Nick Fury: Difference between revisions

New S.H.I.E.L.D. stories would not appear for nearly two decades after the first solo title. A six-issue miniseries, Nick Fury vs. S.H.I.E.L.D. (June-Nov. 1988) was followed by Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. vol. 2. This second series lasted 47 issues (Sept. 1989 - May 1993); its pivotal story arc was "the Deltite Affair", in which many S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were replaced with Life Model Decoy androids in a takeover attempt.

A year after that series ended, the

Discharged after the War, Jack returned home, married an unnamed woman, and became the father of three children. Nick, probably born in the late 1910s or early 1920s, was followed by Jacob "Jake" Fury (later the supervillain Scorpio, who co-founded the Zodiac cartel), and their sister, Dawn.

All three children grew up in the neighborhood known as Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, New York City, New York. Nick was an amateur boxer. With his friend Red Hargrove, he eventually left the neighborhood to pursue his dreams of adventure, eventually settling on a daring wing-walking act. Their death-defying stunts caught the attention of Lieutenant Samuel "Happy Sam" Sawyer, who enlisted them for a special mission in the Netherlands. Nick and Red later joined the U.S. Army, with Fury undergoing basic training under a Sergeant Bass. Red was stationed at Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii when the Imperial Japanese Navy ambushed the base on December 7, 1941, and was among the many killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Sawyer, now a

C.I.A.

At the end of World War II in Europe, Fury was severely injured by a landmine in France, and was found and healed by a Berthold Sternberg, who used him as a test subject for his Infinity Formula. After making a full recovery, Fury began working for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), precursor of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Six months into his service, he learned the extent of Sternberg's life-saving operation: The Infinity Formula retarded his aging, and if he did not receive annual doses, he would age rapidly and die. The doctor began a 30-year period of extorting large sums of money from Fury in exchange for the injections. These events, culminating in the end of said extortion, were detailed in Marvel Spotlight #31 (Dec. 1976): "Assignment: The Infinity Formula," by writer Jim Starlin and artist Howard Chaykin.

Fury segued into the CIA as an espionage agent, gathering information in Korea, where he earned a battlefield promotion to colonel. During this time, he recommended the recruitment of married agents Richard and Mary Parker, who would go on to become the parents of Fury's occasional super-hero ally Spider-Man. Much later, the CIA used him as a liaison to various super-powered groups that had begun appearing, including the Fantastic Four, whom CIA agent Fury first encountered in Fantastic Four #21 (Dec. 1963). Despite Marvel's "elastic chronology", which puts the early-'60s stories as roughly only 10 years before modern-day stories, Marvel has never retconned an explanation for that chronological discrepancy, as the company has for many others.

During his time with the CIA, Fury began wearing his trademark eyepatch. An issue of Sgt. Fury had revealed that he had taken shrapnel to one eye during the war, which caused him to slowly lose sight in it over the course of years.

S.H.I.E.L.D.

Recruited by

After years at the helm, Fury discovers that S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYDRA have both fallen under the control of a group of sentient Life Model Decoy androids known as Deltites. Betrayed, Fury goes to ground, hunted by his fellow agents, many of whom were later revealed to have already been replaced with Deltites. Although Fury ultimately exposes and overcomes the Deltite threat, the conflict is so destructive to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s personnel and infrastructure, and leaves Fury so disillusioned, that Fury chooses to disband the agency to prevent it from again being subverted from within.^[2]

Fury rebuilds S.H.I.E.L.D. from the ground up, initially as a more streamlined agency small enough for him to personally oversee and protect from being corrupted. This new incarnation changed the acronym to stand for "Strategic Hazard Intervention, Espionage and Logistics Directorate".

Sometime later, Frank Castle, the

Fury is the only "33rd-degree" S.H.I.E.L.D officer, meaning he is the only member of S.H.I.E.L.D., present or past, to know the full existence of 28 emergency, covert bases scattered across the globe.[6]

Secret Invasion

During the time Fury spends in hiding, he learns that Valentina Allegra de Fontaine has been plotting to extract S.H.I.E.L.D. passcodes from him and kill him. Fury kills her first, after which she reverts to her true Skrull form. Fury realizes an alien invasion is taking place. He recruits Spider-Woman to be a mole inside both HYDRA and S.H.I.E.L.D., while secretly reporting to him, and to keep an eye on any possible Skrull impostors.^[7] He later instructs former S.H.I.E.L.D agent Daisy Johnson to recruit superpowered teenage children of various heroes and villians to help him fight against the Skrull impending invasion. When the Skrulls are about to finish off the Young Avengers and the Initiative cadets, Nick Fury appears with his "Commandos."^[8]

Powers, abilities, and equipment

Nick Fury's aging has been slowed greatly by the Infinity Formula, a serum created by Dr. Berthold Sternberg. Fury was first inoculated with the serum in the 1940s. Fury took the serum annually for many years. Due to its cumulative effect, Fury no longer needs additional doses to prolong his life span. Nick Fury is a highly athletic man despite his advanced chronological age. He has 95% vision loss in his injured left eye, over which he wears a cosmetic eyepatch.

