For the Framework version of Nick Fury, see Nick Fury

"I'm trading in my bird's eye view for two solid feet on the ground. This is the last time you'll be seeing me for a stretch."

"You're going to disappear. Nowhere to be found."

"Nowhere? You know me better than that, Phil. I'll be everywhere." ―Nick Fury and Phil Coulson

Nicholas Joseph "Nick" Fury is a world-renowned spy, former Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and founder of the Avengers. Fury began his career within the United States Army in the late 1960s, rising to the rank of Colonel before his honorable discharge. He later became a CIA operative during the Cold War, primarily operating in Soviet territory. Continuing to serve the world, Fury joined S.H.I.E.L.D. to fight against Earth's most dangerous enemies. The great scope of enemies widened in the 1990s as Fury met Vers, helping her uncover her human heritage as Carol Danvers, as the two fought off the Starforce, which was led by Yon-Rogg, as they were targeting Skrull refugees. Fury took a liking to Goose who scratched him for violating her space and permanently blinded Fury's left eye. Fury kept the reason for this injury secret, telling others it was classified but happened in the line of duty, while Danvers had then left the Earth in order to find a new home for the Skrulls and protect the rest of the universe.

Later promoted to Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. by Alexander Pierce, Fury refocused his efforts over the next 15 years to organize the Avengers Initiative, with Fury's true intentions were to bring together any other powerful individuals to assist S.H.I.E.L.D. with protecting the Earth from extraterrestrial threats, which he had only learned of following his encounters with the Kree and Skrulls. Despite some more considerable reluctance from World Security Council who had not believed in his theories, Fury had still continued his efforts and eventually managed to recruit both Iron Man and Captain America into their Initiative, ready for an incoming invasion.

With the Avengers ready, Fury was forced to call them all into action when the Earth was invaded by Loki, who managed to brainwash an army and steal the Tesseract. With the Avengers assembled, Fury took charge of the hunt for Loki, leading the volatile team through the mission as they attempted to learn what Loki's plan for the Tesseract was and who he had been working for. This all then came to a head following Loki killing Phil Coulson, before being tracked to New York City. There, all the Avengers engaged Loki and his entire incoming army of Chitauri in a final battle, with Fury keeping the World Security Council from nuking the entire city before Loki was defeated and the Avengers were disassembled.

Following the Avengers's victory, Fury recruited Captain America as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, while Fury worked on the new Project Insight, as a means of accurately predicting threats; something which conflicted with Rogers' ideals. However, when Fury began to suspect that something was wrong with Project Insight, he then found himself becoming a target of the Winter Soldier, forcing Fury to fake his own death and go into hiding. With limited people he could trust, Fury then turned to Captain America along with Black Widow, the Falcon and Maria Hill to lead the fight, as he soon discovered that HYDRA had secretly managed to infiltrate S.H.I.E.L.D. and Alexander Pierce was the leader, as Captain America had also learned that the Winter Soldier was actually his friend Bucky Barnes who had been brainwashed by HYDRA for decades, following Barnes's apparent death in 1945.

Once Fury and his allies had stopped Project Insight and also killed Pierce, Fury chose to go into hiding to continue hunting down the remaining HYDRA cells. Fury then assisted the now resurrected Phil Coulson in defeating John Garrett while also stopping his plans for Project Deathlok. Following this, Fury chose to promote Coulson to Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., telling him to rebuild it from the ground up. Fury had then also aided the Avengers during the Ultron Offensive, serving as support during the Battle of Sokovia. There, he commanded the rebuilt Helicarrier, which Coulson's new S.H.I.E.L.D. secretly worked on.

In 2018, now operating underground with a hand-picked crew, Fury was one of the trillions of victims in the Snap but had managed to send a distress signal to Captain Marvel before his death. In 2023, Fury was resurrected by Hulk in the Blip and attended Tony Stark's funeral alongside the other Avengers after he sacrificed his life in the Battle of Earth. Fury was then made aware of Peter Parker's identity as Spider-Man and was tasked with delivering the E.D.I.T.H. glasses to him. However, deciding to take a vacation in space on Talos' flagship, Fury tasked Talos and Soren to impersonate himself and Maria Hill respectively on Earth and to deliver the glasses to Spider-Man on his behalf. After discovering that Talos and Spider-Man had been involved in a crisis in Europe, Fury decided to end his vacation and return to work.

Contents show]

Biography

Early Life

Childhood in Alabama

"Where were you born?"

"Huntsville, Alabama, but technically I don't remember that part." ―Vers and Nick Fury

Nicholas Joseph Fury was born in Huntsville, Alabama on July 4, 1950. All throughout his childhood, Fury had insisted on only ever being addressed by his surname, even making his mother call him Fury, which he continued to insist for the rest of his life. During his childhood, Fury had his first pet, a cat named Mr. Snoofers.[2]

Military & Espionage Career

United States Army

"Soldier. Straight out of high school. Left the ranks a full bird Colonel." ―Nick Fury to Vers

Once he finished high school, Fury joined the United States Army, working his way up the ranks as a soldier until being promoted to Colonel. Afterwards, he left the military and joined the CIA to pursue a career in espionage.[2]

Cold War

"It was the Cold War, we were everywhere. Belfast, Belgrade, Budapest, Bucharest..." ―Nick Fury to Vers

By the 1970s, Fury had a lot of action in Soviet territory, particularly Belfast, Belgrade, Budapest and Bucharest, constantly moving around the world due to the ongoing conflict of the Cold War. Fury chose to be dispatched in those locations, due to them all starting with the letter 'B' and that he could make them rhyme when he would mention them in passing.[2]

Joining S.H.I.E.L.D.

Fury joined S.H.I.E.L.D. by the 1980s and was working under Keller's command by 1988. For six years since 1989, he had been working a desk job in a S.H.I.E.L.D. office, attempting to locate and hunt down future enemies. By 1995, he had Level 3 S.H.I.E.L.D. clearance.[2] Over time, Fury oversaw the training of Phil Coulson and John Garrett as their Supervising Officer.[7]

Encountering Extraterrestrials

"You know anything about a lady blowing up a Blockbuster? Witnesses say she was dressed for laser tag." ―Nick Fury to Vers

In 1995, Fury and a group of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents received a call from a LAPD security officer about a mysterious woman who crashed into a store in Los Angeles.

The following morning, Fury interrogated the suspect. He proceeded to ask the woman if she was aware of someone who had fallen into a Blockbuster. Vers then claimed that she was from the Kree planet Hala and warned Fury that the Skrulls had infiltrated his planet. As an incredulous Fury asked for her credentials, however, a Skrull started shooting at them. Vers started chasing after the Skrull, while Fury alerted the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to chase after Vers and the Skrull.

