| Nick Fury | |
|---|---|
 2001 repurposed cover ofNick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #4 (September 1968). Art byJim Steranko. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #1 (May 1963) |
| Created by |
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| In-story information | |
| Full name | Nicholas Joseph Fury |
| Team affiliations | |
| Partnerships | |
| Notable aliases |
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| Abilities |
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ColonelNicholas Joseph "Nick"Fury Sr. is a fictional character appearing inAmerican comic books published byMarvel Comics. Created by writer/artistJack Kirby and writerStan Lee, hefirst appeared inSgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #1 (May 1963), aWorld War IIcombat series that portrayed the cigar-chomping man as leader of an eliteU.S. Army Ranger unit.
The modern-day character, initially aCIA agent, debuted a few months later inFantastic Four #21 (December 1963). InStrange Tales #135 (August 1965), the character was transformed into aJames Bond-like spy and leading agent of the fictional espionage agencyS.H.I.E.L.D. The character makes frequent appearances in Marvel books as the former head of S.H.I.E.L.D., and as an intermediary between the U.S. government or theUnited Nations and varioussuperheroes. It is eventually revealed that he takes a special medication called the Infinity Formula that halted his aging and allows him to be active despite being nearly a century old, later leading to him becomingThe Unseen, herald ofUatu the Watcher, and forming a new team ofExiles.
Nick Fury appears in several Marvel series set inalternate universes, as well as multiple animated films, television shows, and video games based on the comics. The character was first portrayed in live-action byDavid Hasselhoff in the television filmNick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (1998), withAndre Braugher portraying General Hager, a character based on Fury, inFantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007).Jeff Ward also portrayedDeke Shaw, a character based on the original Fury, from thefifth to theseventh season ofAgents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2017–20).[1]
Aversion of the character appearing in Marvel's 2001Ultimate Marvel imprint was based onSamuel L. Jackson's appearance and screen persona.[2] When thecharacter was introduced in theMarvel Cinematic Universe in 2008'sIron Man, Jackson was cast in the role,[3][4] which he has played in eleven films, thefirst season ofAgents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013–14), and theDisney+ seriesWhat If...? (2021) andSecret Invasion (2023).[5][6] The recognizability of the character portrayed by Jackson in the films later led Marvel in 2012 to retire the original character from his role with S.H.I.E.L.D., replacing him with his sonNick Fury Jr., who is also patterned on Jackson.
Fury first appeared in the World War IIcombat seriesSgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos,[7] as the cigar-chompingNCO who led a racially and ethnically integrated elite unit. The series ran 167 issues (May 1963 – December 1981), though only in reprints after issue #120 (July 1974). Following several issues by creators Lee and Kirby,pencillerDick Ayers began his long stint on what would be his signature series;John Severin later joined as inker, forming a long-running, critically acclaimed team.Roy Thomas succeeded Lee as writer, followed byGary Friedrich, who became a signature series as well. Annuals featured the "Howlers" called back to fight in theKorean War andVietnam War.
The Howling Commandos encounteredOffice of Strategic Services agent Reed Richards (laterMister Fantastic of theFantastic Four) in #3 (September 1963) and fought alongsideCaptain America andBucky in #13 (December 1964).
InStrange Tales #135 (August 1965), Fury, now a colonel, became aJames Bond-esqueCold War spy, with Marvel introducing the covert organizationS.H.I.E.L.D. (Supreme Headquarters International Espionage Law-enforcement Division) and its nemesisHydra.
The 12-page feature was initially created by Lee and Kirby, with the latter supplying such inventive and enduring gadgets and hardware as theHelicarrier – an airborneaircraft carrier – as well as human-replicant LMDs (Life Model Decoys), and evenautomobileairbags.[8] Lee recalled in 2005:
[T]here was a very popular television show calledThe Man from U.N.C.L.E., sort of aJames Bond type of thing. And I thought, just for fun, I'm going to bring Sgt. Fury back again. But it's now years later and I'm going to make him a colonel, and I'm going to make him the head of an outfit like U.N.C.L.E., a secret military outfit. So I had to think of a name, and I love names, so I came up with the name S.H.I.E.L.D. ... [A]nd I think this was Jack's idea, and it was a wonderful idea – they were headquartered in a floating helicarrier, which was like a super-dirigible.[9]
Writer-penciller-coloristJim Steranko began on the feature inStrange Tales #151 (December 1966), initially over Kirby layouts.[10][11] He quickly became one of comic books' most acclaimed and influential artists. In some of the creative zeniths of theSilver Age, Steranko established the feature as one of comic books' most groundbreaking and innovative.[12][13] He popularized in comic books such art movements of the day aspsychedelia andop art; built on Kirby's longstanding work inphotomontage; and created comic books' first four-page spread. All the while, he spun plots of intense intrigue, barely hidden sensuality, and hi-fi hipness—and supplied his own version ofBond girls, pushing what was allowable under theComics Code at the time.[14]
The 12-page feature ran throughStrange Tales #168 (sharing that "split book" with the occult feature "Doctor Strange" each issue), after which it was spun off into its own series, titledNick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. This ran 15 issues (June 1968 – November 1969), followed by three all-reprint issues beginning a year later (November 1970 – March 1971). Steranko wrote and drew issues #1–3 and #5 and drew the covers of #1–7.
