| Posted: 26 Feb 2009 15:34 |
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fan image by trickstyx
Samuel L. Jackson makes deal with Marvel Entertainment to play the role of Nick Fury in Iron Man 2, and potentially many other films.
Jackson's deal is a long-term commitment to play Fury, the leader of the espionage unit S.H.I.E.L.D. His deal contains an option to play the character in nine future Marvel superhero films, movies that are expected to include The First Avenger: Captain America, Thor, The Avengers, toplining a possible S.H.I.E.L.D. movie, and potential sequels.
At first it was looking like Marvel was going to have to get another Fury when Jackson appeared to not be happy with previous offers.
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| Posted: 26 Feb 2009 19:22 |
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SWEEEET! 
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| Posted: 01 Mar 2009 21:30 |
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I wonder if they'll put him in the 1940's as Sgt. Fury of the Howeling Commandos?
It would be a really interesting thing to have the commandos in the first film, and even to explore how the relationship between Fury (a hard bitten warrior first and foremost) and Cap (an idealist first and formost) come into conflict and build into a friendship that spans decades.
You could even include the infinity formula as the central mission subplot of the film, as a nazi attempt to reclaim the super soldier serum.
It's great to have Jackson as Fury, it's just going to be interesting to determine how the movie Fury will be integrated into the Cap legend of the 1940's and beyond.
They could of course skip Fury as the 1940's hero, but then I think you might lose something important from the Fury character.
It will be interesting regardless.
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| Posted: 01 Mar 2009 23:30 |
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Well I really couldn't see Sam Jackson as Sgt. Fury leading an outfit of white commandoes into Hitler's Germany. Now before anyone gets too excited let me just say that thankfully society has come a long way since the 1940's with equal rights for all, but even in a work of fiction this would be a hard pill to swallow. If Fury were able to do this it would mean that the civil rights marches of the 1960's were never needed or even more so didn't take place.
That would make it more of a perfect world than the one we live in but as most readers know friction and struggle are what make most books & movies interesting enough to watch.
Wasn't one of the biggest points of Alex Haley's book & mini-series "ROOTS" to show the struggle that African Americans had to go through and that even as bad as it was that this document was made so that this sort of thing would be remembered and not happen again?
Sorry this is so long, but just as Cap will be forever tied to the 1940's it must be remembered that those days were far from perfect for all people.
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| Posted: 02 Mar 2009 01:14 |
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Well, you could fix the issue by simply not having the Howlers intigrated, essentially they become and all african american elite strike squad. Perhaps even intended for suicide missions. Or you just have the reality of the original concept an elite commando squad made up of various men regardless of color or creed.
The Howlers being already integrated by Gabriel Jones, who went on along with Dum Dum Dogan to be Fury's right and left hands at Shield. You could also make for an international feel by having the Howlers as a british unit, with Fury crossing the atlantic to fight the Nazi's before the US enters the war (which woud also fit the comic time line since The Howlers are an established unit by the time Cap shows up, but Cap is actually not made until 1941.
I don't think one integrated unit, even if it is run by a highly skilled seargent (still not an officer) undoes the need for the civil rights marches later on.
But of course, that's an issue to be worked out with regard to the choice of Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury. I'm not saying it's what they should do, but I think it makes for an interesting use of the character, and allows for more of the back story of the Marvel Universe and Shield to come into play.
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| Posted: 02 Mar 2009 20:06 |
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I assumed the Ultimate version his Fury is based on probably wasn't as old as the white WWII version. Probably a veteran of Vietnam or the Gulf War instead. Shame to lose the original history though if that's the case.
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| Posted: 02 Mar 2009 20:10 |
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I dont think the Howling Commandos should be in the film. Its great to see that Jackson, a good actor, will be playing the role. I know that in the Ultimates it`s GENERAL Fury and he`s black, but I grew up on Sargent Fury and him being white. Nothing racist so dont start giving me a fit over what im saying. I just wish they`d stuck to the original format but at least we`re getting a good actor and the films regardless. I`d love to see the Commandos but as JBB said, it wouldn`t fit with the current set up. My main concern is that with General Fury, does this mean Ultimate style character? I want wings on Cap`s mask dang it!
