Ultimate Nick Fury

Superherobox|
comic_color=background:#ff8080


caption=
character_name=Nick Fury
real_name=Nicholas Joseph Fury
publisher=Marvel Comics
debut="Ultimate Marvel Team-Up" #5
creators=Brian Michael Bendis
Mike Allred
alliance_color=background:#ffc0c0
alliances=S.H.I.E.L.D.
Ultimates
United States Army
Ultimate X-Men
powers=Slowed or Halted aging from the Infinity Formula
Skilled and experienced soldier
Skilled with many weapons and fighting techniques
Healing factor|

Nicholas Joseph "Nick" Fury is a fictional character published by Marvel Comics. A reinterpretation of the character Nick Fury, one of the most notable differences between the two is that the mainstream Nick Fury is a Caucasian colonel with greying brown hair, while this Nick Fury is a bald African-American general, specifically tailored after actor Samuel L. Jackson with his permission. [ [http://www.samuelljackson.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=36&Itemid=44 Samuel L. Jackson's Official Site - August 2005 Interview ] ] Fury has a heavy presence in all the "Ultimates" comics, appearing first in "Ultimate Marvel Team-Up" and "Ultimate X-Men" and later reappearing regularly in "Ultimate Spider-Man" and finally securing a regular, recurring role as the General of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the leader of The Ultimates, a re-imagining of the Avengers.

Fictional character biography

Nicholas Fury fought for the United States in World War Two. During the invasion of Sicily, he, along with Private Fisk and Canadian soldier James Howlett attempted to loot a house. American Military police arrive to arrest them, and all three are subdued. Fisk is grazed by a bullet, while Fury is imprisoned in an unknown location alongside several other black men and Howlett, despite protests that he's Canadian, is also shipped to an unknown location. ["Ultimate Origins" #1] Fury is selected to be the next test subject for Project Rebirth, as his blood work most closely matches that of subject 22, the most successful of the previous test subjects. He is injected with a serum that gives him super-strength, which he uses to free himself and the other prisoners, who then escape. The scientists who were working on him let him escape, deciding that they have all the information that they need for now.

After attending college in India, Fury enlisted in the military, where he was deployed into various conflicts such as the Kosovo Wars. He was later assigned to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Weapon X program in the original Gulf War. While transporting Wolverine in his adamantium cage, an Iraqi guerrilla ambush killed his team and inadvertently freed 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 reimprisoned by his handlers, a bond between the two men was formed.

The relationship between Fury and Wolverine would prove essential years later when the X-Men were abducted and imprisoned by the Weapon X program. This program was overseen at the time by Wraith, 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 the Brotherhood of Mutants, Wraith was about to kill one of the X-Men and is shot dead by Fury.

Fury is summarily promoted to General and resumes the duties of the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. He was tasked with forming a team to battle post-human threats and resurrecting the Super-Soldier program, two objectives that resulted in the formation of the Ultimates. Fury operates as the commander of the team, at times leading them into action, though he often shares duties with Captain America. Nick Fury is also responsible for monitoring post-humans who are not affiliated with the U.S. Military, including Peter Parker and the X-Men.

Nick Fury recently lost his right arm in a battle against the Liberators in "Ultimates " (vol. 2). However, in story arcs that appear to be set after this, he has 2 arms - in issue #107 of "Ultimate Spider-Man". The "Ultimate Secrets" guide claims that Fury replaced his right arm with a bionic one.

Nick Fury has also been involved in the "Ultimate Spider-Man" comics. In them he meets Peter after Norman 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 as Dr. Octopus screaming that Peter Parker is Spider-Man while in jail. Nick Fury has been watching Peter as he will eventually be property of S.H.I.E.L.D. due to his illegal mutant status. 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 why Harry 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 the Clone Saga in which it is revealed by Fury that the Tinkerer's Spider Slayers were developed to handle Peter if and when he ever went insane; after learning from Mary Jane Watston that Peter, who idolizes and sees Fury as a surrogate father figure, is not an immediate threat to him or S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick decides against removing his powers. It can be assumed that he's on somewhat good terms with Peter Parker.

Fury was judged to be at least partially responsible for the devastation of much of Earth-31916 along with Emil Burbank. Burbank had sought a means to defeat the Hyperion of that universe. An alien organism, unleashed in an attempt to achieve this, spread throughout the United States causing widespread devastation. A probe sent by Reed Richards provided evidence that an "invasion from another universe" was responsible. The Squadron 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 the Ultimates, Spider-Man, the X-Men and the Fantastic 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 convinced Thor to create a bridge to Earth-31916 through which the Hellicarrier was able to travel. Once there, another battle between the Squadron and the Ultimate universe heroes begins. 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 shape of the Hulk. It takes the combined power of the Ultimate universe heroes, the Earth-31916 Squadron Supreme and their counterparts from Earth-712 to defeat the Hulk, but Doom had proven to be simply a Doombot. To stop the fighting, the Ultimates agree to turn over Fury to the Earth-31916 Squadron and to allow to return with them to their universe. Fury tries to convince them that they are making a mistake, but his pleas are ignored. ["Ultimate Power" #1-9]

