Samuel L. Jackson Was Cast As Nick Fury After Marvel Used His Face Without Permission
The character of Nick Fury has become somewhat synonymous with its actor, the one and only Samuel L. Jackson. At this point, he's probably one of the few Marvel actors the brand simply cannot live without, as the canon seems to only allow for Jackson's portrayal of the S.H.I.E.L.D. boss. We've had several different Peter Parkers and a couple of Matt Murdocks, for example, but there is truly only one Nick Fury.
According to Jackson — who has recounted this story a few times over the years and as early as 2012 — he only came into the role after someone used his likeness for a comic without his permission. He happened to stumble upon the redesign of Fury in a comic store in a copy of Mark Millar and artist Bryan Hitch's 2002 series "The Ultimates."
"I just happened to be in a comic book store and I picked up a copy," Jackson explained in the June 2023 issue of Empire. "I was looking through it and went, 'Wait a minute!' I called my agent to find out if I had agreed to let anybody use my image, and everything snowballed from there. [...] The next thing I knew, I was having a meeting with Kevin [Feige] and they were talking to me about a nine-picture deal. I was trying to figure out how long I'd have to stay alive to make nine movies!"
Jackson's smart move
At that point, the first "Iron Man" film was six years from being made. It would be the first time Samuel L. Jackson's iteration of Fury appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe — namely, in the form of an uncredited cameo in the film's post-credits scene, a move that has now become commonplace within the MCU as a way to introduce new characters and storylines to the world that's already been built.
Mark Millar previously opened up about his own experience with Jackson and discussing the unlicensed use of his image. "The first thing I said was I hope you don't mind me completely exploiting your appearance in my book 13 years back," the writer told Business Insider in 2015. "And he said, 'F—k, no, man. Thanks for the nine-picture deal.'"
Needless to say, this tactic doesn't work all that often, so don't go stealing likenesses in the hopes your mark will just be cool with it because you might get them a long-standing place in a franchise. This was clearly a luck of the draw scenario considering how big the MCU has blown up to be since then. It really could've gone two ways: the way it did or, well, the opposite. But Jackson, an actor with some serious longevity, clearly knows a smart move when he sees one. The performer has a knack for embodying roles that audiences can then never really see anyone else playing. You can add good old Nick Fury to Jackson's impressive list.