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New York City is, bluntly, a pretty comics-centric town — besides the annual pop culture explosion that is New York Comic Con, it's also the home of Marvel Comics and the setting for many of Marvel's most-loved stories, a fact celebrated by the city with a special ceremony July 9 that saw one of the core creators of the Fantastic Four and the Marvel Universe as a whole recognized... and a piece of Marvel lore come to life right in the Lower East Side. Let's be honest: Who wouldn't want to visit the cross streets of Jack Kirby Way and Yancy Street?

The choice of location for the newly renamed intersection — the intersection of Delancey Street and Essex Street on the lower East Side of NYC — wasn’t coincidental. Although Yancy Street, the street that Ben Grimm grew up on in Marvel canon, may be fictional, it’s long been believed that the street was actually based on Delancey Street, with the name purposefully evoking the real world locale. Kirby himself grew up in the neighborhood, with his childhood home at 147 Essex Street being just two blocks away from the Delancey/Essex intersection that now bears his name.

The commemorative renaming (which is temporary, sources told Popverse) is being looked at as a celebration of Kirby’s legacy at Marvel, and a celebration of his roots as a New Yorker, as well as a recognition of the city’s importance to the Fantastic Four and the Marvel Universe in general as the opening of The Fantastic Four: First Steps nears in theaters at the end of July.

Marvel editor-in-chief C.B. Cebulski posted about the July 9 renaming ceremony on social media, writing that he was “honored to have been part of this morning’s ceremony,” and adding, “Thanks to everyone at Marvel who helped make this happen, to the city of New York for working with us on the project, and to the Kirby family who flew in to be a part of this special day.”

The Fantastic Four: First Steps opens July 25. Fantastic Four #1, a new comic book series featuring the characters created by Kirby and Stan Lee, is available in comic stores and digitally now.

Want more? Make sure you've read our list of all the best Marvel Comics stories of all time, and get ready for all the free Marvel comics coming as part of this year's Free Comic Book Day / Comics Giveaway Day events.