‘Captain Marvel’ 1990s influence: ‘Terminator 2’ setting up Nick Fury, SHIELD discovering superpowered individuals

There may be few details known, but Captain Marvel would be set in the 1990s, Marvel Studios exec Kevin Feige is finally shedding some light on what that means for the movie–both in terms of plot and storytelling.

“We wanted to explore a period before Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury had any idea about any of the other heroes and crazy stuff going on in the world,” Feige tells Entertainment Weekly.

“You know, we first met Nick when he told Tony, ‘You’re part of a big universe. You just don’t know yet.’ Well, we want to go back to a time when he didn’t know it yet, and really showcase and announce that Carol Danvers was that first hero that Nick came across. That meant she could be the singular hero, but place it within [the] timing of the MCU.”

While SHIELD already knows about Captain America (Chris Evans), it sounds like the Avengers Initiative is still a ways off.

“It also got us talking about different genres, exploring this notion of sort of the ’90s action film,” he says. “We hadn’t necessarily done anything like that before either, so there are definitely homages to our favorite ’90s action films within Captain Marvel.”

Feige dodged specifics.

“Well, not necessarily talking about any particulars of the story, but the action elements Terminator 2. That’s about as iconic as you get, looking at kind of those cool street level fights, street level car chases, and fun stuff like that. That being said, much of the movie takes place in outer space, as you might think a Captain Marvel movie would. Like all of our genre inspirations, there are bits and pieces here and there.”

Jude Law and Ben Mendelsohn co-star: Law will be playing Doctor Walter Lawson, a.k.a. Mar-Vell, who becomes a mentor of sorts to Danvers as she tries to figure out her new powers.

After great showings in Rogue One and Place Beyond the Pines, Mendelsohn will be the film’s major villain, possibly the tyrannical Kree officer, Yon-Rogg. In the comics, Rogg was originally an enemy of Mar-Vell’s who kidnapped Carol Danvers in an effort to draw out his former crew-mate. Their subsequent battle resulted in Danvers gaining her powers.

Captain Marvel will be the first major movie role for DeWanda Wise, after success with the Netflix show She’s Gotta Have It. Fans are already speculating that the role will be Monica Rambeau, a.k.a. Spectrum.

Captain Marvel is slated to arrive in theaters on March 8, 2019.