There’s something about’em motorcycles in the MCU. Here’s how Captain Marvel drew her love of riding from Tom Cruise’s Top Gun
Heads Up!
- Captain Marvel takes a cue from Top Gun’s ‘Maverick’
- Marvel artist draws inspiration from Tom Cruise
- Top Gun Easter Eggs in Captain Marvel
Those superhero Captains in Marvel Cinematic Universe love riding motorcycles! We’ve seen Captain America’s love for riding a Harley Street 750 motorbike on-screen. Who can forget Carol Danvers sporting a vintage Harley 1995 H-D Sportster 883 bike in her debut as Captain Marvel.
But did you know there’s another ‘Captain’ that Marvel Studios took inspiration from while creating Captain Marvel?
It’s none another than Tom Cruise’s Pete “Maverick” Mitchell from Top Gun movie.
A Timed Inspiration
Captain Marvel is set in the 90s and true to Marvel’s timeline the concept artists at the Marvel Studios picked up Tom Cruise’s 80s classic for an inspiration to draw Carol Danvers on a bike.
Tom Cruise’s look created a mass appeal back in the day. The brown aviators, biker jacket with badges on, paired with basic denim worn with brown biker shoes was a rage. One can still see the styling prevailing among millennials and creeping up on gen Z too. Cruise officially made Kawasaki Ninja, the GPz900R bike a cultural icon.
One can still picture Tom Cruise’s boyish charm oozing on screen. Sigh!
Captain Marvel as ‘Maverick’
Concept artist Andy Park, Marvel’s Director of Visual Development shared a keyframe he drew for initial Captain Marvel reference. The frame takes inspiration from the above mentioned Top Gun visual.
One can see Captain Marvel speeding away on a motorbike in a red checked shirt, tank top, straight fit denim donning aviators and biker boots. The background frame has grey skies completed with two fighter jets. Andy Park has worked on several MCU projects including Captain Marvel. In the next phases, fans will see his work for Black Widow, Shang-Chi, WandaVision and Thor: Love and Thunder.
Similarities between Captain Marvel and Top Gun’s Maverick
Fans long have noticed the uncanny Top Gun Easter eggs in Captain Marvel. Both Carol Danvers and Pete Mitchell serve the military. Both fly in the capacity of a ‘Captain’. The basic plot-point of both the stories is that the key to the redemption of these characters is hidden within some information from the past.
The Marvel Studios is famous for its use of pop culture references and confirmed that naming the cat Goose was actually a Top Gun Reference.
Now one can’t help but wonder whether Captain Marvel 2 could again take inspiration from Tom Cruise’s Top Gun: Maverick.
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