Fury is a seasoned unarmed and armed combat expert, was a heavyweight boxer in the army (during World War II), and holds a black belt in

Fury has access to a wide variety of equipment and weaponry designed by S.H.I.E.L.D. technicians. He wears a S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform made of 9-ply Kevlar (able to withstand ballistic impact up to .45 caliber bullets) and a Beta Cloth (type C), a fire-resistant material whose kindling temperature is 1700 degrees Fahrenheit.

Fury uses various types of handguns, including a .15 caliber needle gun, a

]

Avataars

In the Avataars: Covenant of the Shield miniseries Nick Fury appears as Regent Nicholas, who watches over the throne of Avalon "with his elite guard as its shield."

Earth X

In the

communists

such as the current leader of Russia, Peter Rasputin. One attacks Peter when he is meeting with Captain America's party.

Fury

In the

Marvel MAX-imprint miniseries Fury vol. 2, by writer Garth Ennis and penciller Darick W. Robertson, Fury is a burned-out Cold War veteran unable to cope with the modern world. He is swiftly drawn into a conflict with an old HYDRA enemy and the new bureaucratic version of S.H.I.E.L.D. This version continues to appear in Ennis' Punisher series. Writer-editor Stan Lee, a co-creator of Nick Fury, was critical of the extreme violence and gore of this new series: "I don't know why they're doing that. I don't think that I would do those kinds of stories."^[9]

Fury: Peacemaker

A six-part miniseries, also written by Ennis, was published in 2006 under the Marvel Knights imprint. It portrays a young Sergeant Fury during World War II, who learns the art of war in the deserts of North Africa with the newly formed

British SAS

and ultimately joins them on a mission to assassinate an important German general.

House of M

In the alternate reality of the

crossover story arc "House of M

", Nick Fury has vanished some time ago. During the mutant purges of the armed forces (which involved outright executions of most of the human field-officers) Nick Fury is kept on as a subservient Drill Instructor, because his talents are too valuable. He makes an enemy of one of his soldiers, Earshot, who has the power to throw his voice with precision over long distances. Earshot uses this power to trick Nick Fury into a trap, seemingly killing him.

Marvel Mangaverse

In this manga imprint, Nick Fury, the director of S.H.I.E.L.D., disappears for a time to mastermind the death of 99% of the superhuman population.

Marvel Zombies

Nick Fury organizes a resistance against the zombies but is eventually devoured by the zombified Fantastic Four on the Helicarrier.

MC2

In the alternate reality known as the MC-2 Universe, Nick Fury is well alive and is still running S.H.I.E.L.D.

Mutant X

In the alternate reality of the X-Men-related miniseries Mutant X, Fury leads S.H.I.E.L.D., an anti-mutant policing organization. It is corrupt, and brainwashes its personnel to violently hate all mutants.

File:UltimateFury.jpg

The Transformers

Fury and

The Transformers

#3 (Jan. 1985).

Ultimate Nick Fury

Main article:

Ultimate Nick Fury

In the

African-American, with his look and personality tailored after actor Samuel L. Jackson. This was done with the actor's explicit permission.^[10] Jackson also played Nick Fury in the 2008 film Iron Man, appearing in a post-credits scene

.

In other media

Film

• Marvel Comics announced in 2007 that Marvel Studios planned to produce a Nick Fury film.^[11]
• After the closing credits of Iron Man (2008), Fury is portrayed in a Post-credits scene by Samuel L. Jackson.

Television

• TV movie Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.
• Fury appeared as a guest character in the
  Iron Man animated series, voiced by Philip Abbott
  .
• Jim Byrnes did Fury's voice in the X-Men: Evolution animated series.
• its sequel
  .

Spider-Man: The Animated Series

Fury appears in episodes of

Spider-Man: The Animated Series, initially voiced by Philip Abbott and later by Jack Angel. Abbott also voiced Fury in the second season of Iron Man

.

• "Day of the Chameleon": Fury's first appearance on the series. His mission is to have the terrorist
  Chameleon
  taken into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody.
• "The Black Cat": Two-part episode. The Chameleon imitates Felicia Hardy's (the Black Cat), father John Hardesky, who knows of the secret formula that created Captain America.
• "Six Forgotten Warriors": Appears in first and last episodes of six-part arc. In the former, Fury calls Keane Marlow out of retirement to have him obtain the passports of the deceased Richard and Mary Parker, parents of Peter Parker (Spider-Man). In the latter, S.H.I.E.L.D. attacks
  Electro
  .

Spider-Man Unlimited

In the sequel series of Spider-Man Unlimited, Fury cameos in the premiere. He is voiced by Mark Gibbon.

