Ultimate Nick Fury - Publication History

Publication History

When Nick Fury first made his appearance in the Ultimate Universe, he had a vastly different design, resembling more the original mainstream version with notable differences, featuring a full head of close-cropped hair, a clean-shaven, younger appearance (particularly as depicted in Ultimate Marvel Team-Up) and less visible scarring around his eye-patch, not to mention lacking a specific resemblance to any actor. He wore 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 (shown to be capable of flight in later issues).

When the character resurfaced in 2002 in The Ultimates, he had been redesigned to look like actor Samuel L. Jackson. Jackson did not originally give his consent for Marvel Comics to use his likeness in their redesign of the Fury character for The Ultimates, and first appeared with this revised look in The Ultimates #1, as drawn by Bryan Hitch. 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." It was only after seeing the redesigned Nick Fury in the first issue of The Ultimates that Samuel L. Jackson learned of the use of his likeness and contacted Marvel in order to secure the role of Nick Fury in any future movies which will feature the character.

In The 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." Conversely, in Ultimate Mystery, it is the Ultimate version of the character who disguises himself, resembling his Earth-616 counterpart and gets the same comment. In the mainstream event of Battle Scars, it is revealed that the 616 Fury fathered a child with an African-American woman named Nia Jones. His child went under the alias "Marcus Johnson", but his real name is Nicholas Fury, Junior. Fury Jr. closely resembles the Ultimate version of Fury. When the original Nick Fury decided to retire as director of S.H.I.E.L.D., the mantle was handed onto Fury Jr., who had recently lost his left eye and took to wearing an eyepatch. This intorduction was made to attract fans of Jackson's portrayal of the character in The Avengers.