Fury continued to make appearances in the other Marvel books, fromFantastic Four toThe Avengers. In 1972,Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos celebrated its 100th issue with a present-day reunion of the squad, sponsored byStan Lee and the creative team behind the title. (Lee, like other comic books professionals, has made occasional cameos in his own books, in a tradition going back to the 1940sGolden Age of Comic Books). The matter of Fury apparently not aging significantly since his term of service in World War II was justified in "Assignment: The Infinity Formula" by the writerJim Starlin and artistHoward Chaykin inMarvel Spotlight #31 (December 1976), revealing Fury's age-retarding medication treatment.[15]
A six-issueminiseries,Nick Fury vs. S.H.I.E.L.D. (June–November 1988) was followed byNick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. vol. 2.[16] The latter series lasted 47 issues (September 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 Decoys in a takeover attempt.
A year after that series ended, theone-shotFury (May 1994), usingretroactive continuity, altered the events of those previous two series. TheFury one-shot had cast them as a series of staged events designed to distract Fury from the resurrection plans of Hydra headBaron von Strucker. The following year, writer Chaykin and penciller Corky Lehmkuhl produced the four-issue miniseriesFury of S.H.I.E.L.D. (April–July 1995). Various publications have additionally focused on Nick Fury's solo adventures, such as thegraphic novels and one-shotsWolverine/Nick Fury: The Scorpio Connection (1989),Wolverine/Nick Fury: Scorpio Rising (October 1994),Fury/Black Widow: Death Duty andCaptain America and Nick Fury: Blood Truce (both February 1995), andCaptain America and Nick Fury: The Otherworld War (October 2001). He starred in the 2004–2005Secret War miniseries.
In the 2018Exiles series "The Unseen" will recruit characters to combat an unknown galactic threat.[17]
In May 2023 Marvel published a double sized one-shotFury made to commemorate the character's 60th anniversary.[18]
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Nicholas Joseph Fury is the eldest of three children born toJack Fury inNew York City. His father is a United States citizen who enlists in theUnited Kingdom'sRoyal Flying Corps during World War I. Jack enlists in 1916 and is stationed inFrance. He shoots downManfred von Richthofen early in his flying career and is a highly decorated combat aviator by the end of the war in 1918.
Discharged after the war, Jack returns home, marries an unnamed woman, and becomes the father of three children. Nick, probably born in the late 1910s or early 1920s, is followed by his brotherJake Fury (later thesupervillainScorpio who co-founded theZodiac cartel), and their sister Dawn.
All three children grow up in the neighborhood known asHell's Kitchen, Manhattan, New York. Nick is anamateur boxer through theNew York City Police Athletic League, where he also learns marksmanship. As a teenager in 1937, he went overseas for the first time to fight with theInternational Brigades in theSpanish Civil War. He was on leave inGuernica when the fascistsbombed it.[19]
After he returns to America, Fury and his friend Red Hargrove leave the neighborhood to pursue their dreams of adventure, eventually settling on a daringwing walking and parachuting act. In the early 1940s, their death-defying stunts catch the attention ofLieutenantSamuel "Happy Sam" Sawyer, who was then training with theBritish Commandos, who enlists them for a special mission in theNetherlands. Nick and Red later join theU.S. Army, with Fury undergoing basic training under Sergeant Bass. Nick and Red are stationed together atSchofield Barracks, Hawaii when theImperial Japanese Navy ambushes the base on December 7, 1941. Red is among the many killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor, with Fury swearing vengeance against both the Japanese and the Nazis.
Sawyer, now acaptain, assigns Fury command of the First Attack Squad, a unit ofU.S. Army Rangers, who are awarded the honorary title of commandos byWinston Churchill after their first missions. They are nicknamed the "Howling Commandos" and stationed at a military base in the United Kingdom to fight specialized missions, primarily but not exclusively in theEuropean Theatre of World War II. During this period, Fury falls in love with a British nurse, Lady Pamela Hawley, who dies in a bombing raid on London before he can propose to her.[volume & issue needed]
At the end of World War II in Europe, Fury is severely injured by a land mine in France, and is found and healed by Berthold Sternberg, who uses him as a test subject for his Infinity Formula. After making a full recovery, Fury begins working for theOffice of Strategic Services (OSS), precursor of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Six months into his service, he learns the extent of Sternberg's life-saving operation: the Infinity Formula has stopped his aging, but if he does not receive annual doses, he will age rapidly and die. The doctor begins a 30-year period of extorting large sums of money from Fury in exchange for the injections.[20]
Fury segues into the CIA as an espionage agent, gathering information inKorea. During this time the Howling Commandos are reformed, and Fury receives abattlefield commission to lieutenant. He later reaches the rank ofcolonel. During this time, he recommends the recruitment of married agentsRichard and Mary Parker, who will go on to become the parents of Fury's occasional superhero allySpider-Man. Much later, the CIA uses him as a liaison to various super-powered groups that have begun appearing, including theFantastic Four, whom CIA agent Fury first encounters inFantastic Four #21 (Dec. 1963).
During his time with the CIA, Fury begins wearing his trademark eyepatch.Sgt. Fury #27 (Feb. 1966) revealed that he had taken shrapnel to one eye during World War II, which caused him to slowly lose sight in it over the course of years.
Fury becomes the second commander of S.H.I.E.L.D. as its public director. The ultimate authority of S.H.I.E.L.D. is revealed to be a cabal of 12 mysterious men and women who give Fury his orders and operational structure, leaving Fury to manage the actual implementation of these orders and stratagems.[21] The identities of these people have never been revealed; they appear only as shadowy figures on monitors. Initially, his organization's primary nemesis is the international terrorist organization Hydra, created by Fury's worst enemy of World War II, BaronWolfgang von Strucker (afterretconning of the original continuity). Under Fury, S.H.I.E.L.D. grows into one of the world's most powerful organizations, reaching covertly into national governments and forming strategic alliances with theAvengers and othersuperhero groups, while always maintaining independence and deniability. Fury soon becomes the superhero community's main contact when government-related information is required in order to deal with a crisis.