Video games

• Dave Fennoy provided the voice of the Ultimate Marvel version of Fury in Ultimate Spider-Man.
• Khary Payton voiced the Ultimate Marvel version Fury in X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse.
• Nick Fury appears in
  Fantastic Four, looking like the Ultimate incarnation. This game marked Andre Ware
  's first voicing of the character prior to the Ultimate Avengers animated features.
• Nick Fury is the second player's character in the arcade game
  The Punisher
  .
• Nick Fury and his S.H.I.E.L.D organization appears as a
  non-playable character in The Punisher
  .
• Nick Fury appears in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance voiced by Scott MacDonald. Nick Fury serves as the coordinator of the heroes' campaign against the Masters of Evil after their initial attack on the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier U.N.N. Alpha. He becomes a playable character after completing the game the first time.
• Nick Fury appears in the video game Spider-Man: Friend or Foe voiced by Marc Graue.

Parodies and homages

• The three-page opening sequence of Captain America (2004 series) #23 (Dec. 2006) is a panel-by-panel homage to writer-artist Jim Steranko's influential Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #1 (June 1968).
• The cover of Wolverine (2003 series) #27 (April 2005) is an homage to the cover of Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #4.
• The 50/50 variant cover to Iron Man (2004 series) #15 (February 2007) by Adi Granov is also an homage to that same cover.
• Another homage of same cover was made this time using She-Hulk during the "Planet without a Hulk" storyline.
• Simpsons Comics
  #118.
• A scene in
  John Stone
  , Agent of S.T.O.R.M. (himself a pastiche of Nick Fury and James Bond).
• The
  Dirk Anger
  , head of H.A.T.E, parodies of Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D.
• The Marvel 2099 comic X-Nation 2099 featured the Sisters of the Howling Commandments, a militaristic order of nuns, including a Sister Nicholas.
• In an episode of "
  Malcolm in The Middle
  , Francis is practicing a singing with a group of his marine comrades, being led by a man colonel with an eye patch. After a butchered take, he says to "Take it again, with Fury "
• animated TV series
  has included secret agent Jim Rage, Agent of SHAVE. Unlike Nick Fury, there's nothing wrong with his eye; he wears the patch just to look cool.
• Valentino's comic book parody normalman featured Sgt. Fluffy, Agent of S.C.H.M.U.C.K. (which stands for nothing in particular), whose patch switched eyes from frame to frame.
• In the
  Con Heir
  ", C.I.A. agent Stan's father resembles Fury.
• The satirical magazine National Lampoon parodied Nick Fury in "Nick Penis and the Brassball Brigade".
• In the animated TV series
  Hunter Thompson-manque lead character of the film Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998).^{[citation needed}
  ]
• In the
  Buffy the Vampire Slayer
  comic-book series that he be referred to as "Sgt. Fury".
• In the 1994 film
  video game series
  resembles Nick Fury, down to his signature eye patch and penchant for cigar-smoking.
• Dr. Betty Director, leader of the multinational Global Justice spy network in the Walt Disney Pictures TV show Kim Possible. GJ, as it is called, performs a function very similar to S.H.I.E.L.D. Director also wears an eyepatch, albeit on the right eye instead of the left. Further, the DVD A Sitch in Time suggests Kim will grow up to lead GJ, replete with Fury style eyepatch.
• In an episode of
  Fairly Oddparents
  , Timmy wishes his life was about Action, and when it did, it altered reality, everyone looked different and his father had a slight resemblance to Nick Fury with the eyepatch and style of hair.
• Falcon 7 from Birdman also has the signature eyepatch and mustache
• According to
  Tim Story
  wanted to use Fury but was unable to get the rights. General Hager was created in his place.

Footnotes

1. Comic Book Hall of Fame
   in 2006.
2. ^ Nick Fury vs. S.H.I.E.L.D. #1-6 (June-Nov. 1988)
3. ^ Over the Edge: Omega (Oct. 1995)
4. ^ Fury/Agent 13 #1-2 (June-July 1998).
5. ^ Secret War #1-5 (April 2004 - Dec. 2005)
6. Civil War
   #2 (Aug. 2006)
7. ^ Mighty Avengers #12
8. ^ Secret Invasion #3
9. ^ James Adams, "Code Red in the New Comicdom", The Globe and Mail, May 2, 2002, p. R9
10. ^ "Samuel L. Jackson". Copyright Kamal Larsuel, 2005. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
11. ^ "Marvel Updates Its Film Slate". ComicBookMovie.com. Retrieved 2007-05-22.

References

• Marvel Directory: Nick Fury
• Marvel.com: S.H.I.E.L.D. and Nick Fury
• Don Markstein's Toonopedia: Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.
• Comics 101 (column, March 3 2004): "Secret Agent, Man", by Scott Tipton
• E. Favata's Comic Book Movies: Nick Fury
• ComicBookMovie.com: Nick Fury
• The Grand Comics Database
• Iron Man Movie on IMDB

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Nick Fury.

• Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe: S.H.I.E.L.D.
• Sneak Peek TV: Nick Fury
• Nick Fury (2010) at the
  Internet Movie Database
• http://marvel.com/universe/Fury%2C_Nick