When Samuel L. Jackson joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it wasn’t a universe at all. It was just the 2008 film Iron Man… but Marvel Studios was clearly feeling ambitious. It signed Jackson to a nine-movie deal even before its first movie had come out, and now, 15 years later, the actor has starred in far more than nine films since. But surprisingly, it turns out, Jackson wishes he’d had even more.
This info comes from a previously mentioned Rolling Stone article, where the actor also reveals there are two Marvel movies he wishes Fury had been in, and seems still kind of grumpy about it. Those movies are Black Panther and Captain America: Civil War, and he’d still like to know why the ex-SHIELD director and current Skrull-fighter didn’t make an appearance. And his reasoning is sound! On Black Panther: “They didn’t let me go to Wakanda, which I was kind of upset about. How could Nick Fury not know about Wakanda? They said, ‘Well, you do know but you can’t go.’”
On Civil War: “If the kids are fighting, why isn’t Nick Fury there to send them to their rooms? They never explained that to me.”
While the real-life explanation for Civil War is surely “there were already so many damn characters in that movie,” story-wise, it truly does not make any sense for Fury to sit out a battle where the world’s superheroes decide to have a battle royale. As for Black Panther… maybe you could argue enough of it took place in the isolationist Wakanda for Fury to worry about it, at least until it hit his proverbial doorstep–but still, his absence from a movie starring such an important character and part of Marvel lore is noticeable, if not glaring.
Hopefully, it’s a consolation to Jackson that Nick Fury has appeared in an almost obscene number of MCU movies, including:
- Iron Man
- Iron Man 2
- Thor
- Captain America: The First Avenger
- The Avengers
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier
- Avengers: Age of Ultron
- Avengers: Infinity War
- Captain Marvel
- Avengers: Endgame
- Spider-Man: Far From Home
He’s also the main character of Secret Invasion, of course, made a brief appearance in the presumably non-canon Agents of SHIELD, and is due back for The Marvels later this year. Basically, both Jackson and Fury have been extremely busy since the Marvel Cinematic Universe kicked off in 2008. Maybe that’s why Fury was too busy to find the Skrulls a decent planet to live on, as he’d promised…?