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 sentientLife Model Decoy androids known as Deltites. Betrayed, Fury goes underground and is hunted by his fellow agents, many of whom are later revealed to have 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 he disbands the agency to prevent it from again being subverted from within.[22]
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".[23]
Sometime later, Frank Castle, thevigilante known as thePunisher, is captured and sent to a maximum-security facility with a S.H.I.E.L.D. escort. During a hypnosis session withDoc Samson, a character named Spook interferes with the session and has the Punisher conditioned to believe Fury is responsible for the murder of the Punisher's family. An escaped Punisher eventually kills Fury,[24] who is buried atArlington National Cemetery.[25] The Fury that the Punisher has "killed" is later revealed to have been a highly advanced Life Model Decoy android.[26]
Returned to his post as S.H.I.E.L.D. director, Fury independently enlists thesuperheroesCaptain America,Spider-Man,Luke Cage,Wolverine,Daredevil, and theBlack Widow to launch a covert assault on the leadership ofLatveria, which is plotting a massive attack on the U.S. One year afterward, Latveria launches a counterattack that results in Fury's removal as S.H.I.E.L.D. commander, forcing him again into hiding with numerous international warrants out for his arrest. His successors as director of S.H.I.E.L.D. are firstMaria Hill and thenTony Stark.[27] Both Hill and Stark, keeping Fury's disappearance secret from the S.H.I.E.L.D. rank and file, use Life Model Decoys to impersonate Fury on occasion.
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 of the existence of 28 emergency, covert bases scattered across the globe) secretly providing the anti-registration faction in the subsequent superhumancivil war with bases where they can rally their forces without worrying about their Pro-Registration enemies finding them.[28]
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During the time Fury spends in hiding, he learns thatValentina 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 the form of anextraterrestrial shapeshifter from the hostileSkrull race, which has mounted aninvasion of Earth. He recruitsSpider-Woman to be his mole inside bothHydra and S.H.I.E.L.D., and to watch for further Skrull impostors. Unbeknownst to him, she's replaced shortly after by Skrull QueenVeranke herself.[29] He later instructs former S.H.I.E.L.D. agentDaisy Johnson to recruit superpowered children of various heroes and villains to help combat the Skrull invasion; these includePhobos, the 10-year-old son ofAres and himself the young god of fear; Yo-Yo, a misunderstood mutant speedster;Hellfire, a relative ofPhantom Rider with supernatural powers; Druid, a magician and son ofDoctor Druid; and Stonewall, a young man who can grow bigger at will and has super strength. Fury dubs them his "Commandos".[30]
Soon after the attack on Earth, Fury and his new team are seen counter-attacking the Skrull attack inTimes Square, Manhattan. They manage to repel and kill the invaders in the area significantly, whilst saving the downedInitiative cadets and theYoung Avengers.[31] He, along with his team and the rescued heroes, are next seen working and planning their next move in one of the scattered 28 covert S.H.I.E.L.D. bases.[32] He has been seen talking toDeadpool, while Deadpool was on a Skrull ship after pretending to join them. It is revealed that Fury hired Deadpool to infiltrate Skrull ranks by pretending to defect, with the intention of obtaining biological information of the Skrulls that Fury can use to stop them. When Deadpool attempts to transmit the data, it is intercepted byNorman Osborn.[33]
Fury leads the survivors of the Young Avengers and Initiative back to the fight in New York, where they are joined byThor, the newCaptain America, theNew Avengers and theMighty Avengers, theHood's gang, and theThunderbolts, to take onVeranke's army of Super Skrulls.[34]
During an infiltration and elimination of a covert S.H.I.E.L.D. base in Chicago, Fury discovers that S.H.I.E.L.D. is, and always has been, secretly controlled by Hydra.[35] A distraught Fury now plans to use his Secret Warriors to combat the renewed Hydra threat, spearheaded by his old nemesis,Baron Strucker.[36] He hires the newHowling Commandos, aprivate military company formed by 1200 former S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who refused to joinNorman Osborn'sH.A.M.M.E.R., to employ them in his fight against Hydra and Osborn.[37] He has a number of inside men to assist in his raids,[38] includingNatasha Romanova posing asYelena Belova who is in command of the Thunderbolts.[39][40] Eventually, he and his men commandeer decommissioned Helicarriers, as well as forcing the H.A.M.M.E.R. agents at the dock to follow him.[41] Natasha bringsSongbird to Fury, but she is followed and the three are captured by the Thunderbolts. Osborn then shoots Fury in the head.[42] It was not the real Fury who was shot, but aLife Model Decoy in his image,[43] which theFixer reveals to Songbird and Black Widow later after they escape the Thunderbolts.[44]
On a solo mission soon after, Fury teams with Norman Osborn to interrogate a lower-level H.A.M.M.E.R. agent. The conversation (and materials obtained afterwards) reveal there may be an organization much like Hydra, installed in the upper levels of world governments, called "Leviathan". This organization appears to have been founded by the Soviet government for reasons as yet unclear.[45] Fury later introduces Daisy Johnson to prominent members of the Howling Commandos includingAlexander Pierce, leader of the second caterpillar team, andMikel, Fury's son and leader of the "gray" team.[46]