The chase led him to follow a metro transit train across Los Angeles alongside Phil Coulson, where Vers was in pursuit of the Skrull. Fury and Coulson both kept tabs on Vers, watching as she fought the Skrull atop the train, and narrowly avoiding falling debris on several occasions. During the chase, however, Fury received a message from Coulson, who claimed he was stranded at the shopping complex while doing damage control.

Fury realized that Vers was telling the truth, and deduced that the Coulson riding shotgun next to him was a Skrull impostor. The Skrull, now aware that Fury had uncovered his deception, attempted to choke him to cover his infiltration. During the scuffle, Fury hard turned the car they were riding in to be t-boned by an incoming bus, which killed the Skrull on impact. Upon seeing the alien's true form, Fury quickly covered the Skrull's body and marked the scene of the accident under S.H.I.E.L.D. investigation and analysis.[2]

Interrogating Vers

"Did you have a rough day, Agent Fury?"

"It's cool. You know, had a space invasion, big car chase, got to watch an alien autopsy. Typical nine-to-five." ―Vers and Nick Fury

Following his encounter with the Skrulls, Fury marked the incident under S.H.I.E.L.D. investigation, and contacted Keller, unaware that at this point Talos had impersonated him. Fury was summoned to the S.H.I.E.L.D. Field Office by 'Keller', and as they observed the corpse of the dead Skrull, Fury informed 'Keller' of Vers whom he had encountered earlier, and was authorized to work undercover with her.

Fury tracked down Vers after learning she stole a motorcycle, and followed her to Pancho's Bar. Once he arrived at Pancho's Bar, Fury confronted Vers and proved that he was not a Skrull by answering questions about his past, including his small quirks, the name of his first pet, and details about his military career; memories that a Skrull couldn't fabricate.

To confirm her suspicions, with the intent to corner her into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody, Fury drove her to the Joint Dark Energy Mission Facility. En route, Vers explained to Fury the history of the ongoing Kree-Skrull War, and the Skrulls' interest in Wendy Lawson's Light-Speed Engine. Upon arrival at the base, Fury explained to Vers when she learned of his full name that he is only referred to by his surname.

Arriving inside the facility, Fury and Vers were told to wait in a locked room. While they waited for security to give them clearance inside, however, an impatient Fury used a piece of tape and placed it on his badge to take the fingerprint of an official with security clearance who had touched his badge, to give them access to the building. As Vers headed to the file room, Fury secretly contacted S.H.I.E.L.D. and alerted 'Keller' of Vers' location inside the facility through his pager, dismissing the contact as him simply trying to contact his mother.

As they were leaving, Fury encountered Goose, and began petting her, before Vers told Fury to keep moving. While inside the facility's archives, Fury and Vers discovered information about Lawson and found a notebook of Kree glyphs inside her files. When Vers realized her life on Earth as Carol Danvers, Fury explained that both Lawson and Danvers were supposedly killed in a faulty test flight of an Asis Aircraft.[2]

"Fury's colluding with the target."

"Then why would he call us in?"

"All I know is we take him in too, dead or alive." ―Agents Whitcher and Coulson

While Vers continued reading the file, Fury went to the entrance of the facility to meet the several incoming S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, including 'Keller'. When Fury and 'Keller' boarded an elevator down to the archives to capture Vers, 'Keller' called Fury by his first name, Nicholas. This caused Fury to become suspicious, since most people who know Fury, including the real Keller, never call him by his first name.

This caused Fury to assume that Keller was replaced by a Skrull. Fury then described a plan of action and tested Talos by asking if he remembers a strategy during a fictitious mission that he supposedly did with the real Keller, but Talos didn’t notice and agreed with him, making Fury confident that he was a Skrull. Seeing that S.H.I.E.L.D. was being infiltrated by the Skrulls, Fury deceived Talos and decided to go rogue with Vers.

When Fury left, however, Talos realized that Fury was already suspicious, and sent several S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, including Phil Coulson and Whitcher, to capture Fury dead or alive. Talos manages to find Fury and hold him at gunpoint, but Fury disarmed him, leading to a fight. Despite putting up a good fight, Fury was eventually overpowered and knocked down by Talos's might.

As Talos was standing over him, he was stunned by Vers' photon blast, who had decided to come back and rescue Fury. When more agents arrived, Vers blasted a hole through the ceiling to the next floor so that she and Fury could get through it and escape. As the two were making their escape, Fury was scolded by Vers for betraying her for calling in S.H.I.E.L.D., to which Fury then apologized for.

When they made their way to the stairwell, they were halted by Coulson, who held them at gunpoint. Coulson decided to help them by misdirecting the other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Once they were temporarily safe, Fury handed over his Transmitter Pager to Vers so that he wouldn’t use it again. The two then made their way to the facility's hangar, where they found a Quadjet.

When they sat in the cockpit, Fury asked Vers if she knew how to fly the aircraft, which she was fairly certain of. Vers then proceeded to fly the aircraft out of the facility. Shortly after escaping, the two realized that Goose had stowed away in the Quadjet as well. Once they were in the clear zone, Fury was shown a photo of Vers that she had found. They then deduced that she was the pilot that went down with "Lawson" and somehow arrived on Hala.

Fury was then informed by Vers that they needed to find her old friend, Maria Rambeau, so Fury instructed her on how to get to Louisiana. When Vers asked him why Coulson didn’t hand them over to the Skrulls, Fury informed her that it was him going by his instinct to let them go. The two then bonded with each other as they flew, laughing over their experiences with each other.[2]

Alliance with the Skrulls

"No one's going to hurt the girl. Just, don't kill me. We got a really complicated situation."

"I'm about five seconds from complicating that wall with some ugly-ass Skrull brains." ―Talos and Nick Fury

Fury, Vers and Goose then made their way to Rambeau Residence in Louisiana. After they arrived, Vers was greeted by Monica Rambeau, who called her Auntie Carol and her mother Maria Rambeau, who was apparently a long-time friend, while Fury watched as all this unfolded. They all then went inside where Vers filmed them in on the last six years of her life. Fury then went to go collect some of Vers' items with Monica, while Vers talked with Maria. Fury also witnessed Monica show Vers some photos of her old life.

Fury joined Vers and Maria after Talos showed up at the house and wanted to make a deal with Vers in order to help him find the Light-Speed Engine's core. After listening to a black box recording of Vers and Mar-Vell, Vers remembered who she was, and both she and Fury agreed to help find the core at Mar-Vell's Laboratory to help Talos end the Kree-Skrull War. From there, Fury, Vers, Talos, Maria, and Goose boarded the Quadjet, upgraded by Norex, and headed off to find the core.

