Is Sam Jackson’s menacing, yet strangely likeable Nick Fury your favorite part of Marvel movies? If so, you might want to Odinsleep through much of The Avengers: Age Of Ultron because the eye-patched badass will be almost entirely absent from the final cut.
Jackson has been making the rounds of late to hype Captain America: The Winter Soldier, a movie in which he plays a substantial role, and the fine people over at Yahoo were able to get him on record about his involvement in the second round of The Avengers. Sadly, that involvement is just not as meaty as many of us would have hoped. In fact, it might be close to almost non-existent. Here’s the exact quote…
"I’m just kind of passing by there, you know. I’m not doing so much, I don’t think. Because, it’s another one of those ‘people who have powers fighting people who have powers’. That’s why I didn’t get to New York in The Avengers. There’s not a lot I could do except shoot a gun."
He doesn’t say the word itself, but that quote screams cameo. It tells us he’s going to be in a scene or two in order to remind fans he’s still hanging out in the Marvel Universe but offer almost nothing in the way of tangible plot development to Avengers: Age Of Ultron. That’s pretty frustrating for those who can’t get enough of Sam Jack, but it actually makes a lot of practical sense.
Because there was a fair amount of assembling and behind the scenes finagling that was needed to bring everyone together during The Avengers, Fury was able to put his stamp on the movie without really throwing off the gloves and fighting, but since everyone on the team exchanges Christmas cards, inside jokes and gift certificates for shawarma at this point, there’s apparently less of a need for his unique brand of administrative skills. Considering he’s the glue that holds everything together, however, it’s very likely we’ll continue to see him in some capacity or another in and out of Marvel movies for years to come. There’s no reason to think he’s being phased out like the unlikeable characters on The Mentalist.
For an ordinary movie, the absence of a character as likeable as Nick Fury could affect box office grosses and lessen overall fan excitement, but there’s almost no chance of that happening here. The first one was way too likeable and collective confidence is way too high in Joss Whedon for fans to not remain amped up like desperate cocaine addicts in need of a costumed fix.
If you’re still disappointed about the lack of Fury, you can cry in your beer while watching the Iron Man 2 restaurant scene below…
