Eventually, the plot of Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow explains the "world of tomorrow" half of its title, but until that happens, the film suggests several possible readings. It appears to be set in 1939—not the historical version, but a 1939 in which the zeppelin Hindenburg III traverses the sky, and noble pilots keep the streets safe from harm. It's the past as it imagined its own world of tomorrow, seen thorough the filters of Popular Science, comic books, Flash Gordon, and pulp paperbacks, and reflected on a mirror of deco curves.