Fans might argue over whether Iron Man or Captain America’s the leader of the Avengers, but the guy who deserves all the credit for bringing Earth’s Mightiest Heroes together is Nick Fury. The former S.H.I.E.L.D. director was the connective tissue between the various sub-franchises of the MCU in the early years and, though he’s been largely absent in Phase Three so far, he’s about to make a big return in Captain Marvel.
As the first female-led Marvel movie’s set in the 1990s, the film will explore what made Fury the hero-maker he is today. One of EW’s recent Captain Marvel promo photos revealed how different he’ll look in the prequel – thanks to some cutting-edge CGI, he’ll be much younger, with his left eye still in tact – and as part of the coverage, the outlet also gave this illuminating description of where the character is at this point in his life:
“At this point, Nick is just a lowly desk jockey with S.H.I.E.L.D., who’s never had any experience with extraterrestrial threats. (He’s still got both his eyes too.) Meeting the part-Kree, part-human Carol is his first exposure to the idea that there are people out there with extraordinary powers — and they can be an asset.”
Samuel L. Jackson was also on hand to further tease the major life-altering moment that Captain Marvel marks for Nick Fury. As Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers will be his first encounter with a superhero, it’ll cause him to realize how valuable to the world people with abilities can be.
“This is a mind-changing, attitude-changing moment for him that leads him to become the person that we know. He [now] understands that there are these other things out there. He understands that they’re not all enemies, and we do need to find allies who have specific kinds of skills that humans don’t have. And trying to convince people above him is a difficult task because they haven’t seen it or experienced it.”
When we first met Fury in 2008’s Iron Man, he approached Tony Stark with his plans for the “Avenger(s) Initiative.” Now we know just how long he worked to get this program off the ground – clearly this ultimate aim gave him the drive he needed to propel himself up the S.H.I.E.L.D. ladder to go from mere desk jockey to head honcho of the whole organization. And, as we know, his plans finally paid off in 2012’s The Avengers.
Captain Marvel will also explore the past of fellow S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Phil Coulson and future Guardians of the Galaxy enemies Ronan and Korath. Meanwhile, Jude Law’s Mar-Vell (probably) and alien invaders the Skrulls will be introduced into the MCU for the first time. Suffice it to say, there’s much to look forward to and we simply can’t wait to lay eyes on that first trailer.
