No Way Home Retconned Nick Fury’s MCU Death Fakeout

Warning: this article contains SPOILERS for Spider-Man: No Way Home!

The latest entry in the MCU, Spider-Man: No Way Home, confirmed that certain organizations are aware of Nick Fury’s (Samuel L. Jackson) whereabouts, effectively retconning his attempt to fake his death in 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier. No Way Home picked up directly where Spider-Man: Far From Home left off and followed Peter Parker (Tom Holland) as he attempted to deal with the exposure of his secret identity. Since his identity became public knowledge, Spider-Man was left to answer to the Department of Damage Control (DODC) for the destruction caused in the wake of his battle, as well as the murder of Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal), which he was framed for. Peter asks Agent Cleary (Arian Moayed), his interrogator, to get a statement from Nick Fury about the events, which would clear Peter’s name, to which Cleary responds “Nick Fury’s been off-world for a year“, which left Peter confused.

This statement has some serious ramifications regarding Nick Fury’s public status in the MCU. During the events of Winter Soldier, Nick Fury fakes his death after the failed assassination attempt Hydra orders Bucky Barnes to carry out. The end of the 2014 film even shows Nick Fury by his own gravestone, clarifying to Captain America (Chris Evans) that he wishes to remain dead in the public eye. Up until No Way Home, it was assumed that only the Avengers and a small assortment of other characters were aware that Nick Fury was in fact alive, but No Way Home proved otherwise.

Since the public should not know that Fury is alive, Cleary’s line raises some important questions regarding the continuity of the MCU. The MCU Spider-Man movies are no strangers to continuity issues, as proven by the infamous “8 years later” time jump in Spider-Man: Homecoming. However, Marvel Studios could have made a conscious decision to retcon Fury’s fake death stunt prior to The Marvels and Secret Invasion, both of which are expected to feature Nick Fury in some capacity. Alternatively, there could have been an in-universe explanation for the information going public, but it has not been mentioned on screen in the MCU thus far.

There is an incentive for Marvel Studios to retcon Fury’s fake death from Winter Soldier. Far From Home’s post-credits scene revealed that Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) was impersonating Fury for the duration of the film’s events, and was debriefing the real Fury about the events taking place while he manages a spaceship orbiting earth, most probably a S.W.O.R.D. station. Fury’s fake-out could have been retconned prior to his appearances in The Marvels and Secret Invasion, both of which are bound to feature Skrull shapeshifters. This would help streamline Fury’s already jumbled MCU timeline, and allow Marvel Studios to avoid confusing their audiences even more with the adaptation of the Secret Invasion comic storyline, in which no one’s allegiance can be taken for granted.

On the other hand, it would not be difficult for Marvel Studios to justify that line using a canonical reason. One possible explanation for the line could be that the DODC is privy to information the general public is not, which would make sense given that they were previously funded by Tony Stark, and are governed by S.H.I.E.L.D. in the comics. Another option would be Fury revealing himself to be alive off-screen at some point in the MCU’s history. Fury Could have dropped the charade following Hydra’s downfall, or after Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) brought back those who were snapped, including Fury, which is the more probable option.

If Marvel Studios did intend for Cleary’s line to retcon Fury’s fake death, it would not be their first retcon rodeo. This will join Marvel’s previous attempts at retroactive continuity, such as Peter Parker being in Iron Man 2, the fake infinity gauntlet in Odin’s Vault, and Thor not being Fury’s first contact with aliens. However, if the Spider-Man: No Way Home line was not meant as a retcon, audiences can expect an explanation for it in The Marvels or Secret Invasion, one of which will feature Fury’s next MCU adventure.