When Marvel Studios announced Captain Marvel, fans expected the film to be a modern day superhero flick, like most of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's movies. To the surprise of nearly everyone, however, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige revealed at last year's Comic-Con International that Captain Marvel would actually be a prequel set in the 90s -- and the reason for the decision was simple enough, according to producer Jonathan Schwartz.

As part of Entertainment Weekly's Captain Marvel coverage, the outlet spoke with Schwartz about the film and why Marvel had decided to introduce Carol in the 90s. "It’s giving Carol a place in the cinematic universe that she can carve out for her own, where she wasn’t one superheroine out of many," he explained.

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This, of course, isn't the first time Marvel explored the past, as Captain America: The First Avenger was set in the World War II era, as was ABC's Agent Carter. Like those projects, Captain Marvel will draw inspiration from its own time period -- or, more specifically, 90s action films. "'90s action movie is not the worst reference in the world, especially when you start looking at Robocop, Total Recall, even Starship Troopers a little bit," Schwartz said. "Terminator 2, Independence Day. There’s a high-concept action-movie feel there that ends up being very character-based but also super badass, which is kind of the bullseye we wanted to hit."

While there's no trailer yet to truly tell if the studio has hit that bullseye, it's safe to say Captain Marvel will be an important part in MCU history.

Directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck from a script they wrote with Liz Flahive, Carly Mensch, Meg LeFauve, Nicole Perlman and Geneva Robertson-Dworet, Captain Marvel stars Brie Larson as Carol Danvers, Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Jude Law as Mar-Vell, Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson, Lee Pace as Ronan the Accuser, Djimon Hounsou as Korath the Pursuer, Gemma Chan as Minn-Erva, Ben Mendelsohn as Talos and Lashana Lynch as Maria Rambeau. The film arrives March 8, 2019.