Samuel L. Jackson’s flourishing career at Marvel has garnered him immense recognition and a handsome paycheck of anywhere near $20-$30 million.
Being a part of the MCU for over a decade now, with his debut stint tracing back to 2008’s Iron Man, Jackson holds the lengthiest tenure in the superhero franchise out of all his co-stars. Having portrayed the wry and shrewd director of SHIELD in 14 projects, the 74-year-old’s iconic Nick Fury has been one of the most consistent characters that Marvel Studios has witnessed. And it looks like the actor isn’t planning on surrendering the role anytime soon.
Samuel L. Jackson Isn’t Ready to Bid Farewell to Marvel
After Jon Watts’ Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), Samuel L. Jackson‘s latest appearance as Nick Fury was in 2021’s animated series titled What If…? Now, the Academy Award winner is bracing for his upcoming show, Secret Invasion, wherein he reprises his role as the SHIELD veteran beside Emilia Clarke’s G’iah. But what happens next? Will this be his last collaboration with Marvel? We hope not, and so does Jackson.
Speaking with Empire about Nick Fury’s future in the MCU, the actor and producer made his admiration for the character abundantly clear, insinuating that he doesn’t plan on dropping the role anytime soon. Talking about how much he loves to play the part on-screen, Jackson said he was grateful that Marvel is “opening [Nick Fury] up to all these other possibilities” starting with the upcoming Disney+ series. So he’s certainly counting on the prospect of getting to explore the character as much as he can.
“I love playing him, and I love the fact that they’re opening him up to all these other possibilities and this whole life that he has. So hopefully I’m not done, and in this new phase of the MCU I’ll still be floating in and out of there somehow, some way.”
Now that Jackson has conveyed his hopes of holding on to Nick Fury’s role for the foreseeable future, the fandom has pounced on the opportunity to point out all the potential ways he could put Fury to use, including going against Contessa Valentina.
MCU Fans Have Tons of Ideas for Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury
Fans on Twitter are barging in with a horde of ideas about how the studio could present The Avengers star’s character in upcoming MCU ventures. While one Twitter user mentioned how Nick Fury could put together a brand-new team of Avengers, another one demanded a Nick Fury vs. Val arc.
You can see he likes the role and honestly it would be cool for the guy who created this worl would stay till the end guiding the new heroes.
— V.v.D (@GetMadStayMad1) May 3, 2023
They need to have him go up against Val at least a couple times in the near future as I bet he's not going to be happy with what she's been doing.
— Eric Hovland (@EricJHovland) May 3, 2023
We need him to assemble a new Avengers team for the next Avengers movies
— Grumpy Piplup (@Arnomelette) May 3, 2023
We need more of him! We aren't done! pic.twitter.com/XDilg1o8zF
— ꜰɪʟᴍᴏᴘʜɪʟᴇ ❚Smug🎥█ (@nerd_mcu) May 3, 2023
As much as I respect actors bowing out of their roles, I love that some legacy ones want to stick around. Thor, Fury, Banner…
— William CHEN | 陳偉倫 (@willchen79) May 4, 2023
Valentina Allegra de la Fontaine, aka, Valentina or Val, has been a recurring antagonist in the MCU. And just last year, Marvel producer Nate Moore announced how Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Val is set to replace Jackson’s Nick Fury in the forthcoming MCU phases. So, it would certainly be a sight for the audience to see how the two unrivaled forces go against each other. But who knows if that’ll ever become a reality. One can hope.
The first episode of Secret Invasion hits Disney+ on June 21, 2023.