Once in space, they found Mar-Vell's cloaked laboratory and proceeded to board, where they eventually found the core, which Mar-Vell referred to in her notes as the Tesseract. As it turned out, Mar-Vell's lab was doubling as a refuge for the Skrulls. They only revealed themselves after Talos called for them. Talos did not come for the Tesseract, but rather his wife and daughter, who were on board. Suddenly, they found themselves surrounded and outnumbered by the Starforce and Kree soldiers, led by Yon-Rogg. The Kree successfully retrieved the Tesseract and took Fury, Danvers, Rambeau, and Goose hostage.[2]

Helping Skrull Refugees

After overhearing Minn-Erva command that the Skrulls be ejected into space, Fury and Maria Rambeau were freed from captivity by Carol Danvers, who tasked them with getting the Skrulls and the Tesseract on the Quadjet and to safety. They found the Skrulls, though Talos had shape-shifted into a Kree soldier and used this disguise as a ruse to get Fury, Rambeau, and the rest of the Skrull refugees off the ship.

After taking out three soldiers, Fury, Rambeau, Talos, and the Skrull refugees boarded the Quadjet to escape. However, they were tailed by Minn-Erva, and while Rambeau managed to blow her out the sky, Yon-Rogg began shooting at them soon thereafter. However, Danvers arrived just in time and knocked Yon-Rogg out of the sky.[2]

Aftermath

"So, is it true? That the Kree burned your eye out because you refused to give them the Tesseract?"

"I will neither confirm nor deny the facts of that story." ―Phil Coulson and Nick Fury

Upon their victory, Fury was playing with Goose to celebrate but she scratched Fury's left eye, leaving a nasty scar which eventually blinded him. That night, Fury, Carol Danvers, Talos, Soren, Maria Rambeau, and the Skrulls returned to the Rambeau Residence, where Fury offered Rambeau a job as a pilot for S.H.I.E.L.D. Afterward, he and Danvers discussed the Tesseract being hidden on Earth. She then returned Fury's pager to him, which she upgraded with a range of at least a couple galaxies.

Despite what happened, Fury agreed to take care of Goose while Danvers was away with the Skrulls. His injury led most to believe that a Kree burned his eye for not giving up the Tesseract to them. Phil Coulson personally asked him this question back in his office while bringing him a box of prosthetic eyeballs, to which Fury refused to confirm or deny the claim.[2]

"We have no idea what other intergalactic threats are out there. And our one woman security force had a prior commitment on the other side of the universe. S.H.I.E.L.D. alone can't protect us. We need to find more." ―Nick Fury to Phil Coulson

Fury's experience with Carol Danvers made him realize that the world's arsenal, let alone S.H.I.E.L.D.'s can't protect the world, especially from intergalactic threats. This led him to form the Protectors Initiative but later renamed it into the Avengers Initiative, naming after Danvers' call-sign of "Avenger".[2] According to the Initiative, S.H.I.E.L.D. would seek out individuals with unique abilities and powers and record them in the Index[8] to form a response team should any threat beyond the warfighting capacity of conventional military forces appear.[2]

Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Mission in Bogotá and Promotion

"One thing I know for sure: Nobody is better suited to protect this world than me and my people." ―Nick Fury

Eventually, Fury became a Deputy Chief of S.H.I.E.L.D. station in Bogotá, working under Alexander Pierce's command. When National Liberation Army took several political officers hostage, including Pierce's daughter, Fury proposed a plan to get the hostages out, but Pierce insisted to negotiate with the rebels. However, Fury disobeyed Pierce's orders and got the hostages out. For his actions, Fury was promoted to the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. when Pierce gave up his position to become a member of the World Security Council.[4] As a Director, Fury was interested in searching mysterious and dangerous artifacts, such as the Darkhold, which he was unable to find.[9]

As a part of the Avengers Initiative, Fury attempted to locate Captain America, whose body was lost following the end of World War II, although the World Security Council were highly critical of Fury's attempts. The Council instead wanted Fury to focus his efforts on the Tesseract and then attempting to harness all its power for S.H.I.E.L.D.'s benefit. However, Fury continued the search despite the Council's demands.[10]

Fury recruited Clint Barton as one of his most trusted agents while agreeing to keep his family off records for protection.[11] Fury sent Barton on a mission to eliminate the assassin, codenamed Black Widow. Barton found her, but instead of killing her, he recruited her into S.H.I.E.L.D..[3] When Fury learned of Thaddeus Ross hunting down Bruce Banner, he tried to talk to Banner peacefully, only for him to then turn into Hulk as they were in a bar.[12]

Birth of Iron Man

"You think you're the only superhero in the world? Mr. Stark, you've become part of a bigger universe. You just don't know it yet." ―Nick Fury to Tony Stark

In 2009, Fury learned that Tony Stark had been kidnapped by the Ten Rings, so he sent Phil Coulson and Jasper Sitwell to deal with the situation. However Stark eventually escaped and not long after, Iron Man had also appeared and begun destroying Ten Rings units, as Fury suspected Stark may have been brainwashed. Fury kept his close watch on the situation and soon learned that Stark was Iron Man, and Obadiah Stane had ordered his kidnapping.[13]

Fury went into Stark's Mansion to talk with Stark about the Avengers Initiative, as Stark announced his identity as Iron Man.[1] However Stark made it clear he did not want to be involved with the Avengers.[14] In order to closely monitor Stark, he personally ordered Black Widow to infiltrate Stark Industries as Natalie Rushman.[15]

Fury was ordered to recruiting Emil Blonsky into the Avengers and he dispatched Coulson and Sitwell to find their solution, as they decided to recruit Stark to annoy Thaddeus Ross until he had refused to allow him to join the team.[16] Fearing the death of an Avenger, Fury had tasked Coulson to be the head of Project T.A.H.I.T.I., a project with the goal of reviving subjects from the dead.[17] With GH.325 made from a deceased Kree who they still had in storage, they cured a group of terminally ill people, with the initial tests were successful as fatal illnesses were cured, however, later everything went wrong, causing the T.A.H.I.T.I. test subjects to mentally deteriorate.

Coulson recommended the project be shut down, however Fury had secretly decided to continue with the project.[18] Fury later learned that Stark's drunken behavior resulted in James Rhodes making the decision that in his current state, Stark should simply not use his own technology, as he proceeded to take possession of the Mark II Armor and hand it over the United States Air Force. At the same time, Fury was also informed by Coulson about the Wormhole that had appearing on the planet along with a hammer that was coded as an 0-8-4. Fury sent Coulson into New Mexico to meet Erik Selvig as well as Jane Foster who were also investigating the situation.[10]

Helping Tony Stark

"You have become a problem, a problem I have to deal with. Contrary to your belief, you are not the center of my universe. I have bigger problems than you in the southwest region to deal with." ―Nick Fury to Iron Man

Shortly afterwards, Fury had learned that Iron Man was suffering from palladium poisoning due to the Arc Reactor in his chest which kept shrapnel away from his heart,[10] and had just been involved in a very public fight with James Rhodes at Tony Stark's Mansion, and during which much of the mansion had been destroyed and Rhodes had stolen one of the suits and then handed it over to the United States Air Force for their own study and use for military purposes. Fury then personally confronted the hungover and still suited Tony Stark at Randy's Donuts for becoming a problem that he had to solve.

