Fans generally agree that the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) hasn’t truly done justice to Nick Fury, despite the excellent casting of Samuel L. Jackson. The character was let down by Marvel’s Secret Invasion, which turned out to be a colossal TV disaster for Marvel, that forced the studio to reevaluate its future TV projects. However, long before Jackson appeared as Nick Fury in the first Iron Man movie, David S. Goyer pitched a Nick Fury movie that never got off the ground.
Nick Fury was first created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1963 and later Jim Steranko’s depiction of the super spy character garnered a separate fan base. Goyer’s script drew inspiration from the Steranko-era comics. This script was later used to develop the TV movie, Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., starring David Hasselhoff as Fury.
David S. Goyer’s Nick Fury Feature Film Never Took Off
In 1995, David S. Goyer, known for writing Henry Cavill’s Man of Steel, wrote a script for Nick Fury’s standalone movie after being commissioned by 20th Century Fox. Goyer’s involvement in the project was featured in the latest book about Marvel, MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios. While it was far different from the Nick Fury adaptation seen in the MCU today, it stayed true to the comic version.
Unfortunately, the production went into development hell and soon after, the 20th Century Studio lost the rights to the character. During an interview for the Comic-Con@Home 2020, Goyer recalled the pitch:
“I originally wrote a draft of Nick Fury as a feature film. It was a fairly representative adaptation of the Steranko era, but updated with Baron von Strucker and the Satan Claw and all sorts of things like that. Nothing ever happened with it, it went into development hell, and the studio that had it lost the rights.”
When Fox later approached the Batman v. Superman writer to develop the script for a TV version, Goyer declined the offer due to budget concerns. His script had a budget estimation of nearly $20 million, while the budget for the TV version was just $3-4 million. They eventually made a film starring David Hasselhoff, which Goyer considered “pretty mediocre”. The film gave the writing credits to the Foundation creator. During an interview with Jason Myers for Revolution SF, Goyer shared:
“I wasn’t on the set of Nick Fury at all. I wrote the script a few years before the telefilm was shot. At the time it did shoot, I was running my own short-lived series, Sleepwalkers. I was also initially unenthused about Hasselhoff’s involvement. I think the film was pretty mediocre—but Hasselhoff turned out to be the best thing in it. He got the joke. The script was meant to be very tongue in cheek and Hasselhoff understood that.”
The TV version turned out to be disastrous, and fans were left wondering what Goyer’s version might have looked like with the intended budget. In the early 2000s, Marvel Studios tried to revive the project with George Clooney in the lead role. However, Clooney found the comic version of Nick Fury too violent for his taste.
David S. Goyer’s Script Was A Better Nick Fury Project Than Secret Invasion
David S. Goyer went on to write some great scripts in the superhero film genre. His notable works included the Blade trilogy and Zack Snyder’s first two DCEU movies. He also co-wrote The Dark Knight with Christopher Nolan. With Goyer’s impressive track record, there’s no doubt that he could have adapted the script to fit the MCU’s version of Nick Fury and created an outstanding standalone project.
Secret Invasion proved to be a disappointment for both Nick Fury and actor Samuel L. Jackson. It was intended to be a Cold War-style espionage thriller but ended up as a long and boring six-episode series. The Disney+ series received a record-low rating for its finale episode on Rotten Tomatoes.
Fans can get a not-so-close idea about Goyer’s story from Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., which is now available to watch on YouTube. To get other juicy bits about Marvel projects, MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios is now available for purchase on Amazon.
