With Captain Marvel largely taking place in the ’90s, it was chock full of references to the iconic era.
Though some scenes from Carol Danvers’ first solo outing were set during 1989, in flashbacks, the bulk of the movie occurred during 1995, giving the entire movie an oddly nostalgic feeling — particularly for those of us that grew up in the ’90s.
From music, to stores, to the now defunct technology, we’re breaking down some of the most nostalgic elements that cropped up over the course of Captain Marvel’s runtime.
- The music featured in Captain Marvel was basic6ally a greatest hits of the era. Everyone from No Doubt, to Salt-N-Pepa, to Garbage, to TLC, and Nirvana featured, giving a distinctly ’90s flavor to the entire movie — even outside of Carol’s NIN shirt. If you want to relive each song that played in their entirety, there is already a complete playlist of songs over on Spotify, and it is definitely worth throwing on as the soundtrack to your day-to-day tasks.
- When Carol — then still going by her Kree name of Vers — crash landed in a Blockbuster Video, it immediately dated the era. The video rental stores were a staple during the ’90s, and was thriving during the year that Captain Marvel took place. Though they’ve all but disappeared now, that familiar blue and yellow logo still invokes a feeling of nostalgia in any ’90s kid.
- While in Blockbuster, Carol picks up a VHS of the movie The Right Stuff. A little on the nose, The Right Stuff is all about a group of military pilots who are conducting research that will eventually lead to the first manned spaceflight. Considering Carol’s involvement in Project PEGASUS with Wendy Lawson — a.k.a. Mar-Vell — it is a pretty apt movie for her to gravitate to.
- Carol, thinking that a Skrull has managed to get the drop on her, blasts a cardboard cutout of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis from 1994s True Lies. With S.H.I.E.L.D.’s involvement in Captain Marvel, as well as the shapeshifting Skrulls, a movie about a secret spy seems appropriate.
- Another huge throwback. In order to regain contact with Starforce and Yon-Rogg, after crash-landing on Earth, Carol raids a Radio Shack to obtain parts to repair her communicator. Among the dismantled technology used to restore her line back to Yon-Rogg is a Nintendo Game Boy. Who else still owns one of those?
- The late Stan Lee’s cameo in Captain Marvel was also a huge callback to a beloved ’90s movie. Lee’s character was running lines for Mallrats, Kevin Smith’s 1995 comedy, in which Lee also appeared. This also makes Kevin Smith canonically part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
- While Google is pretty much synonymous with Internet searches these days, that wasn’t always the case. As evidenced by the search engine Carol uses when she visits an Internet cafe. AltaVista is the search engine of choice in Captain Marvel.
- Nick Fury’s two-way pager is also a relic of the ’90s, and was typically used in lieu of the text messages that have become commonplace in day-to-day communications. Carol, by the end of the movie, gives it a significant upgrade, but at its most basic, it paved the way for the instant messaging of today.
- Monica Rambeau, at one point during Captain Marvel, listens to music on her Discman. The Discman initially became popular in the ’80s, but was more commonplace in the ’90s. They were eventually phased out by MP3 players and later the iPod.
- Some computers might seem slow today, but by comparison, the desktops of the ’90s were excruciating. As evidenced by how long it takes to load the Black Box data from Carol’s crash in 1989 on the Rambeaus’ computer. We definitely got severe flashbacks to our younger years, and having to wait 10 minutes or more for a picture to load.
- “What are you going to do, stay home and watch The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air with me?” Monica Rambeau asks her mother. The Fresh Prince still holds up today, but it was a staple of ’90s television for most. So it’s no surprise that the show is a favorite for both Monica and Maria.
- So, so, so many toys from the ’90s featured in Captain Marvel, but the most immediately iconic were the Troll dolls, a Space Invaders pinball machine, Koosh dolls, Uno, and a Nerf gun.