As they sat inside the shop, Stark continued to insist that he was not interested in joining the Avengers, to which Fury noted how Stark still insisted he did everything himself before sarcastically asking how that was working out for Stark so far. While Stark questioned whether or not to look into Fury's eye or his eye patch and questioned if he was even real, Fury turned his attention onto the Palladium poisoning on Stark's neck. They were then joined by Natasha Romanoff while Fury revealed he had put his Black Widow agent undercover within Stark Industries to keep an eye on Stark's behavior, as Stark attempted to fire Romanoff although she said he could not make that decision.

Fury began listing off everything that Stark had recently done which had alarmed them, including making Pepper Potts the CEO of his company, selling his possessions and allowing Rhodes to fly off in one of his Iron Man Armors, although Stark claimed that Rhodes had stolen it, which Fury simply mocked him for. Stark then questioned what Fury wanted, which annoyed Fury even more as he told him that he had bigger issues to deal with around the world than Stark.

Following Fury's orders, Romanoff then provided Stark with a shot which eased back Stark's infection, although it did not fully cure it. When Stark insisted that there was no cure and that he had looked for every single known element to replace his Palladium Arc Reactor and simply found nothing, Fury informed Stark there was indeed a way to cure his infection, he just had not found it yet and promised S.H.I.E.L.D. would help him find what he needed.[15]

Discussing Howard Stark

"That thing in your chest is based on unfinished technology."

"No, it was finished, it's never been particularly effective until I had miniaturized it and put it in my-"

"No, Howard said the Arc Reactor was a stepping stone for something greater, he was about to kick off an energy race that was gonna dwarf the arms race. He was onto something big." ―Nick Fury and Tony Stark

Fury and Tony Stark returned to Stark's home where they discussed the history of the Arc Reactor, as Fury then claimed it was based on unfinished technology while Stark argued that it was finished but only really worked when he and Ho Yinsen had miniaturized it and put it in his chest. Fury, however, explained that Howard Stark believed the Arc Reactor was merely a stepping stone to something greater, as it would begin an incredible energy race across the world.

Fury then began providing information onto the background of Anton Vanko, the father of Ivan Vanko, who had recently attempted to kill Stark, before he revealed that Howard Stark was, in fact, one of the founding members of S.H.I.E.L.D., which greatly surprised Stark. Fury and Natasha Romanoff provided Stark with information and materials from his father, which proved instrumental in finding a replacement power source for his personal Arc Reactor.

Fury left Phil Coulson at Stark's home with orders not to allow Stark to leave until he had found a cure for his infection. Fury told Stark that he would be keeping his eye on him before leaving.[15] As things in New Mexico became more complicated with the discovery of the mysterious Mjølnir, Fury also sent Clint Barton to join Coulson at the site. He also assigned Romanoff to keep track of the fugitive Bruce Banner who was at Culver University.[10]

Recruiting a Consultant

"At this juncture, we'd only like to use you as a consultant."

"You can't afford me." ―Nick Fury and Tony Stark

Fury met with Tony Stark once again after Stark had successfully managed to fix his Arc Reactor and had gone on to defeat Whiplash during the attack on the Stark Expo. Once Fury arrived, he had found Stark looking over a brief for the Avengers Initiative which he then claimed he did not want Stark to read, instead of handing him Natasha Romanoff's assessment of Stark himself during her undercover mission with Stark.

Reading the assessment in which Romanoff claimed he contained compulsive behavior and self-destructive tendencies, with textbook narcissism. However, while Iron Man had been approved by Romanoff to join the Avengers, since Stark had proven himself unsuitable for the Avengers due to all of his recent actions, he was rejected, with Fury instead considering recruiting James Rhodes to the position, as Fury instead offered to recruit Stark's services only as a consultant.

Standing up and shaking his hand, Stark told Fury that he could not afford his services before going to walk out. However, before he left, Stark then agreed to be the consultant as long as Fury helped him convince Senator Stern to present him and Rhodes with the medals for all their bravery in defeating Whiplash, which Fury agreed to.[15] Romanoff then gave Fury report on Bruce Banner's transformation into Hulk and his successful fight against Emil Blonsky.

As his long week continued, Phil Coulson informed Fury about the Destroyer's attack on Puente Antiguo, while Fury had learned how General Thaddeus Ross hacked S.H.I.E.L.D.'s computers, having been given permission by the World Security Council. Fury ordered Romanoff to meet Samuel Sterns to take any papers on Banner, as Romanoff took Sterns into custody, having shot him through the leg having also witnessed Sterns' incomplete transformation.[10]

End of the Week

"Legend tells us one thing; history, another. But, every now and then, we find something that belongs to both."

"What is it?"

"Power, Doctor. If we figure out how to tap it, maybe unlimited power." ―Nick Fury and Erik Selvig

Fury's recruitment drive turned to people who had been involved in a destructive incident in Puente Antiguo, New Mexico. Impressed by the work he had seen and the discoveries that had been made, Fury had summoned Culver University astrophysics professor Erik Selvig, who had been associated with all the recent incidents, to the Joint Dark Energy Mission Facility, greeting him in a hallway.

While Selvig joked that the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents had taken him there to kill him, Fury commented on how impressed he had been, although Selvig had still mainly credited Jane Foster for all of her most recent discoveries about the Bifrost Bridge and the Nine Realms, which he called unprecedented, although Fury then made it clear that this had already been predicted. Fury then drew the scientist's attention to a secure, portable storage case he had kept within the facility.

Fury revealed a glowing cube within the case and suggested that it was a source of immense power, although nobody had been able to determine how to tap all the power. Selvig accepted the challenge to investigate the object further.[19] Fury gave his report to the World Security Council. Finally satisfied with his work, the Council decided to increase the funding for the agency while expanding jurisdictions for S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, and augment Fury's strategic authority.[10]

Awakening of Steve Rogers

"At ease, soldier! Look, I'm sorry about that little show back there, but we thought it best to break it to you slowly."

"Break what?"

