Zade Rosenthal
Samuel L. Jackson is Nick Fury in Marvel’s “The Avengers.â€
While thumbing through a comic book, Samuel L. Jackson spotted a familar face one that looked strikingly like his own.
In that 2002 issue from Marvel Comics, the coolest geek in Hollywood spied an updated version of eye-patched government agent Nick Fury.
So I was flipping through it and I saw a panel where they go, If they make a movie about you who do you want to play you? Samuel L. Jackson, says the 63-year-old star of The Avengers.
I go, Hmm, okay, is this leading to something?
And it ultimately did.
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We were all huge fans of Samuel L. Jackson here at Marvel, says the publishers chief creative officer Joe Quesada. The idea was to create an African-American Nick Fury, but it wasn't really until the artwork came back that we realized, Wow, he could be played by Samuel L. Jackson.
Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige got Jackson to put on an eye-patch and play Nick Fury for a cameo at the end of the credits of 2008s Iron Man as a gift to fans.
It was art imitating life, says Quesada.
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It was also the first hint that the studio was building toward a larger universe to include franchises for Thor and Captain America and culminate in the superhero mega-franchise, The Avengers, which hits theaters this Friday.
It was also the first hint that the studio was building toward a larger universe to include franchises for Thor and Captain America and culminate in the superhero mega-franchise, The Avengers, which hits theaters this Friday.
This larger universe needed Nick Fury at the center of it: Marvel signed Jackson to a nine-picture deal after Iron Man. He certainly is a huge upgrade over the last guy to wear the eyepatch, David Hasselhoff, in a 1998 TV movie.
What made Jackson think there would actually be nine movies?
I dont know, they still havent made them, he says with a completely straight face. We're only up to five.
In The Avengers, Jackson finally gets his chance to do some fighting alongside Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Thor (Chris Hemsworth).
With Shaft and the Star Wars prequel under his belt he still owns his lightsaber with the letters, B.M.F. (a phrase not appropriate for a family newspaper) on the handle Jackson knows how to defeat his enemies.
Its a great to pick the bazooka up, run out the door, shoot it at a plane and hit it, he says. Its kind of great to stand behind a door, grab a guys gun, flip him over and all that other stuff. Bust over a few caps and jump out a helicopter, shoot a few people.
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