Nick Fury Movie Before The MCU? Unmade Marvel Film Explained

In the days before the MCU, Marvel once had plans for a Nick Fury movie that ultimately went unmade. The director of SHIELD has been a staple of Marvel Comics since his conception in 1963. He has gone through a number of iterations in his long publication history, but Nick Fury is almost always depicted as the head of SHIELD and often something of a co-ordinator for various hero teams.

However, Nick Fury’s star really rose with his inclusion in the MCU, played by Samuel L. Jackson. Jackson’s performance as the character quickly became the quintessential version, and Nick Fury’s role within the MCU proved pivotal in establishing its wider connecting narrative. As a result, the character is more popular today than ever before, thanks in part to the MCU’s handling of his story and his role within the Marvel universe.

However, back in the mid-’00s, Marvel had planned to give the character his own movie. With Hollywood realizing the potential of the superhero genre and the potential to connect the films into a larger continuity, Marvel announced that work would begin on a number of pre-MCU Marvel movies, including a Nicky Fury solo movie. In 2006, Andrew W. Marlowe was hired to write a script, but the film ultimately went unmade, with Fury appearing as part of the MCU just two years later.

Before being introduced as one of the best characters of Phase 1 of the MCU, Nick Fury wasn’t the most well-known Marvel hero – with regards to box office draw, at least – but Marvel was clearly aware of his cinematic potential. Marlowe’s script was reportedly loosely based on Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD, but no other details about the planned film were released, making it unclear if the script was ever finished. However, there’s no mystery as to exactly why the pre-MCU Nick Fury movie was never made.

With Samuel L. Jackson cast to play the role in 2008’s Iron Man, it’s clear that Marvel decided on a better role for the character within their cinematic universe: a link between each of the individual heroes used as a means of assembling the MCU’s Avengers. While Marvel originally didn’t have plans to use Nick Fury after Iron Man‘s post-credits scene, it’s clear that the idea for the character’s solo movie was scrapped in favor of his Iron Man appearance. Considering the massive success of both Iron Man and the resulting MCU, the move paid off for Marvel, as Nick Fury is a character who proved to be a major player within the franchise’s narrative.

While the Nick Fury movie was just one of a number of planned Marvel movies that never saw the light of day, it’s an intriguing glimpse into the MCU that once might have come to pass. The character has become practically synonymous with actor Samuel L. Jackson’s MCU portrayal in the years since, so a pre-MCU Nick Fury movie would likely have been a far cry from the hero as he exists today. Whether more details about the planned movie will one day come to light remains to be seen, but it’s probably for the best that Nick Fury never got his pre-MCU solo movie.

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