"You've been asleep, Cap. For almost seventy years." ―Nick Fury and Steve Rogers

A year following the big week, Fury's Avengers Initiative was slowly losing traction by the time another potential recruit was found. Steve Rogers, the world's first supersoldier, who had been frozen in the Arctic ever since his battle against the Red Skull all the way back during World War II, and he had someone managed to miraculously survive his frozen entombment for almost seventy years.[10]

Fury oversaw Rogers's recovery and rehabilitation as he was placed in the S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters within Times Square until he awoke. Fury then personally intercepted Rogers when the man awoke and escaped into the heart of New York City since he had become utterly confused about his surroundings as he had no knowledge of what had transpired in the world since the 1940s and was shocked to see the world around him and the advancements in technology.

Once Fury had explained the situation, he then saw that Rogers was having a hard to taking in the new information, as he looked around at the new world while Fury's S.H.I.E.L.D. agents surrounded him. Seeing how distressed he was, Fury questioned if Rogers would be alright, as Rogers noted he had a date with Peggy Carter which he had subsequently missed due to being trapped in the ice for so many decades, unsure if Carter was actually still alive or not.[20]

"We have no quarrel with your people."

"An ant has no quarrel with a boot."

"You planning to step on us?"

"I come with glad tidings, of a world made free." ―Nick Fury and Loki

With little to show for his efforts with bringing the Avengers together, Fury shelved his plan and had begun focusing on weaponry instead. Fury's Phase 2, as the offshoot idea came to be called, involved re-engineering weapons technology that had emerged in the hands of HYDRA years earlier during World War II, as well as another cutting edge, or alien technology. The Tesseract, which he had assigned Erik Selvig to investigate, formed a significant part of this puzzle which Fury kept a close eye on throughout Selvig's experiments.

When the Tesseract had begun suddenly emitting unexpectedly high levels of Gamma Radiation, Fury was quick to personally take charge of the operation. He arrived at the Joint Dark Energy Mission Facility base with Maria Hill; there they met Phil Coulson. Fury ordered the evacuation of the base and Phase 2 prototypes to be moved to a safe distance while questioning how bad the situation was, to which Coulson then explained he did not know. Fury also found Hill questioning his plan for evacuation and his current priorities, believing that they should be focused on trying to control the Tesseract however they could.

Fury then ordered his updates from Selvig and was informed that the Tesseract's activities were unexplainable at this point, as Selvig had explained that due to the Tesseract being its own energy source they could not shut down the power. Fury listened while Selvig explained that despite them preparing for the situation as best they could, this was difficult to control, noting that it was emitting some low levels of Gamma Radiation, which Fury recalled had turned Bruce Banner into Hulk, as he noted that Gamma could be harmful. Fury requested to speak to Clint Barton, as Selvig noted that he was watching them.

Barton then joined Fury to give him his report on the situation as it continued unfolding, Barton was convinced that Selvig was not to blame and instead explained his theory that the Tesseract was a door to the other end of space, noting that it was possible that this door was being opened from the other side. Barton's theory was soon proved correct as the Tesseract opened a portal that allowed Loki to arrival to Earth. Seeing Loki was armed with his Scepter, Fury initially tried to reason with him, but Loki responded by killing much staff in the laboratory, before using the Mind Stone inside the Scepter to turn Selvig, Barton and other agents into his own personal slaves.

Defenseless against Loki's power, Fury made a desperate attempt to escape with the Tesseract, pulling it out of its container and trying to leave without being seen. However, Loki ordered him to stop before introducing himself as Loki of Asgard, while Selvig then realized that Loki was the brother of Thor. Knowing that the energy levels above them were causing serious damage to the facility, Fury stalled Loki by questioning Loki on his true scheme for the Earth, however, when they discovered that Fury was stalling while he waited for the building to implode, Loki ordered Barton to shoot Fury in the chest and take the Tesseract.

Fury survived being shot due to wearing a Bulletproof Vest and had managed to get back onto his feet, before getting onto the radio to inform Maria Hill of Barton's betrayal and ordering her to do what she could to attempt to stop Barton from escaping with Loki and the Tesseract. With the energy from the Tesseract going critical over his head, Fury ran through the facility to get back upstairs and make his escape, avoiding pieces of debris as the facility fell apart around him until Fury made it to a helicopter. Once in the air, Fury witnessed the entire facility implode, killing everybody who was still inside.

Determined not to lose sight of the Tesseract due to the fear that it's incredible power in Loki's hands could cause mass destruction, Fury had managed to get ahead of Barton's Jeep just as it came out of a secret entrance to the now destroyed facility, as they had left behind Hill whose own jeep had become trapped underneath much of the collapsed rubble but survived. Although Hawkeye attempted to drive out of sight of the helicopter, Fury had then opened up his door and began shooting down at them, willing to kill Hawkeye if it meant they could stop Loki from making his escape with the Tesseract.

However, before Fury could land a successful gunshot and stop the jeep's escape in time, he was then quickly shot down with a single powerful blast fired from Loki's Scepter which had destroyed the tail rotor, as the Helicopter began violently spinning out of control and finally crash-landed onto the ground, with Fury managing to leap to safety moments before the impact. Fury had survived the crash and continued to shoot at Loki until he ran out of bullets and watched in dismay while Hawkeye drove Loki into the distance along with Selvig and the Tesseract, with Fury unable to do anything to stop them, with Fury now standing alone in the ruins of the destroyed facility.

With Loki now out of sight, Fury got on his radio and confirmed that both Coulson and Hill were still alive following the facility implosion, ordering them to get every S.H.I.E.L.D. agent they had who was not focused on rescuing possible survivors underneath all the rubble to be searching for Loki. Fury then ordered Coulson to get back to base as their mission was the level seven and they were now at war. With that, Fury reactivated the Avengers Initiative, sending out his team to recruit Iron Man and Hulk with the intention of fighting the forces Loki would send against them with the Tesseract's power.[3]

Recruiting Captain America

"There's a lot we'll have to bring you up to speed on if you're in. The world has gotten even stranger than you already know."

"At this point, I doubt anything would surprise me."

"Ten bucks says you're wrong." ―Nick Fury and Captain America

Desperate for a solution to the problem of Loki's possession of the Tesseract, Fury informed the World Security Council that he was activating the Avengers Initiative. While they discussed what happened, Hawley had suggested called Thor but Fury made it clear that was unlikely as Gideon Malick argued that the Avengers were too unstable to make a team to be relied on, but Fury insisted that this war would be won with his soldiers.

Ignoring Malick's concerns, Fury met with Steve Rogers in his gym, where he was still trying to cope with having been asleep for nearly seventy years, with Fury suggesting that he should be out celebrating his survival and enjoying the new world he was in. Rogers, however, noted that when he disappeared, World War II was still being fought and he had only recently learned that it was won soon afterwards, although Rogers was still unsure of what America had lost. Fury then noted that they made some mistakes along the way, and confessed that some of these mistakes had been made very recently.

