'Captain Marvel' has a Motown moment: Samuel L. Jackson sings!

Motown is getting a nice surprise for its 60th anniversary from "Captain Marvel," the superhero movie starring Brie Larson.

And what better gift is there than a musical cameo in the latest mega-film from Marvel?

"Captain Marvel" uses a hip assortment of '90s songs, from Garbage's "Only Happy When It Rains" to  No Doubt's "Just a Girl," to help set the mood of 1995. That's when most of the story's action takes place.

But an early-'60s hit from the classic Detroit record label pops up in a scene where Larson's Carol Danvers (aka the title character) has a pronunciation debate with Nick Fury while they're washing dishes.

"It's two words: Mar-Vell," says Carol.

"Marvel sounds a lot better, like the Marvelettes," says Fury, citing the famous Motown girl group. 

When that reference draws a blank from Danvers, Fury proceeds to sing a snippet of the Marvelettes' biggest hit, "Please Mr. Postman."

Why was the song included? "Captain Marvel" directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck said via e-mail that it seemed like a fun way to move from Mar-Vell (a character in the film who's ... well, that's a spoiler-ish plot point, so never mind) to Marvel. 

And, Boden and Fleck added, who doesn’t want to see Nick Fury sing, “Wait a minute, Mr. Postman”?

Released in 1961, "Please Mr. Postman" became the first Motown song to top the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart. A few years later, it was covered by the Beatles.

It would be nice to imagine the Marvelettes inspired the name Captain Marvel. But its convoluted history goes back to 1939 and Billy Batson, a character from Fawcett Comics who became Captain Marvel by yelling, "Shazam!"

More:Review: 'Captain Marvel' sparkles as intro to Brie Larson's work-in-progress warrior

By 1967, Marvel Comics had obtained the trademark to the name and premiered its reinvented version of Captain Marvel, who was a space alien. Specifically, he was a Kree spy named Mar-Vell.

Carol Danvers came into the picture in 1968 as a U.S. military officer who encounters Mar-Vell. In 1977, she made her debut as Ms. Marvel. Then, through several decades of identity shifting, she became Binary, and, next, Warbird, and, ultimately, Captain Marvel.

In February, "Please Mr. Postman" had another moment in the pop-culture spotlight as one of the Motown favorites performed by Jennifer Lopez during a Grammy Awards tribute that also featured Smokey Robinson.

Contact Detroit Free Press pop culture critic Julie Hinds: 313-222-6427 or jhinds@freepress.com.