Fury and the Secret Warriors are later summoned byCaptain America to his hideout along with the New and Young Avengers, when Rogers, seeking to aid his long-time comrade Thor in his plight during theSiege of Asgard launched byNorman Osborn, gathered all his allies to strike back against Osborn and rescue Thor whilst simultaneously ending Osborn'sDark Reign. Fury insists on Phobos remaining behind due to an unwillingness for him to battle his father Ares and his youth, and later opens a wormhole aboard an ex-S.H.I.E.L.D. jet which brings the combined forces of the three teams toOklahoma.[47][48] They then intercept Norman Osborn's siege and with the help of Iron Man, who receives a variation of his suit fromSpeed, they shut down Norman's suit. Their victory is cut short when Sentry, now fully possessed by the Void, begins attacking them.[49][50] Loki attempts to help Fury and the other heroes by empowering them with theNorn Stones, but Void kills him before long. Iron Man then uses the ex-S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier as a bullet on the Void. Robert Reynolds regains control of his body and begs the Avengers to kill him. Thor refuses but ends up killing him anyway when Void begins to take over again. The Avengers are reunited, and the press declares that a new "Heroic Age" has begun.[51][52]
While Fury remains underground, allowing Steve Rogers to take official command of the super-spy side of things, he remains in contact with Earth's heroes and monitors their activities.[volume & issue needed] He provides theNew Avengers with a special serum, created as a combination of the Super-Soldier serum and the Infinity Formula, to helpMockingbird when she was shot during a raid on a H.A.M.M.E.R. base.[53] Fury later expends the last sample of the Infinity Formula to saveBucky's life. He remains immortal due to trace amounts of the formula in his body.[54]
In 2012, the six-part seriesBattle Scars introduces Nick Fury's secret son, Sgt.Marcus Johnson who is an African American and ends up losing one eye in the series.[55] The character has been described as looking likeSamuel L. Jackson, just as theNick Fury of theUltimate Universe does.[56][57] Nick Fury retires at the end of the series, and his son joins S.H.I.E.L.D. Upon joining S.H.I.E.L.D., Johnson changes his name to his original birth name of Nick Fury Jr., as he andAgent Coulson appear on the Helicarrier in the final page.[58]
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During theOriginal Sin storyline, Nick Fury is called upon to help investigate the murder of Uatu the Watcher.[59] Fury is attacked and beheaded by the Winter Soldier.[60] When the investigating teams – includingBlack Panther,Emma Frost,Doctor Strange and thePunisher – attempt to pursue Bucky, they find a space station of unknown origin. "Fury" is revealed to be a highly advanced Life Model Decoy, with the space station containing the real, elderly, Nick Fury and several LMDs.[61] Fury relates an account from 1958, when as a member ofU.S. Army Intelligence, he encountered an invasion of alien Tribellians in Kansas. He witnessed Woodrow McCord destroying the home planet of the aliens, before himself being fatally injured. When McCord's partnerHoward Stark arrived on the scene, he decided to recruit Fury to continue his work as defender of the planet. Nick Fury accepted and explains that over the decades he defended the Earth against threats through virtually any means whatsoever, including systematic torture against aliens, genocide against planetary civilizations, and warmongering spanning entire galaxies. The corpses discovered recently by the superhero investigators were threats that Fury had neutralized.[62] Fury reveals that he has rapidly grown elderly and is dying because the Infinity Formula in his body has been depleted. He explains that he chose each of the heroes assembled so that one of them can replace him. His refusal to answer the Black Panther's demand for an explanation of what happened to Uatu leads to a battle between the heroes and the LMDs, during which Fury activates Uatu's eyes.[63] Fury fights off most of the attacking heroes – including revealing an undisclosed secret to Thor that causes him to lose the ability to wield his hammer.[64] Fury confesses that he killed Uatu in potential self-defense afterDoctor Midas and the Orb had first attacked him. Fury took one of Uatu's eyes, needing to know who mounted the assault and Uatu's oath preventing him from revealing that information directly. After killing Midas, Fury is shown wandering the Moon in chains and wearing long robes that hide his face from view and unable to interfere as "The Unseen", becoming Uatu's replacement while the Winter Soldier takes his place as Earth's "Man on the Wall".[65]
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Following the continuity-changing events of the 2015 miniseriesSecret Wars, Fury returned as "the Unseen", advising Odinson of the existence of another hammer.[66] He muses later that, while he is essentially another person from Nick Fury now, he still retains Fury's regret at destroying Thor with a whisper, hoping that the news of the new hammer will help Odinson recover what he once was. Odinson also admits that the secret that made him unworthy was "Gorr was right", referencing howGorr the God-Butcher believed that no gods were worthy of worship, although Odinson's allyBeta Ray Bill assures him that his willingness to continue fighting for others proves that this does not apply to Odinson.[67]
Later while the Unseen still cannot interfere with the events he is observing, he is able to summon Blink to him and tells her of things going on in the greater multiverse, terrible creatures that are destroying time, space and dimension, and tells her that she is chosen by the device to act as protector of the very fabric of the multiverse.[68] However, due to this interference in the timestream, a faction of Watchers assaulted him with the objective of ending his involvement, even if it means the end of the multiverse.[69]