Fury then informed Rogers that he had come there with a mission for him, noting that he was trying to save the entire world before handing Rogers the file about the Tesseract, which he noted had been found in the ocean by Howard Stark while he had still been searching for Rogers in the 1940s. Fury then explained what S.H.I.E.L.D. had been doing with the Tesseract and went on to explain the current situation to Rogers, hoping that he would be able to provide them with some insight into the Tesseract after seeing Red Skull using it for HYDRA's ultimate goals of world domination, although Rogers was mortified that the Tesseract had fallen into the wrong hands once again.

As Rogers then questioned who took the Tesseract from them, Fury explained how Loki had taken it and was from another world, as they made a bet over whether or not anything could still surprise Rogers now he was in this new world. As Rogers left, Fury had asked for any more information, with Rogers telling him the best thing that could be done with it would be losing it in the ocean. Although Rogers was unhappy when he learned that S.H.I.E.L.D. had been in possession of the Tesseract, Fury was able to recruit him, and dispatched agents to call in the help of both Tony Stark and Bruce Banner.[3]

Activating the Avengers

"Doctor, thank you for coming."

"Thanks for asking nicely. So, how long am I staying?"

"Once we get our hands on the Tesseract, you're in the clear." ―Nick Fury and Bruce Banner

With time running out to stop Loki from completing his goals of world domination, Fury had all their key candidates for the Avengers found and brought onto the Helicarrier, with the assistance of both Natasha Romanoff and Phil Coulson, who gave each of them all a full briefing about Loki and the plan to find and stop him before it was too late. Fury had the Helicarrier flown into the air and put on clocking so that their mission could continue without being interrupted as Maria Hill relayed his orders.

With the Helicarrier now in the air and almost completely invisible to the human eye, Fury had then turned his attention oval to their now assembled Avengers Initiative. Having seen the incredible sight of the advanced technology that the Helicarrier was now displaying and the scale of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s influence over the world, allowed Rogers to go quietly hand Fury ten dollars to complete a bet they had made about whether or not Rogers could be surprised by any new things since fighting HYDRA and waking up in the modern era, as Fury smiled to himself and then went over to greet all of the other Avengers.

Fury welcomed them all onto the ship, shaking Bruce Banner's hand and personally thanking him for agreeing to help them. Banner asked Fury how long he would be required to stay with S.H.I.E.L.D. but Fury assured him that it would only be until they found the Tesseract. Now feeling more confident, Banner suggested that they begin scanning for Gamma Radiation to locate the Tesseract while Fury had ordered Romanoff show him to his laboratory where he began focusing all his efforts on searching the Earth, getting help from laboratories around the world to find Loki and Erik Selvig as quickly as possible.

Not long after the team came together, Loki had made his first public appearance in Germany which had been seen by Jasper Sitwell, so Fury had then sent Rogers to capture him with the Quinjet and bring him back to the Helicarrier. Loki was apprehended by the combined strength of Captain America and Iron Man, heralding an unexpected further addition to the collection of extraordinary people when Loki's adopted brother Thor arrived, making demands of his own for Loki's extradition. Although the clash between Thor and Iron Man occurred, Captain America was able to end that and they recruited Thor.[3]

Dealing with Asgardians

"How desperate am I? You threaten my world with war, you steal a force you can't hope to control, you talk about peace, and you kill 'cause it's fun. You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did." ―Nick Fury to Loki

With Loki having been successfully captured within Germany, he was brought onboard the Helicarrier under armed guard and locked up inside the cage designed to keep Hulk. Fury then spoke to Loki personally, threatening that if he made any attempt to escape than his cell would be dropped off the ship and fall thirty thousand feet to the ground, as Loki noted how the cell had not been designed for him, to which Fury then confirmed that it had in fact originally been designed for someone who was considerably stronger than Loki.

Despite the threat, however, Loki appeared to remain confident and mocked the Avengers throughout the interrogation, questioning how desperate Fury must be to bring together such a poor team together in order to stop him. Fury answered this by listing all of Loki's crimes, including threatening the Earth with war while killing innocent lives. Loki had mocked Fury by claiming that he had lost his chance to use the Tesseract to gain unlimited power and, although Fury had merely scoffed at the statement, making it clear that Loki no longer had any power, mocking him by offering a magazine as he walked away.

Having left Loki alone in his cell, Fury then rejoined the Avengers who were still discussing what Loki's true plans could be, finding Bruce Banner and Tony Stark discussing how Loki could use the Tesseract and harness its power for his own means. As they agreed to begin studying Loki's Scepter and how that worked, Fury then expressed his desire to understand how Loki had just recently used the Scepter to change both Hawkeye and Erik Selvig to his own personal slaves, while also making a comparison with the Flying Monkeys, which was a reference which Captain America was delighted to understand.

Having discussed what Loki had said with the Avengers, Fury later spoke to Thor, who had been discussing Asgard's wars on Earth with agent Phil Coulson and commenting on how Loki's fury at him had resulted in him sending the Destroyer to Puente Antiguo and nearly killing several innocent lives. Fury asked Thor if he felt he could learn what Loki's plans were with the Tesseract, but Thor simply remained uncertain, as he told Fury that Loki's mind has snapped and he now not only wanted power but vengeance on him and his family for the slights against him since learning of the truth about his past.

When Thor questioned what it was that Fury was asking him to do, fearing that he may soon be called upon to end his own brother's life, Fury, in turn, questioned what Thor was now prepared to do in order to keep the Earth safe from Loki's wrath. However, believing that they had gained the upper hand over him, Thor had then questioned what possible risk Loki could be to the Earth now that he was his prisoner onboard the Helicarrier, Fury instead then raised his concerns about Loki's seeming overconfidence and noted that he seemed glad to be on the ship unlike everybody else who was there with him.[3]

Avengers Argument

"Last year Earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town. We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously outgunned."

"My people want nothing but peace with your planet."

"But you're not the only people out there, are you?" ―Nick Fury and Thor

As Fury sent Natasha Romanoff to interrogate Loki and trick him into giving away his schemes as she seemingly tried to bargain for Clint Barton's life, Fury was unaware of tensions between the Avengers as they searched for the Tesseract. Eventually, Fury learned of this as he saw a warning that the Helicarrier was now being hacked, allowing someone to access all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s top-secret documents and Fury had no doubt about which genius rogue was to blame.

Angered by this, Fury then went to Tony Stark and Bruce Banner as he questioned what they were doing and why they were not trying to locate the Tesseract, only for Banner to explain how they had been doing that and figured out a system as they waited for the alert. Stark then completed his hack into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s systems as he had asked Fury what Phase 2 really was. However, just before Fury could then answer Stark's question, Captain America had then entered the room with a Arnimhilation 99L Assault Weapon which he had found, claiming that Phase Two was S.H.I.E.L.D. using the Tesseract to make weapons.

