Marvel announced Wednesday that their newest iteration of Captain America will be African-American. Via The Colbert Report Wednesday, Marvel told fans that the legacy of Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes, both white, will be carried on by Cap’s long-time friend Sam Wilson, aka Falcon.

Marvel’s announcement falls in line with the company's larger diversification project, which is deliberately featuring more minority (like a biracial Ultimate Spider-Man) and female leads (like the female Thor) to broaden their appeal and align with cultural and ideological trends.

As The Washington Post’s David Betancourt explained, Marvel's roll out of the new Cap is not nearly as out of the blue for fans as was its 2011 launch of the half-black, half-Latino Ultimate Spider-Man, Miles Morales. Wilson seems the logical choice narratively for Captain America’s replacement, and already has a strong presence in the Marvel Universe.

Betancourt described one rationale for a black Captain America explored by Marvel already:

Fans of Cap have already seen a black Captain America — in the Marvel mini-series “Truth,” by Robert Morales and Kyle Baker, which suggested that if America was going to build a super soldier with an experimental serum, that there would probably be a few test runs on black soldiers first — especially given the time of Cap’s debut (World War II-era). And there was a long-term substitute (Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier) when Cap “died.”

The choice of using Falcon as at least a temporary fill-in, if not a long-term solution, for the iconic figure also has implications for the film series, which introduced Anthony Mackie as Wilson/Falcon in Captain America: Winter Soldier. With lead Chris Evans having made clear his desire to move on from the role soon, Mackie could very well prove to take over as Cap in a few years.