Captain Marvel Photo Has A Surprising Connection To The Avengers Trailer

The newly released stills from next year’s Captain Marvel offer a surplus of exciting material to pore over, including early glimpses at Ben Mendelsohn and Jude Law in their new roles, as well as a digitally de-aged Samuel L. Jackson.

A younger-looking Nick Fury is necessary seeing how Carol Danvers’ big screen debut is technically a period film, setting its action against the nostalgic backdrop of the 1990s. While the fans have already offered their amusing takes on how the pop culture of the time could factor into the drama, one new Entertainment Weekly photo suggests a throwback that brings to mind not just the decade in question but also some previous Marvel promotion.

Fans of angsty ‘90s alt rock may appreciate the following photo of Brie Larson dressed in a leather jacket, jeans, and a T-shirt bearing the famous logo for Nine Inch Nails. The cultural reference is certainly fitting for the period, but this isn’t the first time that Trent Reznor’s band has been loosely connected to the MCU. Back in 2011, when the first trailer for the The Avengers dropped, the promo’s accompanying soundtrack was the appropriately titled NIN single “We’re In This Together Now,” with the blistering track adding some suitable intensity to what was then seen as the most ambitious big screen crossover flick to date.

Carol’s apparent enthusiasm for contemporary industrial rock is just one sign of the down-to-Earth nature of this world-hopping hero, suggesting a playful attitude more akin to the music-loving Star-Lord than, say, the perpetually square Steve Rogers.

“This is not a superhero who’s perfect or otherworldly or has some godlike connection,” the film’s co-director Anna Boden told EW. “But what makes her special is just how human she is. She’s funny, but doesn’t always tell good jokes. And she can be headstrong and reckless and doesn’t always make the perfect decisions for herself. But at her core, she has so much heart and so much humanity — and all of its messiness.”

Captain Marvel is set to come out on March 8th, 2019, at which point we’ll hopefully learn whether she’s also privy to a little Pearl Jam or Smashing Pumpkins.