When Samuel L. Jackson joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it wasn’t a universe at all. It was just the 2008 movie Iron Man… but Marvel Studios was clearly ambitious. Even before the first film came out, Jackson signed a nine-film deal, and now, 15 years later, the actor has starred in well over nine films since then. But surprisingly, it turns out Jackson wished he’d had more.
The woman who would be Photon
This information comes from a Rolling Stone article mentioned earlier, in which the actor also reveals that there are two Marvel films he wished Fury had been in and he still seems a bit grumpy about it be. Those movies are Black Panther and Captain America: Civil War, and he’d still like to know why the former SHIELD director and current Skrull fighter didn’t show up. And his reasoning is sound! On Black Panther: “They wouldn’t let me go to Wakanda, which I was kind of upset about. How could Nick Fury not know about Wakanda? They said, ‘Well, you know, but you can’t go.’”
On the Civil War: “If the kids are fighting, why isn’t Nick Fury there to send them to their rooms? They never explained that to me.”
While the real-world explanation for Civil War is certainly “there have already been so many damn characters in this movie,” story-wise it really doesn’t make sense for Fury to sit out a fight where the world’s superheroes join forces decide to have a battle royale. As for Black Panther… Arguably, enough of it was happening in isolated Wakanda for Fury to worry about, at least until it reached his proverbial front door – but still, his absence from a film with such an important character and some of Marvel’s history is striking, if not blatant.
Hopefully it’s some consolation to Jackson that Nick Fury has appeared in an almost obscene number of MCU films, including:
- iron man
- iron man 2
- Thor
- Captain America: The First Avenger
- The Avengers
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier
- Avengers: Age of Ultron
- Avengers: Infinity War
- Captain Marvel
- Avengers: Endgame
- Spider-Man: Far From Home
He’s also the main character in Secret Invasion, of course, had a brief appearance in the presumably non-canon Agents of SHIELD, and will reappear in The Marvels later this year. Basically, both Jackson and Fury have been extremely busy since the start of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2008. Maybe that’s why Fury was too busy finding a decent planet for the Skrulls to live in as he promised…?
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