He has also continued Uatu's tradition of observing parallel universes, including observing a reality whereFlash Thompson became Spider-Man only to turn himself in after accidentally killing Peter Parker.[70] It is also revealed that theMaker is aware of the Unseen's existence.[71]
After the "Empyre" event, the Unseen observes as the Avengers, Fantastic Four, Kree/Skrull Alliance, andCotati end the oldest war in the universe. As Quoi is held captive, Wolverine detects a presence nearby, and Thor notes that they are being watched. Later, the Unseen retrieves ancient weapons from the First Race, predating the Elders of the Universe, Asgardians, and Celestials. Examining them, the Unseen discovers their origin and is overwhelmed with energy as the one-eyed Uatu is resurrected. Uatu only says, "There shall be...a reckoning" when asked how he came back to life.[72]
While reconstructing his home, Uatu learns of how Nick Fury became Unseen by tapping into the Cyclopedia Universum. It revealed that three of Uatu's brothers and sisters broke their non-interference vow by judging Nick Fury and fusing what's left of Uatu with Nick Fury making him a human/watcher hybrid that they chained to a rock. After viewing some of the good things that Unseen did and the weapons used by the Cotati which caused Uatu to be revived, he states that the technology did not belong to the Cotati. While he cannot commute Nick Fury's sentence, he does release him from his punishment by removing the chains on him since he needs an operative to get the job done and makes Nick Fury his herald. The first war is coming and Uatu states that everything and everyone is in peril as Nick Fury accepts his offer to aid him.[73]
During the "Reckoning War" storyline, Nick Fury and Uatu meet up with Mister Fantastic to inform them about the Reckoning.[74] When Uatu tries to appeal to the other Watchers for help, he is condemned to watch the "What If" scenario he never looked at himself in the form of a world where he never interfered by alerting the FF to the coming of Galactus, which ended with the team suffering serious injuries but driving Galactus back and reverse-engineering Galactus's technology to create a new power source for Earth. Uatu is left condemned to watch this world in a loop for the rest of his life as punishment for his interference, but Nick Fury followed the Watchers and managed to release Uatu from the chair.[75] At the same time, Fury was able to reveal to Uatu that the vision he was being shown ended just before it was revealed that Reed's new energy generator would overload and erase the universe, leaving Uatu shaken but assured that his interference was right after all.[76]
In the conclusion, Uatu builds a new Watchtower for Fury and entrusts him to secure the Ultimate Nullifier as the Unseen and humanity's shield.[77]
According to the comic books, 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. Originally Fury had to take the formula annually or the effects would be reversed, allowing his body to reach its actual chronological age.[20] Nick Fury is depicted as an active athletic man despite his advanced chronological age, though writers have sometimes portrayed Fury as being past his prime despite the Infinity Formula as in theFury and Wolverine graphic novel. As of the "Original Sin" story arc, it is revealed that at some point the Infinity Formula stopped working for him and Fury has only pretended to stop aging by usingLMDs.[63]
Fury's injured left eye, though initially minimally affected by a grenade blast during World War II,[78] has over the decades resulted in a 95% loss of vision in this eye. Despite some comments to the contrary, Fury has not had the eye removed, nor bionically enhanced, and he merely covers it with a cosmetic eye-patch to prevent depth perception distortion. He has explained that when needing to disguise himself, he only needs to remove the eyepatch, slip in a contact lens and darken his hair, as everyone always looks for a one-eyed man.[79]
Fury is a seasoned unarmed and armed combat expert, was a heavyweightboxer in the army (duringWorld War II) and holds a black belt inTae Kwon Do and a brown belt inJiu Jitsu. He has further honed his unarmed combat skills sparring withCaptain America. The character is a combat veteran of three wars,World War II, theKorean War, and theVietnam War, as well as numerous "military adviser" missions and clandestine operations ("a dozen conflicts you've never even heard of"). He is trained as aparatrooper,Ranger, ademolitions expert, vehicle specialist (including aircraft and seagoing vessels), and aGreen Beret.[citation needed]
Fury has access to a wide variety of equipment and weaponry designed byS.H.I.E.L.D. technicians. He wears a S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform made of 9-plyKevlar (able to withstand ballistic impact up to .45 caliber bullets) and aBeta cloth (type C), a fire-resistant material, which has a kindling temperature of 1,700 °F (930 °C). Fury uses various types of handguns, including a .15 caliber needle gun, agovernment issue .45 caliber automatic, a captured GermanLuger in9mm Parabellum, a modified semi-automaticWalther PPK in 9 mm Parabellum, and the IngramMAC-10 machine pistol in.45 ACP.[citation needed]
As the director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Fury has access to the entire S.H.I.E.L.D. highly advanced arsenal of weaponry; various air, land, and sea craft provided by S.H.I.E.L.D.; and numerous S.H.I.E.L.D. paraphernalia, including a radio-link tie and a bulletproof suit. Due to his high-ranking status, even when S.H.I.E.L.D. is directed by Tony Stark, Norman Osborn and Steve Rogers, Fury retains access to several S.H.I.E.L.D. warehouses and paraphernalia that are unknown to anyone else but him.
