The ’90s setting of Captain Marvel opens up the opportunity for a different kind of movie in the MCU. Last night’s teaser, while action-packed, also had the feel of a buddy cop movie from that era, with Carol Danvers and a young Samuel L. Jackson bantering back-and-forth like Riggs and Murtaugh. It’s a tone that suits directors Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden just fine, as they tell Fandango that’s exactly what they were going for.
“We approached this movie as being, at the heart of it, this mystery of self-identity for Captain Marvel,” Anna said. “It has a lot of playfulness in it, and that kind of buddy-cop vibe that Captain Marvel has with the Nick Fury character was really an important touchstone for us.”
“Yeah,” Ryan agreed. “Like the ’80s and ’90s buddy-cop movies, like 48 Hrs. or Lethal Weapon. We have some of that. Those movies, even the serious ones, they have a really terrific sense of humor, and we wanted to maintain that as well.”
Shane Black brought a little bit of that tone to his Iron Man 3, but that made sense given his connection to the Lethal Weapon movies.
While we’re getting younger versions of Nick Fury and Agent Coulson, Captain Marvel also has the chance to show us other characters before they became super-powered Avengers. Whether or not that happens…well, Boden and Fleck may have spoiled one such appearance when asked how the film fits into the MCU.
Boden: All we can say is this is a ’90s film, a ’90s period film. Where Sam Jackson is a younger version of Nick Fury.
Fleck: And Tony Stark hasn’t figured out how to become Iron Man yet, so …
Boden: That’s all we can say.
I imagine a ’90s Tony Stark would be a lot like Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street. Or at least I hope he is! Assuming they really did just give that away I can’t wait to see who they get to play young Stark.
Captain Marvel opens March 8th.
