'Captain Marvel' Producer Reveals Why Movie Takes Place Before 'Iron Man'

While Captain Marvel wasn't the first Marvel hero to hit the big screen in the MCU, there's a reason the studio is setting her origin before Iron Man.

The film that launched the MCU was Jon Favreau's Iron Man, but Captain Marvel is set in the 1990s, which takes place before Tony Stark ever created his armor. ComicBook.com had the chance to be a part of the Captain Marvel set visit recently, where executive producer Jonathan Schwartz addressed why Captain Marvel is really the first hero of the MCU.

"Funny, really honest, I don't know exactly when. Very early in the development process, I think we kind of seized on the idea of setting in the 90s as a way to kind of let the character carve out her own space in the cinematic universe and give her a lot of thematic weight and significance to the universe," Schwartz said. "It's more or less this adventure that's going to inspire a lot of what we see in MCU and kind of being able to see those things in this movie that blossom in other movies and already have blossomed in other movies is one of the big excitements."

It also gave the studio a chance to set a hero during the 90s, a period of time that hasn't been explored yet in the MCU.

"And then also just the idea of the 90s as a period which is something I don't think we've been able to explore a lot of, it's far enough in the rearview mirror that it was 'Oh yeah, the 90s. I have memories of that era.' But I haven't seen it represented a lot on film. So being able to play in that sandbox is exciting and do things like recreate a blockbuster which was super fun to walk through and made me miss physical media in a way I didn't expect," Schwartz said.

So, while Captain Marvel is the first hero of the MCU, she will be meeting the Avengers for the first time in Avengers: Endgame, and hopefully we'll see her get the message Nick Fury sent in Infinity War by the end of her solo film.

Captain Marvel stars Academy Award-winner Brie Larson (Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel), Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Ben Mendelsohn, Djimon Hounsou (Korath), Lee Pace (Ronan), Lashana Lynch, Gemma Chan (Minn-Erva), Algenis Perez Soto, Rune Temte, McKenna Grace, Kenneth Mitchell (Joseph Danvers), with Clark Gregg (Phil Coulson), and Jude Law.

Captain Marvel launches on March 8, 2019.