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| Posted: 03 Mar 2009 00:03 |
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It's funny we've got a black President and everybody is still worried they'll accidentally say something racist. Probably even more so these days. I just wonder if folks will ever feel like they can say anything about a black guy without getting smacked as a racist?
No offense guys, just thought it was interesting that everybody feels they have to make a disclaimer of non-racism just to express their thoughts on a black Nick Fury.
I got called a racists because I didn't want a black Captain America. Didn't have nothing to do with hate. I just wanted Steve Rogers to be Steve Rogers as the character I grew up with. Heck Mr. T is one of my heroes and I sure as heck wouldn't want some new guy posing as T that was white. Can you imagine if they made a biography movie of Michael Jordan and made him white? Forget race it's a matter of getting someone that looks like the character.
I can deal with Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury mainly because Marvel has already introduced a black Nick Fury and Jackson is a good actor. I'd rather have the secondary characters played well than be accurately played crappy. The main character though has to be as much like the original comic character as possible. I do hope Jackson acts with more energy than he did on Star Wars though. I like it when he shows attitude.
What do you all think about the racist worries thing?
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| Posted: 03 Mar 2009 01:24 |
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I believe it's what some people in the media refer to as, "Playing the race card." Which distract and veer us away from discussing and learning about it.
Let's talk about it, discuss it and ask for responses, but lets be civil and respectful. No, I don't think you're a racist if you have some reservations of an African American Nick Fury, I would hate it if they had Martin Lawrence (Bad boys) in that role, just as I would have hate it if Freddie Prince Jr as Spiderman or Captain America (I had a debate with a friend whether Prince jr is a worser actor than Michael Pare).
Anyway, this African-American Fury is just one big mess. Now he's suppose to be a Sgt. in WW2 in the Cap movie and just recently in the Wolverine and the Xmen, he just looked like another Shield agent, G.W. Bridges. In the Ultimate universe, that Cap and Falcon team just isn't unique and special when Cap's superior officer is an African American (Now it's not special since Iron Man is friends to Rodney/WarMachine).
If Nick Fury is a code name for whoever runs Shield I would accept, and it would get rid of that Infinity formula mess also.
Mainly, my issue is continuity problems and mucking around with whatever was established. It would be a lot easier if they just create a new character than give us one of the many headaches of Cap's comic book universe. Hey I can write about it, but I'm saving it for later.
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| Posted: 03 Mar 2009 19:12 |
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Continuity problems is the probably the biggest reason to keep things exactly like the comics. A lot of times I too feel if they are going to make major changes to a character then just make a new character.
I thought that way when they wanted to make a Wonder Woman movie without the star spangled costume. If they want to do that they should just shouldn't bother.
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| Posted: 06 Mar 2009 04:23 |
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We just have to remember one thing about these Marvel movies. They are hybrid reboots. Marvel has the classic characters and timelines, and they have the Ultimates and some other storylines like that cheesy Rob Liefield CAP vol. 2 or was it 3? storyline. Either way the movies are a mix up of all those put together. I agree 100% that they should have stuck with the classic approach to avoid this situation, but I am very grateful that we are at least getting quality Marvel movies that I can be proud of. Maybe not FF2, but you get the point.
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| Posted: 06 Mar 2009 15:19 |
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You know my biggest beef with FF2 is really that it was too short, and I would have stayed out of the woods. The action is much more cooler in the city. I think the actors were great though.
If the end result is a good movie that really is fun to watch then mixing history is ok, but if I had my preference everything would be as close to the original as possible. The biggest thing is that in the end the movie is true to the character of Captain America. I want to feel like a little kid for 2 hours watching my comic book come to life. That's another reason I don't want there to be any controversy or politics mixed in with the movie's lead actor because I don't want to be distracted from just having a good time.
If I want politics and political correctness and all that garbage I got four 24 hour news channels to watch. Here I go rambling. Sorry.
