WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Guardians of the Galaxy #7 by Donny Cates, Cory Smith, David Curiel and Cory Petit, in stores now.
Guardians of the Galaxy #7 revealed the titular team's new ship was the Bowie, which writer Donny Cates confirmed was a reference to legendary singer David Bowie in honor of the 50th anniversary of his first hit song: "Space Oddity."
The official David Bowie Twitter reacted to Cates' post, retweeting it with a thumbs-up emoji, indicating it approves of the reference to the late musician.
Bowie, who passed away in 2016 at the age of 69, is often considered one of the most important musicians ever, having put out such albums as The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, Young Americans and more. He's also known for his roles in such films as Labyrinth and The Man Who Fell to Earth. "Space Oddity" was the first of many songs by the artist to reach the top-five on the UK Singles Chart.
The naming choice here follows suit with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The first Guardians of the Galaxy film revealed Peter Quill's starship was named the Milano, after his 1980s crush Alyssa Milano. The name eventually made the jump to comics as the moniker of the Guardians' ship. Then, after the ship's destruction in the MCU, the cosmic team's next ship got a new name: The Benatar, after '80s musical icon Pat Benatar.
Guardians of the Galaxy #8 hits shelves August 21.