After his transformation intoThe Unseen, Nick Fury now possesses the same Cosmic Awareness as the Watchers, which grants him the ability to observe different timelines, allowing him to see the past, present and even possible futures of every alternate timeline.[80]
In the1602 miniseries, Nick Fury appears asSir Nicholas Fury,Queen Elizabeth I's chief of intelligence. His character was modeled after Queen Elizabeth's real-life spymasterSir Francis Walsingham.[81]
In theAvataars: Covenant of the Shield miniseries Nick Fury appears asRegent Nicholas, who watches over the throne of Avalon "with his elite guard as its shield".[82]
Deadpool visits a universe where the Wild West still exists, and Nick Fury is the sheriff of a town there.[83]
In theEarth X universe, Nick Fury is dead. SeveralLMDs still exist and fight against Cold War-eracommunists, such as the current leader of Russia,Piotr Rasputin. One attacks Piotr when he is meeting with Captain America's party.[84]
In theMarvel MAX-imprint miniseriesFury vol. 2, by writerGarth Ennis and pencillerDarick Robertson, Fury is a burned-outCold War veteran unable to cope with the modern world. He is swiftly drawn into a conflict with an oldHydra enemy and the new bureaucratic version of S.H.I.E.L.D. This version continues to appear in Ennis'Punisher series. A 2012 sequel series namedFury: My War Gone By followed Fury's involvement in 1960's anti-Communist military action, including Vietnam and Cuba.[85][86]
A six-part prequel miniseries namedFury: Peacemaker, written by Ennis, was published in 2006 under theMarvel 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 formedBritish SAS and ultimately joins them on a mission to assassinate an important German general.[87]
In the alternate reality of thecrossover story arcHouse 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. It is hinted that the trap was actually planned by Wolverine, another of Fury's soldiers.[88]
InMarvel Zombies, Nick Fury organizes a resistance against the zombies but is eventually devoured by the zombifiedFantastic Four on the helicarrier. Shortly before he dies, Fury ordersThor to destroy the teleporter built byTony Stark, despite the fact that the small group of heroes in the room could use it to escape, in order to prevent the Fantastic Four from escaping to other dimensions, effectively saving the multiverse from the zombie plague.[89]
In the alternate reality known as theMC2 Universe, Nick Fury is alive and well and is still running S.H.I.E.L.D.[90]
In the alternate reality of theX-Men-related miniseriesMutant 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.[91] Fury himself is an extreme megalomaniac, and kills his own men at the slightest questioning of his orders.[92][93]
In theRuins universe, claiming to still be a government agent, Nick Fury was stationed in Washington, D.C., which had fallen into a state of disrepair after "President X" moved the White House to New York. He met Philip Sheldon, who asked for an interview for a book he was writing. Fury assaulted Sheldon thinking he was a political writer, and insisted that he had no connection with the recently deceased Avengers, then telling him that it was Captain America that introduced him to eating human meat during World War II. After shooting a rabid dog, Fury sat on the corpse until approached and solicited by Jean Grey, a prostitute. Killing her, then igniting a nearby car, he told Sheldon he needed to take a short nap, then put the gun under his chin and pulled the trigger.[94]
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In theUltimate Marvel Universe,General Nick Fury isAfrican American born inHuntsville, Alabama, with his look and personality closely tailored after actorSamuel L. Jackson who eventually went on to playthe live-action adaptation of Nick Fury within theMarvel Cinematic Universe.
Nicholas Fury fought for the United States inWorld War II. During theinvasion of Sicily, he, along with Private Fisk (the grandfather ofWilson Fisk) and Canadian paratrooper CorporalHowlett, attempted to loot a house. American military police arrived to arrest them, and all three were subdued. Fisk was grazed by a bullet, while Fury was imprisoned in an unknown location alongside several other black men, and Howlett, despite protests that he was Canadian, was also shipped to an unknown location.[95] Fury was selected to be the next test subject for Project: Rebirth, as his blood work most closely matched that of subject #22, the most successful of the previous test subjects. He was injected with a serum that gave him super-strength, which he used to free himself and the other prisoners, who then escaped. The scientists who were working on him let him escape, deciding that they have all the information that they needed for now.[96]
After attending college inIndia, Fury enlisted in the U.S. military, where he was deployed into various conflicts such as theKosovo War. He was later assigned toS.H.I.E.L.D.'sWeapon X program in the originalGulf War. While transporting the mind-wiped Wolverine in anadamantium cage, an Iraqi guerrilla ambushed and killed his team, inadvertently freeing Wolverine from his prison. After slaughtering the Iraqi guards, Wolverine discovered Fury, the only survivor of the ambush, and transported him back through the desert to the Allied forces. Although Wolverine was summarily subdued and re-imprisoned by his handlers, a bond between the two men was formed.[97] The next day, Fury, already mostly healed, was confronted byGeneral Thaddeus Ross. The general had discovered much was unusual about Fury and questioned him at length, prompting him to reexamine where he was going in life.[98]
Years later, theX-Men were abducted and imprisoned by the Weapon X program. This program was overseen at the time byWraith, who had previously staged a coup against General Ross. This coup had prevented Ross from dismantling the Weapon X program altogether. Wolverine, the only X-Man who eludes capture, later asks Fury for help in freeing the other X-Men and bringing down the Weapon X program. During the operation, which also involves theBrotherhood of Mutants, Wraith was about to kill Nightcrawler, but was shot dead by Fury.[97]
Fury is summarily promoted togeneral and resumes the duties of the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. He was tasked with forming a team to battle posthuman threats and resurrecting thesupersoldier program, two objectives that resulted in the formation of theUltimates. Fury operates as the commander of the team, at times leading them into action, though he often shares duties with the revived World War II heroCaptain America and billionaire geniusIron Man. Nick Fury is also responsible for monitoring superhumans who are not affiliated with the U.S. military, includingPeter Parker and the X-Men.[99]
Nick Fury lost his right arm in a battle against theLiberators inThe Ultimates 2. He replaced it shortly thereafter with a bionic one.
