MCU Events In The 1990s (Not Captain Marvel)

The 1990s were a pivotal decade for the Marvel Cinematic Universe - and Captain Marvel is only part of that story. Though the MCU officially kicked off with 2008's Iron Man, many key events in the lives of Marvel's heroes - both in the movies and on the television side - happened during the 90s, and continue to have major ramifications throughout the MCU.

Captain Marvel is the first MCU film set entirely in the 1990s, and it will not only reveal the life story of Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) - who was summoned from parts unknown by Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) at the end of Avengers: Infinity War - but will also be an origin of sorts for Fury himself. The film will portray the beginnings of Fury's tenure with S.H.I.E.L.D., long before he rises to become the spy agency's tough and secretive Director. Captain Marvel will also show how Fury met Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg), and tell the heretofore unknown story of a Skrull invasion of Earth.

However, the events of Captain Marvel are just one of many seismic MCU happenings that occurred in the 1990s - the decade that introduced the Internet, grunge music, and DVD players into our lives. Here are some of the major moments that set the stage for the turbulent lives led by the Avengers, the Guardians of the Galaxy, and the Defenders.

This Page: The Nine Realms, and Several Major Deaths
Page 2: Thanos Kidnaps Gamora, Black Widow's Origins & More

1990 - Hubble Telescope Captures First Images Of The Nine Realms

The Hubble Space Telescope was launched into low-Earth orbit by NASA on April 25, 1990. When the Hubble entered service on May 20th, it captured the first images taken by humans of the Nine Realms - though no astronomer knew it at the time.

In Thor, the God of Thunder (Chris Hemsworth) arrived on Earth in 2011 and met astrophysicist Jane Foster (Natalie Portman). He retrieved her journal for her, which was confiscated by S.H.I.E.L.D. along with her scientific equipment. Thor explained the existence of the Nine Realms to Jane by sketching the World Tree Yggdrasil into the pages of her journal. Flipping the pages, Jane showed Thor that she had replicas of the photos the Hubble took of the Nine Realms, which match Thor's drawing and confirmed Earth's status as the realm of Midgard.

1991 - Howard And Maria Stark Assassinated By The Winter Soldier

Captain America Civil War Howard Stark death

As revealed in Captain America: Civil War, the car crash that killed Howard and Maria Stark on December 16, 1991 was no mere accident. The Starks were assassinated by the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) in Long Island, NY while en route to the Pentagon. The parents of Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) were targeted so that Hydra could obtain samples of the Super Soldier Serum, which the Winter Soldier recovered after staging the murder to look like a car accident. The revelation during Civil War of the truth behind the Starks' deaths drove a final wedge between Tony and Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) that resulted in the break-up of the Avengers in 2016.

1992 - King T'Chaka Kills His Brother Prince N'Jobu

In the prologue of Black Panther, King T'Chaka (Atandwa Kani) of Wakanda arrived in Oakland, CA on January 15, 1992 and killed his brother Prince N'Jobu (Sterling K. Brown). The prince was deployed in the United States as a War Dog to spy for Wakanda, but upon seeing the injustices people of color endure in the U.S., he made a deal with Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis). N'Jobu gave Klaue means to access the vast storehouse of Vibranium in Wakanda in exchange for smuggling him Vibranium weapons, but T'Chaka learned of his brother's betrayal thanks to Zuri (Daniel Whitaker), who was also undercover in Oakland to monitor N'Jobu.

When T'Chaka executed his brother, he left behind N'Jobu's orphaned son N'Jadaka, also known by his American name Erik Stevens. This terrible act was kept secret by King T'Chaka and Zuri for 26 years, until the grown N'Jadaka, now known as Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan), exacted his revenge and (briefly) supplanted his cousin T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) as King of Wakanda.

Page 2: Thanos Kidnaps Gamora, Black Widow's Origins & More

1994 - Matt Murdock Is Blinded

The incident that would create the Devil of Hell's Kitchen occurred on July 19, 1994. 9-year-old Matt Murdock (Skylar Gaertner) saves an elderly man from being hit by a Rand Enterprises truck containing hazardous chemicals. Matt is accidentally blinded by the toxins that splashed on his face, but he gains greatly enhanced senses of hearing, smell, and touch to compensate.

On January 21, 1995, Matt's father Battlin' Jack Murdock (David Keith) is murdered for refusing to throw a boxing match to Carl Creel. The orphaned Matt is moved to St. Agnes' Orphanage, where he is visited by Stick (Scott Glenn) on March 19th. A blind martial arts master and member of the Chaste, the arch-enemies of the Hand, Stick agrees to train Matt in the martial arts, setting the boy on the path to becoming Daredevil.

1995 - Natasha Romanoff Recruited To Red Room

Black Widow fires a gun in Avengers: Age of Ultron

On July 24, 1995, eleven-year-old Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) is recruited by the KGB and joins the Red Room, Russia's covert espionage facility. During her years of training, Natasha masters the skills she would need to become an expert spy and assassin, the Black Widow. Upon her graduation, Natasha is then sterilized so she would be unable to bear children - a secret she would later reveal to her love interest Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) in Avengers: Age of Ultron. The Black Widow solo film, expected to be a prequel, should reveal even more details about Natasha's life in the Red Room.

1999 - Tony Stark Learns About Extremis

Young Aldrich Killian talking to Tony Stark in Iron Man 3

As revealed in Iron Man 3, on December 31, 1999, Tony Stark meets Maya Hansen (Rebecca Hall) and Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce) at a New Year's Eve party in Bern, Switzerland. Tony then learns about Extremis, an unstable nanotechnology designed to heal the human body that also causes exothermic abilities. Extremis was developed by Hansen and Killian for Advanced Idea Mechanics, but Tony would create an enemy in Killian when he deceived him into thinking Stark Industries would invest in Extremis. Instead, Stark left Hansen his formula to fix the flaws in Extremis, a decision Tony would rue in late 2012 when Killian, who hated Stark, would attack the billionaire and attempt to destroy him by exploding his Malibu home (including his Iron Man armors) and even infect Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) with the Extremis virus.

Thanos Kidnaps Gamora

Gamora and Thanos in Avengers Infinity War

Gamora's backstory contains what is perhaps the most pivotal 1990s event that would later lead to the tragedy that affected the entire universe: when Thanos (Josh Brolin), in the early stages of implementing his plan to kill half of the people in the universe, invaded the Zehoberei homeworld. As fans saw in Avengers: Infinity War, Thanos adopted a young Gamora (Ariana Greenblatt) while the Black Order massacred half of the Zehoberei population.

Thanos' abusive parenting tactics towards Gamora (Zoe Saldana) and Nebula (Karen Gillan) created a lifelong rivalry between the two 'sisters' and would later create the circumstances where the Mad Titan would sacrifice Gamora's life on Vormir in order to acquire the Soul Stone. Thus the seeds of Thanos' finger snap killing half of all-life in the universe were planted the moment he took Gamora from Zehoberei. Given that Gamora is apparently in her late-20s during Infinity War, Thanos kidnapping her must have occurred at some point in the early 1990s, Earth-time.