Fury is seen still stranded in Earth-31916 in "Squadron Supreme" v2 #1. He has apparently fulfilled the prophecy made by Hyperion in "Ultimate Power" #9: "Given the strength of our military industrial complex, Fury would have risen here to even greater heights than your homeworld." [ [http://www.marvel.com/catalog/?id=9099 "SQUADRON SUPREME 2" #1 - Marvel Comics Publishing Catalog ] ]

Abilities and technologies

Fury was not initially shown to use the Infinity Formula or other physical enhancements that the Nick Fury of the mainstream Marvel universe possessed (however, see "Expanded Origin", below). He is an exceptional combatant and strategist and a gifted field leader. In his earliest appearances he operated with technology years ahead of traditional forces, including the latest experimental weaponry, and some form of projected invisibility and the ability to walk through solid matter. These powers have very limited windows due to massive expense for any moment of 'uptime;' costs for these run to the millions for less than a minute of use. He once used a chewing gum that was programmed to explode after 200 chews. However, he has not been shown to use this kind of technology since "Ultimates" #1, preferring conventional firearms. Fury is constantly monitored and shadowed by dozens of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and all known observation technologies.

Behind the scenes

Design changes

When Nick Fury first made his appearance in the Ultimate Universe he had a vastly different design, featuring a full head of close-cropped hair, a younger appearance (particularly as depicted in "Ultimate Marvel Team-Up") and less visible scarring around his eyepatch, not to mention lacking a specific resemblance to any actor. He was also characterized much more in the James Bond mold of super-spy, wearing seemingly normal clothing which integrated outlandishly high-tech capabilities such as phasing, invisibility and "para-shoes" that allow him to descend hundreds of feet without the aid of a parachute. The more familiar Samuel L. Jackson-inspired design did not appear until Nick Fury resurfaced in the "Ultimates" series.

amuel L. Jackson

Actor Samuel L. Jackson gave his consent for Marvel Comics to use his likeness in their redesign of the Fury character for "The Ultimates"cite web|last=Larsuel|first=Kamal|title=Copyright Kamal Larsuel, 2005|publisher=Samuel L. Jackson Official Website|url=http://www.samuelljackson.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=36&Itemid=44|accessmonthday=May 14 |accessyear=2008] , and first appeared with this revised look in "Ultimates" #1, as drawn by Bryan Hitch. This is not a unique practice for writer Mark Millar, who similarly had artist J.G. Jones use the explicit likenesses of Eminem, Halle Berry and Tommy Lee Jones for the major characters in the miniseries "Wanted" (although, in this case, apparently without their consent). The similarity is even noted within the comic itself, in a scene in which the Ultimates discuss who they think should play each of them in a hypothetical movie about the team. Fury's answer for himself is "Mr. Samuel L. Jackson, of course, no discussion."(hinting at his already firm attachment to the role) Such is the popularity of the Jackson-inspired version of the character that Jackson was contracted to portray Fury in "Iron Man" despite the film being an adaptation of the mainstream Marvel Universe version of the character, rather than choose a Caucasian actor to play the matching classic version of Fury. This was, however, probably in no small part due to Jackson's own cult following and the fact that (a version of) the character had now been well-established as having a popular real actor's likeness, making it a logical choice.

Expanded Origin

Up until quite recently Fury had displayed no indication of possessing any super-normal abilities, nor had any references been made to him being older than he appears, in particular there was no suggestion of him having fought in World War II, with his major service having hitherto been described as being in the First Gulf War. It was thus generally assumed that, unlike the classic Nick Fury, Ultimate Fury was "not" a WWII veteran, nor did he benefit from the age-retarding effects of the Infinity Formula (or similar). However, the current series "Ultimate Origin" provides a hitherto-unrevealed secret history of superhumans in the Ultimate Marvel Universe and their interrelated nature. The first issue reveals via a soft retcon that Ultimate Fury was "indeed" a WWII private like his Earth-616 counterpart, and that his dramatically slowed aging process is the result of being an unwilling test subject for , echoing the African-American test subject Isaiah Bradley in the mainstream Marvel Universe. However, it has yet to be clarified why this has not apparently given Fury similar near-superhuman physical prowess like Ultimate Captain America, or if so, why he has chosen to conceal it, as he has apparently done so about his age. Also of note is that Fury in this period is depicted as having hair, thus reasserting at least this aspect of his pre-Jackson redesign canonical.

In other Media

Film

* Samuel L. Jackson portrayed Nick Fury in the 2008 live action "Iron Man" film in a short scene following the credits. He confronts Tony Stark in his home, warning him about the future, explaining that they need to speak about the Avenger Initiative.
* Ultimate Nick Fury appears in "Ultimate Avengers" and its sequel "Ultimate Avengers 2" voiced by actor Andre Ware.

Television

* Ultimate Nick Fury will appear in the 7th episode of "Wolverine and the X-Men", voiced by Phil Morris.

Video Games

* Ultimate Nick Fury appeared in the "Ultimate Spider-Man" video game, voiced by Dave Fennoy.
* A version of Fury identical to the Ultimate one also made an appearance in "" video game, voiced by Khary Payton.
* This version of Fury is available as two outfits labeled "Ultimate" and "General Fury" for the playable Nick Fury in the "" video game.

Comics

* In "Mighty Avengers" #13, Nick Fury (of the Earth-616 universe) uses a disguise that is similar in appearance to Ultimate Fury. This receives comment from Daisy Johnson as "his worst disguise ever."

References