In an effort to link all the Marvel franchises together before Joss Whedon gives us The Avengers, characters from different films will pop up in different places. It has been announced today that Nick Fury, as played by Samuel L Jackson, will appear in both Kenneth Branagh’s Thor and Joe Johnston’s Captain America.
Having initially denied reports of this happening, Jackson confirmed as much last night on Jimmy Fallon’s talk show:
In the next month or so, I have to do one day on Thor, and I gotta do another day on Captain America, and in April we start The Avengers — the big deal with everybody. Thor and Captain America are pretty much done, but I haven’t done my part in them yet. I’m just connective tissue for them to join The Avengers.
He also stated that Fury would have a sidekick, a role which has been previously unannounced and not yet been cast:
I gotta screen test like five actresses on Friday. They have this new character that’s my sidekick or something, that’s with me all the time.
Having a long line of character cameos has become almost a tradition within the Marvel movies now, it started ever since Jackson first appeared at the end of Iron Man, then continued with Robert Downey Jr. having a small scene at the end of The Incredible Hulk and now this. Some would argue that it is a genuine effort to link up all the franchises under one major banner, in which case Whedon has a lot to live up to, and others may argue its just a concession for the comic book fans. Even if the latter is true its still quite nice to have some tongue-in-cheek cameos, it makes certain the project won’t be taken too seriously.