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| Posted: 06 Mar 2009 18:27 |
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You want a headache with an African-American Alicia Masters in FF movies, ...they used her in the FF cartoon and they made the Puppet Master an African-American, however, the Puppet Master is Alicia's Stepfather, therefore he can be a caucasion male, and why not, a white-American bad guy can love an African-American woman and even raise Alicia to be his own daughter even when her biological mother passed away and he is a bad guy.
Anyway, I just watched the cartoon, enjoyed the episode and just thought, "Man, I miss Jack Kirby's cartoon art (Thundarr)."
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| Posted: 06 Mar 2009 19:35 |
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Alicia Masters is no Captain America or Nick Fury though. She is a pretty minor supporting character in the Marvel U.
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| Posted: 07 Mar 2009 16:17 |
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True, minor characters don't effect the story as much. Alicia Masters only job is to be the Thing's girlfriend so there's not a whole lot of change to do to her history to change her race.
You know it would just be easier to keep characters the same. I just know one of these days somebody is going to change Luke Cage white, and think they are really politically correct.
Political correctness really takes away sometimes from the character which should always be the focus of any good story.
Of course it didn't bother me that Nick Fury was black in the Ultimates comics because that's another universe. That's cool. It's like Marvel's version of the multiverse. I'm always up for What If stories too.
Would be nice if comic book movies and TV shows could stick the original though.
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| Posted: 09 Mar 2009 16:36 |
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continuity is an impossible thing to handle in this situation. In the books, cap is out of action for about 20 years, from 1945 until the 1960's when he's revived. Keeping modern timing Capis out of commission for almost 70 years, and entire lifetime.
When he comes in in the 1960's he's a little out of sorts, but finds old friends aged, but still around. The racial history of the 40's is comming to a head, by the sixties, which Cap now gets to live through. He has to catch up and deal with a slightly more cynical world, but remember watergate hadn't even happened yet.
You bring Cap our of suspended animation in 2012, well, you go from a world where a black Saregent Fury would have shocked sensibilities, to a world with a black President possibly having been reelected (or just leaving office, or possibly replaced by the first Asian American or Woman President). The entire history of how we go from 1960 to 2012 is lost to him, and all his old friends (except possibily a black Sargent Fury) are all dead and gone.
But they can't go back to the 1960's to unfreeze cap, and they can't unmake the reality that surrounds the movie Cap.
So you deal with the continuity issues by reworking the original story to fit the story you are now telling, and often the story becomes better.
The source material is a good place to start so long as you maintain the character and the motivations. If you try to hew too closely to the source however you'll come off as dated and corny. That which was once innovative rapidly becomes cliched, and so to maintain the innovation of the story you often need to alter things.
They could keep fury as the howler, or they could just skip over the howlers, it can be reworked and explained in any numebr of ways. That can wind up being too much back story however, and so they may just decide not to try to jump that shark. But there is nothing in the intrinsic character of Sargent Fury, nor the Howlers that would keep him or them from being black.
Likewise, aknowledging that there are a few people in the world who are not white and have contributed to the history of the united states could only help the believability of the story.
Or they could split the differnce. Skip the howlers and make Nick one of the Tuskegee Airmen, shot down, and injected with the infinity formula as an attempt to recreate the supersoldier serum.
There's a lot of continuity to work into the story, some of it will be sacraficed for expediency, much of it will be sacraficed because it is not a part of continuity they want to bring over.
They probably opted for Jackson as Fury and never even thought about how he'll relate to Captain America.
Given that Fury has only been a single cameo so far. It's hard to say what the final interpretation will be. I just don't think it would either save or ruin the movie to have nick and the howlers in it, even if nick or all of them are black.
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| Posted: 09 Mar 2009 16:46 |
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Oh and it should be noted that During Secret Invasion Nick Fury is shown using an identitiy concealer to appear as an african American man not dissimilar in appearance from Samuel L. Jackson. So, there are really a lot of ways to make things work if you need to.
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| Posted: 09 Mar 2009 20:01 |
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Say that would be cool, to have a white Nick Fury played by Samuel L. Jackson. Then he could be the same guy from World War II, and if Jackson ever quit they could go right back to the old white version if need be.
The more continuity the better.
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| Posted: 10 Mar 2009 02:11 |
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See all it takes is a little creative writing and you can do anything.
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