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Marvel fans first met Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) as the Falcon, but nowadays he's Captain America — on both the screen and the page. Sam will take the lead in the next Marvel film, "Captain America: Brave New World," which is not bad for a former sidekick character.

Created by Stan Lee and artist Gene Colan in 1969, Falcon is often considered the first African-American superhero. By the late 1960s, the Civil Rights Act was the law of the land and segregation (though not racism) was a thing of the recent past. That decade, Marvel Comics decided to get with the program and began slowly introducing Black supporting characters.

"Sergeant Fury and his Howling Commandos" first shipped to newsstands in 1963 and featured a Black soldier, Gabe Jones, in the main cast. Next came characters like Joe "Robbie" Robertson, editor of the Daily Bugle in "Amazing Spider-Man.