Nick Fury has also been involved in theUltimate Spider-Man comics. In them, he meetsPeter afterNorman Osborn returns. He states that S.H.I.E.L.D. was able to figure out who Peter was because of the security shots of the OZ spider biting Peter, as well asDoctor Octopus screaming that Peter Parker is Spider-Man while in jail. Nick Fury has been watching Peter and informs him that, due to his illegal genetically altered status, he will become the property of S.H.I.E.L.D. when he turns eighteen. Although Fury wants him to be part of the Ultimates, this may have changed because the Ultimates broke apart. Peter and Fury's relationship became strained after the "Hobgoblin" arc. Peter punches Fury for ignoring his questions for whyHarry Osborn became the Hobgoblin. At that point, Fury told one of his scientists that he wanted to know everything about OZ and that it was time for Peter Parker to lose his spider powers. This follows on to theUltimate Clone Saga, in which it is revealed by Fury that theTinkerer'sSpider-Slayers were developed to handle Peter if and when he ever went insane.Mary Jane Watson, upon discovering Fury's intentions, tells him that Peter looks up to him like a father. This convinced Fury to let Peter keep his powers, and he apologizes to Peter, stating that in his line of work he's been trained to expect someone in Peter's position to crack under stress.[100]
DuringUltimate Power, Fury was judged to be at least partially responsible for the devastation of much ofEarth-31916 along withEmil Burbank. Burbank had sought a means to defeat theHyperion of that universe. An alien organism, unleashed in an attempt to achieve this, spread throughout the United States, causing widespread devastation. A probe sent byReed Richards provided evidence that an "invasion from another universe" was responsible. TheSquadron Supreme was dispatched to the Ultimate Universe in order to arrest Richards so that he could stand trial for his "crimes". A lengthy battle ensued between the Squadron on one side and theUltimates, Spider-Man, the X-Men, and theFantastic Four on the other. Richards, believing himself to be responsible when the squadron produced his probe as evidence, surrendered himself. Fury was unwilling to accept this and convincedThor to create a bridge to Earth-31916, through which thehelicarrier was able to travel. Once there, another battle between the squadron and the Ultimate Universe heroes began. Spider-Man learns that Fury had an ulterior motive - the retrieval of the probes and their data, and had conspired with Doctor Doom to do so. In addition, Fury had brought insurance in the form of theHulk. It took the combined power of the Ultimate Universe heroes, the Earth-31916 Squadron Supreme, and theircounterparts from Earth-712 to defeat the Hulk, but Doom had proven to be simply aDoombot. To stop the fighting, the Ultimates agreed to turn over Fury to the Earth-31916 squadron and to allowPower Princess to return with them to their universe. Fury tries to convince them that they are making a mistake, but his pleas are ignored.[101]
Fury is seen still stranded in Earth-31916 inSquadron Supreme (Vol. 2) #1. He has apparently fulfilled the prophecy made by Hyperion inUltimate Power #9.[102]
Fury returns to the Ultimate Universe inUltimatum #4 and is instrumental in defeatingMagneto.Jean Grey telepathically relays the information discovered by Fury inUltimate Origins that mutants are not the next stage in human evolution, but are in fact the result of experimentation done by humans. This revelation causes Magneto to reverse the damage done to the Earth's magnetic poles.[103]
Following the events ofUltimatum, Fury is informed byHawkeye about how Captain America discovered the secret of theRed Skull. Fury asks head of S.H.I.E.L.D.Carol Danvers for permission to start up a "death squad" in order to catch the Red Skull and Cap, which he then carries out with the help of Hawkeye, Dr.Gregory Stark, and the rest of theUltimate Avengers.[104]
InUltimate Comics: Avengers Fury returned to S.H.I.E.L.D. again. After learning that Captain America went rogue after discovering that theRed Skull was his biological son, Fury reactivated "Project Avenger" and recruited a team of questionable super humans to find Captain America.[105] Following Captain America's capture, Fury briefed the Avengers of AIM's purpose of creating the Cosmic Cube to build their visioned utopia and readied his team to thwart the organization's plans.
Fury guided his team of Avengers from headquarters, with the secret intent to go ahead with "plan B", which is to detonate a nuclear warhead that was built into War Machine's armor by Gregory Stark in case the mission failed.
Captain America managed to arrive at the location of the battle between the Red Skull and the Avengers and teleported the jet to the exact location where the Red Skull was standing, impaling him through the chest with one of the rods that protrudes from its nose. The Red Skull was taken to a hospital and kept alive long enough for Gail, his mother, to say her goodbyes. Red Skull explained to Fury that all he wanted to do with the Cosmic Cube was turn back time and prevent Steve Rogers from being lost during the war so that he could grow up with him and lead a normal life, rather than the one he was given.Petra Laskov, dressed as a doctor, then entered the room and shot Red Skull in the head, killing him.
A short time later, Fury is fixing his damaged prosthetic arm while speaking with Gregory Stark. Gregory concludes that it was in fact Fury himself who hired the Red Skull to come out of retirement, in some sort of plot to resurrect Project Avengers, securing him a position in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s employment and eventually regaining his old title as Director. Fury told him that was how he got the job the first time, and expects the same outcome this time as well.[106] Fury and his Avengers later faced threats from theGhost Rider[107] and avampiric menace.[108] InUltimate Avengers vs. New Ultimates, Stark would end up framing Fury for selling information toNorth Korea and stealing his position as S.H.I.E.L.D. Director and charging Fury's ex-assistant Carol Danvers' New Ultimates to apprehend him, ending in a standstill when Stark caught Fury, revealing he was manipulating both. Fury and his Avengers take down Stark's forces with Thor landing a strike from his hammer, killing Gregory.[109]
In "Ultimate Enemy", approximately six months after Ultimatum, Fury is black ops and is "off the grid". He was enjoying a meal while under cover when the restaurant he was at was attacked by a creature with energy powers. Fury manages to hold the creature at bay until Spider-Man andHuman Torch arrive at the scene to investigate. The creature vanishes after a short battle with the three of them. Peter is surprised to see Fury alive, as he has not seen him for months.[110]
Nick breaks into the Triskelion and confronts Carol Danvers in the ladies' room and points a gun to her head, exclaiming that she is the only person who knew he was alive and would have motive to have him killed. The two fight before being interrupted by a female S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, informing Danvers that an attack has been made in Queens, which Fury knows is where the Parker residence is located. Simultaneously, the two order a battalion ofHulkbuster agents to get to Queens to intercept the attacker, where they succeed in apprehending the monster attacking superhumans.[111]
Attempting to atone for his mistakes with Peter, Fury has taken on a more direct mentor role forMiles Morales as the new Spider-Man.