As Fury then attempted to defend his actions to Rogers by claiming that they had simply gathered everything they could on the Tesseract, he was interrupted by Stark who pulled up files proving that S.H.I.E.L.D. was indeed copying the HYDRA's designs in order to make Tesseract-powered weapons, which greatly angered Rogers. As they were joined by Romanoff and Thor Banner was asked to leave the room since they now believed that he could be getting manipulated by Loki, only for Banner to then demand to know what S.H.I.E.L.D.'s real intentions with the Tesseract were.

Finally, Fury confessed that the weapons were being built due to the recent arrival of all the Asgardians, pointing to the Battle of Puente Antiguo in which Loki had sent down the Destroyer which had been proven to have considerably more strength than S.H.I.E.L.D. could currently handle. While Thor insisted that the Asgardians only wanted peace with the Earth, Fury noted that they were not the only beings out there who they could not match or control. Thor, however, claimed that Fury's use of the Tesseract had brought Loki there, claiming that it was a signal that the Earth was ready for a higher form of war.

When Stark insulted Fury's attempt to use a nuclear deterrent to end the crisis, Fury remained him of how Stark Industries had made their billions from selling their weapons. This led to an intense argument with Rogers and Stark then debating the standards of being heroes, as Thor questioned Fury over whether or not Humans were more advanced than this, to which Fury had simply noted how they had never gone to Asgard and caused destruction, unlike Loki. While Banner claimed that the Avengers were a time bomb, Fury became concerned and recommended Banner step out of this situation.

Fury then watched as Rogers and Stark had continued their argument, until telling Romanoff to remove Banner from the room, leading to Banner becoming angry over the creation of a cell made to kill him, explaining that it was not possible to kill him, which he knew to attempt suicide previously. To their horror, the agitated Banner then picked up the Scepter as he had promised to explain his secret to remaining calm, as Rogers made him realize what was happening just as they got the signal on the Tesseract's location, as Banner then calmed down and went to check the result.[3]

"Just stay awake. Eyes on me."

"No, I'm clockin' out here."

"Not an option."

"It's okay, boss... This was never gonna work if they didn't have something to....." ―Nick Fury and Phil Coulson

However, just before Bruce Banner could inform Fury and the others of the Tesseract's location, Loki played his hand, as Fury was caught off guard when the Helicarrier came under attack and their engine was destroyed in a daring commando raid by Loki's mind-controlled soldiers led by Hawkeye. With one of their propellers completely destroyed, Fury ordered the Avengers to assemble as they all desperately attempted to regain control of the sudden deadly situation.

Once he returned to his post on the bridge to take command of the situation, Fury ordered that the Helicarrier be positioned over water to ensure that if they fell out of the sky, they would not kill thousands of innocent lives below them, becoming annoyed as he had to give directions to the navigator about how to figure out where to turn to get over water. Fury remained instrumental in controlling the current situation, ensuring that Captain America and Iron Man focused onto repairing the damaged propeller to ensure their safety while giving his orders to the other team members to finally regain control.

However, just as they were taking back control, Maria Hill noticed a grenade being thrown into the control room, causing an explosion which knocked Hill backwards. Reacting swiftly, Fury then hid and allowed Loki's soldiers to ensure the room before he ambushed them, as Fury grabbed one from behind and took a hold of his gun before he gunned him and two other soldiers down. When another soldier then almost took Fury unprepared, Hill managed to shoot him dead, before Fury and Hill joined forces and held Loki's forces at bay to keep them from managing to take over their control room.

With the attack still continuing, Fury had then engaged in a fierce gunfight alongside Hill, keeping all Loki's soldiers at bay, until Hawkeye joined the fight and had fired several explosive arrows at Fury and Hill, causing explosions which killed multiple S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Just as Fury saw Hawkeye and shot at him to keep him back, Hawkeye managed to shoot his hacking arrow at the control box, causing the entire Helicarrier to lose control, as Fury and Jasper Sitwell looked on in horror as they began falling from the sky, until Iron Man eventually succeeded at restarting the engines with Captain America's help.

Knowing that Hawkeye was running the attack, Fury then sent Black Widow to go out and personally engage him while also ordering one of his fighter jets to fire at Hulk in order to force him to escape the Helicarrier before he could tear it all apart, which resulted in Hulk furiously destroying the jet before disappearing having been thrown overboard. During the aftermath of the battle, Thor and Hulk had been thrown off the Helicarrier, while Hawkeye had been captured in the aftermath of a fight with the Black Widow, during which Loki had also escaped onboard a Quinjet in all of the still ongoing chaos.

Fury had eventually found Phil Coulson severely wounded by Loki's hands, having been stabbed through the chest while he was attempting to stop Loki from getting away using the Destroyer Armor Prototype Gun, while Coulson apologized for failing to stop Loki from getting away. Despite all Fury's efforts to keep him awake, Coulson's wounds were fatal, and Coulson died just as a medical team arrived, with his own final words telling Fury that the Avengers Initiative would never work unless they had someone to avenge. Fury informed all of the other agents and the Avengers of Coulson's sudden death.[3]

Inspiring the Avengers

"There was an idea, Stark knows this, called the Avengers Initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people, see if they could become something more. See if they could work together when we needed them to fight the battles we never could." ―Nick Fury

Fury called a meeting with the last of the Avengers left on board the Helicarrier, Steve Rogers and Tony Stark, and showed Rogers all of Phil Coulson's beloved collection of trading cards, which were now stained with Coulson's blood as Fury claimed that he had gotten them from Coulson's jacket when in reality he had taken them from Coulson's locker in the room that seeing them would inspire the team, reminding Rogers of how Coulson had never had a chance to get his hero to sign them as he had asked just before his death.

With great regret, Fury told Rogers and Stark their communications and idea of where the Tesseract currently was were all gone, along with both Thor and Bruce Banner who had also been recently thrown off their Helicarrier during all of the chaos, while noting that due to Coulson's death he had lost his one good eye, questioning if he had that coming to him. Fury confessed to the pair that S.H.I.E.L.D. was indeed planning on building up their arsenal of weapons with all the Tesseract's technology, similar to what HYDRA had previously done, but noted that he had another plan which was an even greater risk.

Fury then explained to Rogers and Stark that Coulson had wanted to believe in heroes as he had designed the Avengers Initiative to bring together remarkable people to see if they could become something more, and become the team which could fight all of the battles that S.H.I.E.L.D. never could, such as the threats that Loki was currently posing to the Earth. As Fury had noted how Coulson had died while still believing in this Initiative and the concept of heroes, Stark got up and left the room out of grief and frustration over Coulson's death, as Fury regretfully confessed that it was an old fashioned notion.

