The first trailer for Captain Marvel is here showing the latest MCU superhero make her high-flying debut...only she isn't the most recent superhero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe chronologically as next year's film takes place in the 1990s, approximately a decade before the events of 2008's Iron Man. And, judging by a major clue in the trailer, we now have a better idea when exactly the film is set.
As we see early in the trailer, the Starforce field leader is sent tumbling to Earth, ultimately crash-landing through the roof of a Blockbuster Video. As the camera pans over the movie rental chain's exterior, the familiar blue and yellow logo is displayed at the front of the video store. And that's exactly where the clue lies.
RELATED: Carol Danvers Stands Strong in First Captain Marvel Poster
By the end of 1994, Blockbuster had dropped "Video" from their company name and all official branding, including store signage. With the storefront briefly seen in the Captain Marvel trailer still proudly displaying the older logo, still strongly suggests the MCU film takes place sometime in or before 1994.
This is further corroborated by the white Nine Inch Nails t-shirt Carol Danvers is seen wearing with her civilian clothes in early stills from the film. While the original logo is still used and cited as the classic logo among fans, by 1994's album release The Downward Spiral, Trent Reznor's band had switched to more industrial designs for its branding, usually on darker backgrounds.
RELATED: Captain Marvel Trailer Debuts First Look at a De-Aged Agent Coulson
This also confirms earlier fan theories that 2016's Captain America: Civil War contained Tony Stark making a passing reference to the events of the future MCU film taking place in 1997 are most likely false, as Captain Marvel seems to take place even earlier in the MCU timeline.
Given that Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury also looks considerably younger than he did in a '90s-era photo in 2014's Captain America: The Winter Soldier showing his promotion to Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. by secret Hydra operative Alexander Pierce, the events of Captain Marvel most likely take place in the early '90s. And as Fury's picture with Pierce depicts the future S.H.I.E.L.D. leader with both eyes, it's probably a safe bet that Jackson's character will retain both eyes over the course of the upcoming film.
RELATED: Captain Marvel Scene Description Sends Starforce to the Planet Torfa
The final clue regarding the time frame for the film comes from earlier comments from Clark Gregg that Phil Coulson is a big fan of MC Hammer when we first see him. The hip-hop artist released his signature song "U Can't Touch This" in January of 1990 before it went on to top the pop music charts that spring. This indicates that the MCU film takes place sometime between the spring of 1990 and early 1994.
With the prologue to 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy occurring in 1988 and the prologue to 2015's Ant-Man taking place in 1989, next year's Captain Marvel will help fill in a decade of previously unseen time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, apart from a fateful assassination mission by the Winter Soldier on December 16, 1991. And at a time when '90s nostalgia is coming back in a big way, it's sure to be a trip down memory lane for many audiences.
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 on March 8, 2019.