When thePeter Parker of Earth-616 issent to the Ultimate Universe, Fury interrogates him for information about his presence in this universe, accepting Peter's story that he came from another universe as nobody would come up with something that insane as a lie. Peter also notes that Ultimate Nick Fury is a lot cooler than the version Peter knows.[112] Attempting to atone for his mistakes with his Peter, Fury allows the other Peter to visit his counterpart's family,[113] and is satisfied when Peter gives Miles his blessing to become that world's new Spider-Man.[114]
Nick joinedHydra using a bio-camouflage to change his appearance under the name of "Scorpio" (resembling his classic mainstream look), stating that his motivations were to destroy the government that took everything away from him, although he still had a different agenda apart from Hydra's. The Ultimates managed to track him and tried to capture him, believing he was the traitor who provided Hydra with S.H.I.E.L.D. weapons. During an attack to Hydra's Death's Head camp, it was revealed Nick Fury was trying to destroy Hydra from the inside, while the S.H.I.E.L.D. traitor was actually Hydra leader Commander Crimson who used anInfinity Gem to battle her enemies, until a burst of energy made her disappear along with the artifact.[115]
In the aftermath of the battle, Nick toldMonica Chang he was planning to create his own team, theHowling Commandos, to battle Hydra the way the Ultimates could not, along ex-Hydra agentAbigail Brand. Before leaving, Chang told Fury he would be under her supervision.[116]
As thefinal Incursion ofEarth-1610 andEarth-616 begins, theMaker (Reed Richards of Earth-1610) urges Fury to defend his world by attacking Earth-616. Despite not trusting the Maker, Fury sends every weapon and hero in his arsenal against the Marvel Universe's heroes. His invasion fails against the might of the defending forces, but it buys time for the Maker to launch his doomsday weapon.[117]
During the "Ultimate Invasion" storyline,Maker traveled toEarth-6160 and remade it into his own image. Nick Fury is depicted as the Director of H.A.N.D. (short for Heroic Anomaly Neutralization Directorate), implied to be a reorganized S.H.I.E.L.D after a takeover ofThe Hand. One year after the Maker's imprisonment inside The City, Fury oversees the termination of a suspected "terrorist" named Keith Kincaid who was merely an ordinary man with faint sympathies towards theUltimates. He proceeds to meet withMaker's Council, his current superiors, giving reports of the current efforts to eliminate the current wave of super-dissidents. While internally composing his last confession, Fury recalls his early idealistic days during World War II and the atrocities committed by him in the name of the Maker such as theInhuman Genocide, the murder of his friendDum Dum Dugan, the killing of several heroes, and the accident that causedHank Pym's brain damage, while perceiving some of his memories as "blurry". When Fury decides to stop killing innocents, he activates the self-destruct override code on "The Beast", H.A.N.D's flag-ship Cumulo-Carrier, in order to take Maker's Council with him. This fails as it is revealed such events have happened before. AfterEmmanuel da Costa kills Fury, he's shown to be only aLife Model Decoy as Emmanuel andHenri Duggary end up having to download new information into another Nick Fury LMD onHulk's orders, on the reasoning that the expandable nature of the Director position helps ward off potential traitors within H.A.N.D. The fate of the original Nick Fury is left unknown.[118]
The latest Nick Fury L.M.D. had receivedWasp as an informant as she tells him what the Ultimates have been up to. After hearing the information, the Nick Fury LMD arranges for some H.A.N.D. Agents to provide her with some groceries to go with her alibi to the Ultimates.[119]
In 2011, Fury was ranked 33rd inIGN's "Top 100 Comic Book Heroes",[120] and 32nd in their list of "The Top 50 Avengers".[121]
Convinced that Marvel's personality-driven stories combined with action-orientated artwork could sell any type of comic, Stan Lee somehow persuaded publisher Martin Goodman to try yet another war comic.
Perhaps the most innovative new talent to emerge at Marvel during the late 1960s was Jim Steranko, whose bold innovations in graphics, layout, and design startled the readers ... Steranko transformed the look of the comic book page.
His work on his first hit book,Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD, took the wildly popular Bond secret-agent schtick and gave it a jazzy makeover, with outlandish plots, eye-popping visuals and even 'adult themes' that had the Comics Code Authority demanding several panels in one landmark issue be redrawn.
We begin in French Indochina in the early '50s, then it's up to '61 for the Bay of Pigs fiasco in Cuba. Then ahead 10 years and back to Southeast Asia, where Fury meets a young Marine sniper by the name of Frank Castle.
The new series, though I can't say too much about it, will look quite closely at the Cold War. It's a period of history that fascinates me and we will sort of move through its greatest hits. French Indochina, Cuba because you have do the Bay of Pigs, Vietnam in the early seventies when it's really gotten going, and then on to Nicaragua and El Salvador in the 80s. Those last two allow me to use the Punisher and Barracuda as supporting characters. So, it's going to be sort of the Marvel MAX ultimate whirlwind cauldron of hell book.
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