Nick Fury is Here to Talk to You About the Avengers Initiative

After a month of fanboy panic, geeks can rest a bit easier: Sam The Man Jackson will indeed be back as Col. Nick Fury, head of S.H.I.E.L.D, not just in Iron Man 2 but in so much more.

If you're not sure why this is a big deal or why rumors of Jackson holding out and possibly NOT appearing caused such fits in the comic-book-movie community, then a quick primer:

Nick Fury is the Marvel Universe's answer to James Bond -- a tough-guy WWII hero (Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos) who is (or was...in current continuity he's gone underground) the head of the original Homeland Security, known over the years variously as Supreme Headquarters, International Espionage, Law-Enforcement Division; then later Strategic Hazard Intervention, Espionage Logistics Directorate, and in the recent films Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk, as Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division.

The original Nick Fury, the one still central to the main Marvel Comics continuity, is a white guy with white temples and an eye patch. (He was played by David Hasselhoff in a 1998 TV movie. And that is all we will say about that.)

However, after the release of the first X-Men film in 2000, and in the face of falling sales, Marvel launched a whole new universe of superhero comic continuity, called Ultimate Marvel. The idea was that this parallel rebooting would a) make it easier for new younger readers to dive in to the comics without having to be familiar with nearly 40 years of history and  continuity, and b) create comic-book characters closer in appearance and tone to the cinematic versions that were starting to pop up in the X-Men and Spider-Man films.

The main Ultimate Marvel comics line tends to echo those titles and characters who are showing up on the big screen: The X-Men, Spider-Man, and The Fantastic Four--as well as The Ultimates. The Ultimates is a new version of the Avengers, the classic Marvel super-group centered around Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and the Hulk (plus The Wasp, Giant Man, and Hawkeye). (The regular Marvel Universe of continuity, history, and titles still exists and is published weekly, so every month you have (at least) two versions of Spidey, X-Men, and the FF coming out on stands)

In this new Ultimate Marvel world the Ultimates are formed and run by Col. Nicolas Fury. A bald, black, eye-patched Nick Fury. A bald, black, Fury who, as created in 2002 by Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch, looks an awful lot like a certain star of Pulp Fiction and Shaft. Intentionally so.

Which brings us to last year's Iron Man movie and the post-credits cameo appearance that had the fanboys--myself included--squealing like little girls at a Jonai concert. The idea that a version of S.H.I.E.L.D exists in the Marvel film world, and that it is in fact headed up by Sam the Man, and that he's there to discuss "the Avengers Initiative" (and to then send Downey, Jr.'s Tony Stark over to The Incredible Hulk to continue the recruiting) meant only one thing: We will actually get to see an Avengers film that--and this is the giddy part--not only stars Sam Jackson, but features Big Heroes who have for the most part been previously introduced in their own Big Action Movies.

Jackson was playing coy all winter about whether he would appear in these new films, and no doubt sweetening his financial deal. After all, when you've created a comic book hero to closely resemble a living actor both in appearance and manner, you've somewhat painted yourself into a corner as far as casting or re-casting the part goes.

His new deal includes playing Fury in up to NINE more movies: the Iron Man sequel, possibly a Hulk sequel, and maybe a S.H.I.E.L.D. movie. Then also appearing in film versions of Thor and Captain America. And once all these pieces are in place? The Avengers film that brings them ALL together in one epic movie.

Now of course, just because this is such a leg-tingling idea for us fanboys doesn't mean all the actual films will be any good. But if there's one thing geeks love to do, it's offer up their ideas for how some big, hot project should be done.

So since you asked (you did ask, didn't you?), my dream would be for the Thor film to be, at least in its first half or first two-thirds, very Lord of the Rings, set either in the misty Norse past, or in the fantasy world of Asgard. Then bring Thor to the present day (and connect him to his modern alter ego, Dr. Donald Blake) either in the third act or even in just the final moments of the film.

 And take a similar approach to Captain America, setting the entire Cap film during WWII, where he originally became a patriotic symbol. Then plunge him into his legendary suspended animation, and leave him to be discovered and thawed out in modern times at the start of The Avengers.

QED! Jackson's in place, the plans are in motion, and yes, uber-geeky as it may be, there is only one thing left to say: Avengers Assemble!

Comments

[fasteddie]

I Can not wait for all the pieces of this huge movie puzzle to come together. Im just hoping that the rest of the movies dont go the way of batman with clooney and get the ZAP! KA- POW treatment. (cartoony) A huge part of my being drawn to see Iron man and the Incredible Hulk was that they had really real actors in them. Keep up the great work Marvel!

[Tom G]

I'm a longtime Avengers fan and have been thinking about who else should be cast for the upcoming film version of the famed comic book. I loved Aaron Eckhart
in last summer's The Dark Knight, he played a tall, blond, blue-eyed idealist in that film...he could be
the perfect actor to portray Captain America! Thor,
Hank Pym, Wasp should all be in this Avengers film...
and how about adding Hawkeye, Black Panther, Black Widow, Vision & Scarlett Witch! Lots of popular team
members on the Avengers, this should keep casting directors busy! Also, choose a great villain: Kang,
Ultron, Thanos, etc.

[Jason]

If Marvel somehow pulls this off, this could be the greatest lead-up collection of films that the movie world has ever seen. Has anything even close to this ever happened before? Has there ever been such a large amount of cross-movie referencing AND collaboration? I think not. This will make movie history either way. I hope with a passion that this works!

[LUIS]

it should be tight

[Jose]

I saw this coming couple years back. It would only make sense; historically and financially.

Being that I grew up reading most this intertwining of superheroes and villains when I was younger, I have a true appreciation for the whole story line and seeing it come to life on the big screen.

I can't wait until they are ultimately complete to buy the complete set (possibly an assemble of 12 or more movies). Even though the movies themselves may not be all that cracked up to be as stated in the article, with growing technology, those effects should be awesome.

[Grady]

I need dates of when these movies are scheduled to come out. I'm a big comic book fan, and its tearing me up to not have release dates. I'll most definitely be at the theatres to see all of these movies. Iron Man and the Incredible Hulk were great.

[Allyn]

Holy Eff! It's going to pretty amazing. They better not fetchin' mess up these movies. Thor and Captain America and the Avengers can all be spectacular movies. They better work hard on them so that they are...and not just a wasted project.

[Mike G.]

Frigg'in A man,I agree this would surpass all previous "super hero"movies previous & be greatly rewarding when all the pieces are in place.

[CJ]

I loved all the movies so far and agree with you on how the captain america and thor movies should go,but as an older comic fan i did and still do have a problem with Samuel (nothing personal im a fan of his) playing fury in iron man and the upcoming movies for this simple reason.all of these are origin movies and to bring a future version of a character into movies where he wasnt even thought up yet doesnt seem right and considering avengers is gonna be an origin movie too why wouldnt you use the version of fury from their origins after all these are not "back to the future"versions were a future character visits the originals.this was a problem me and alot of people i know had with x-men mixing past and future characters and making originals like iceman a very young kid and spiderman when the put sandman first being created and venom (who wasnt even thought of then)in the same movie just to cram characters in when they had tons of characters like kraven and the lizard.after all the main base of people for these movies are not teenagers who just started reading,but the older (at least 20-up)who know these characters and their stories.leave future characters to future movies.if these newer readers dont know the story then what better way to intro them to the history than starting them out right and working towards their new universe which would please old and new fans.

[denyse]

appalossa