Goodbye, Nick Fury

[Scott Harris]

Okay, so technically Nick Fury is still going to be kind of around somewhere, maybe, in the Marvel Universe.

But in case you haven't heard about it, Marvel has just published a new series where they replaced Nick with a brand new character, his long lost, until now never before revealed son: Nick Fury, Jr.

Now, Nick Fury Jr. is a guy who up until now didn't know who his father was and instead went by the name of Marcus Johnson. Marcus, who is African-American, was a specialist in the army, taking on some of the most dangerous secret missions around in an obscure limited series called Battle Scars. In the final issue, though, a bunch of stuff happened. Johnson lost his eye in a fight. Then a bad guy stripped Nick Fury of the formula that gave him his longevity, meaning he now ages normally. Then we found out that Johnson was actually Nick's son, with the real name of Nick Fury Jr. So the elder Fury stepped down from SHIELD, the new Nick Fury Jr. joined SHIELD, gained an eyepatch to cover his missing eye, shaved his head, grew a goatee and...

wait just a minute...

Yes, you guessed it. Apparently the higher-ups in Marvel management -- aka Disney -- decided that with Fury being such a big part of their movie universe, they needed to replace Nick Fury with a new version that looked like the Samuel L. Jackson film version. So they created this convoluted story to replace Nick with this new version. And by the way, Nick Jr.'s SHIELD partner is Agent Coulson from the movies.

You probably think I am making this up, but I am not. Here's Marcus Johnson before he finds out he's Fury's son:



Here's Maria Hill explaining that his real name is Nick Fury Jr.:



And here's your new Nick Fury and his partner, Agent Coulson. You'll note they gave Nick Jr. the uniform Steve Rogers was wearing before he returned to being Cap:




Tom Brevoort did an interview where he explained that the original Nick would still be around -- probably mostly in the Winter Soldier series -- doing his secret background stuff, but this new Fury would be the front and center guy for SHIELD, doing missions and whatnot alongside heroes, presumably in Avengers.

Frankly, I find this kind of shoehorned corporate synergy to be insulting crap. And that's not even taking into account that Nick Fury is one of my favorite characters. I think the movie version is great as well and the Ultimate version is cool, but I really don't appreciate this ill-conceived effort to tie everything together for the sake of product placement. The Marvel Universe isn't a Happy Meal. Or at least, it didn't used to be.

[thwhtGuardian]

I don't imagine the demand for this change came down from the Mouse so to speak, I doubt very much that they micromanage their various properties to that degree.

[dan bailey]

Once more it occurs to me, in my ill-tempered & judgmental way, that anyone out there insisting on giving Marvel their money for such nonsense deserves exactly what they're getting. I've learned that such opinions makes certain sensitive souls here run crying to the moderator about how their widdle feelings have been hurt, but so it goes. Grow the hell up, & stop gulping down swill just because it has your corporate brand of choice imprinted on it.

Or maybe large numbers of fans actually like this sort of ... stuff. In which case I don't know what to say & can only resign myself to an even more major bout of cynicism than the one I walk around with every day.

[KurtW95]

Let's hope Marcus Johnson fades into oblivion, and the real Nick Fury takes over SHIELD again.

[Scott Harris]

I don't imagine the demand for this change came down from the Mouse so to speak, I doubt very much that they micromanage their various properties to that degree.

Well, I guess it depends on how you look at it. From what I have read, at least one of the three (!) writers on this limited series has admitted in an interview that this change was mandated by higher ups at Marvel in order to bring things in line with the movies. Now, the films were in process before Disney bought Marvel and I'm sure Marvel's execs are themselves in full synergy mode all the time anyway, so maybe it wasn't Disney doing the string pulling so much as Marvel doing their best Disney impersonation.

Whether you credit this move to Disney or to Marvel brass, though, the point is kind of the same. It's a manufactured change implemented for reasons that have nothing to do with storytelling. I mean, I'm all for trying to get new readers into comics by using the movies as a gateway, but there has to be a better way to do it than this hamfisted mess.

[thwhtGuardian]

I certainly do think it's hamfisted I just thought that I'd point out that Marvel knows how to do bad all on their own with out pinning the blame on another hamfisted corporate entity.

[tolworthy]

You old cynics. Nick Jr was great! I used to watch Lil Bill, the original Blues' Clues, early episodes of Hey Arnold, Doug and Lazy Town, etc., etc. If those are joining the Marvel Universe what's not to like? Sportacus could beat Captain America any day, seeing as how Magnús Scheving is a genuine gymnastics champion and all.

As for the comics fading to obscurity and being replaced by merchandise, as far as most of the world is concerned that happened in the 1980s, when comics were relegated to specialist shops where diehard fans could go and hide, to grow old and die with them.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

And not a single fuck was given for Nick Fury Jr in the Marvel Universe. Honestly ... interesting concept ...horrible as shit execution here. And the look with Rodger's "Super Soldier" outfit would make Nick Fury Jr stand out so much , how could he be a spy ?

[JKCarrier]

This isn't exactly the first time a comic was changed to be more in line with a media spin-off. Back in the '40s, Alfred was slimmed down and given a moustache to look more like the actor in the Batman serials. Kryptonite was invented for the Superman radio show. Batgirl was created because the Batman tv show producers wanted to add a female character.

It seems to me this was handled pretty well. They didn't kill off the original Fury, or try to pretend he never existed. He's still there, and can be reinstated any time they want. Seems more like Barry Allen replacing Jay Garrick than anything else.