America’s famous shield — though, it should be noted, not the first African-American character. According to Vulture, that honor went to Isaiah Bradley, in 2003’s Truth: Red, White, and Black.

[Hollywood Reporter]