As he overlooked the skyline while looking at Coulson's trading cards himself, Maria Hill questioned Fury as Coulson kept his trading cards in his locker, not his jacket as Fury had claimed; Fury explained that he had used the cards to give the team the push they needed. Fury had used Coulson's death to motivate the Avengers, hoping that Coulson's death would be a trigger that would finally unite the team. Despite the ethically questionable nature of the plan, it proved to be effective, as the Avengers were inspired to stop Loki and had set off onboard a Quinjet in pursuit of Loki shortly thereafter.[3]

"I recognize the Council has made a decision, but given that it's a stupid-ass decision, I've elected to ignore it."

"You're closer than any of our subs, you scramble that jet..."

"That is the island of Manhattan, Councilman. Until I am certain my team can't hold it, I will not order a nuclear strike against a civilian population!" ―Nick Fury and Gideon Malick

With the team inspired by agent Phil Coulson's death and wanting to avenge him, the Avengers Initiative had finally come to fruition, as the team traveled to New York City where they found Loki had activated the Tesseract, opening a portal above Stark Tower which had allowed his army of Chitauri to pour into New York, causing mass destruction and claiming hundreds of lives. As the Avengers battled Loki's army, Fury watched the action from the Helicarrier, however, he soon discovered that his role in the Avengers' battle was not yet done.

With their battle still raging, Maria Hill had approached Fury and then informed him that the World Security Council were demanding to speak with him. To his horror, Fury spoke to the Council who issued orders for Fury to send his nuclear missile directly into the vicinity of Manhattan in order to destroy Loki and his army, which Fury furiously refused to do, still stating that he would not just order the deaths of millions of innocent lives despite Gideon Malick's insistence that they would lose everything in this war if they did not fire upon the invading force, before Fury had simply hung up his call with the Council.

Furious that Fury was disobeying a direct order from them to fire the nuclear missile, the Council had instead chosen to take away Fury's command of S.H.I.E.L.D., overriding the order and sending an F-35 Lightning II to fire upon the city and kill millions of people. Hill was able to warn Fury of the launch and he ran onto the launchpad in his desperate attempt to stop the jet. Fury was able to shoot the jet with a rocket launcher causing it to crash but not kill the pilot, however, a second jet had been sent as well which Fury was unable to stop as it flew towards New York City while Fury looked on helplessly.

Fury called Tony Stark to warn him of the impending nuke, Stark was able to intercept the missile and fly it towards the Wormhole. At the same time, Romanoff and Erik Selvig has figured out a way to close the Wormhole using the Scepter, giving Stark only seconds to lose the missile and escape. Stark then flew through the Wormhole and destroyed the Chitauri Command Center, killing all of the invading aliens of the mothership. Stark barely survived the fall back onto Earth but was caught and saved by Hulk. They looked across the city and determined they had won the war as they captured a bruised and beaten Loki yet again.[3]

Disbanding the Avengers

"They've gone their separate ways, some pretty extremely far. We get into a situation like this again, what happens then?"

"They'll come back."

"Are you really sure about that?"

"I am." ―Maria Hill and Nick Fury

Now that the Avengers Initiative had ultimately succeeded, Fury's defiance of the World Security Council may not have been forgotten, but his methods and actions had saved the world. Fury then updated the Council members on the whereabouts of the Tesseract, which had been taken back to Asgard by Thor, despite Gideon Malick insisting that this was not Fury's decision to make, to which Fury simply claimed that he just had not argued with Thor.

When the council asked the whereabouts of the Avengers, he told them that they were no longer being tracked as he believed that they had deserved the chance to go off the grid following their victory. When Hawley noted that Fury was putting them at risk by bringing the Avengers together, Fury informed her that they had successfully made it clear to every world that they were dangerous and there to protect Earth. When Malick asked if making a statement of strength had been the point of this entire endeavor, Fury instead claimed that he had made a promise (indirectly mentioning Carol Danvers), before he hung up the call to the Council.

As Fury walked across the Helicarrier's control room and overlooking the skyline, he was questioned by Maria Hill about what they would do if the world came under threat again, as now the team had gone their separate ways, with some now traveling to the other end of the universe. Fury, however, resolved to call upon the Avengers should they be needed again, and made further assurances that they would come, why Hill asked him why he was so sure of this, he told her this would be that they would need them. With Hill now satisfied with the answer she walked away, leaving Fury overlooking the skyline.[3]

Aftermath of the Invasion

"You know, I have the authority to downgrade your ass to a Winnebago."

"I'm aware of that, sir."

"Well, I want it fixed just like you found it. So don't have FitzSimmons going making modifications." ―Nick Fury and Phil Coulson

Unknown to the Avengers, Phil Coulson was brought back to life with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s advanced technology and experimental drugs.[21][22] Fury chose to hide the truth about Coulson's survival from the Avengers, classifying the information to those with Level 7 clearance or above.[3][23][22] He then buried information about Coulson's involvement in Project T.A.H.I.T.I. in Coulson's fake grave, cryptically telling Maria Hill that he buried the information about who led Project T.A.H.I.T.I. when he decided not to bury Coulson.[17]

Following the Battle of New York, with the planet now learning of the existence of extraterrestrials and demigods, criminals and terrorist organizations wanted to obtain new technologies and weapons left by the Chitauri. Fury knew that he has to do something about that, instructing Coulson to build an operative team to prevent this.[24] However, the true builder of Coulson's Team was Melinda May; upon orders from Fury, she covertly chose the members for very specific reasons pertaining to Coulson's resurrection. Fury also had May keep him updated on Coulson for signs of mental deterioration.[25]

Following Coulson's mission in Peru, Fury was furious at Coulson as the Bus was heavily damaged. He also warned him that Skye was a risk as she had previously been a member of the Rising Tide. As Fury left he told Coulson not to allow Jemma Simmons and Leo Fitz to install their fish tank onto the plane.[26] Shortly after the Battle of Greenwich, Coulson and his team were investigating the discovery of a lost Asgardian artifact known as the Berserker Staff. Coulson wanted to consult with Thor, but Fury informed him that Thor had taken himself "off the grid".[27]

According to Victoria Hand, when Coulson got abducted by the Centipede Project and tortured for several days by Edison Po, both Fury and Maria Hill wanted constant updates on the situation of the rescue mission coordinated by Hand and the other agents. Hand later informed Coulson that Fury was very relieved after hearing of Coulson's successful rescue mission.[21] A few weeks later, May used a secure phone line on the Bus to call Fury and tell him that Coulson knew the truth about his resurrection.[28]

"S.H.I.E.L.D. takes the world as it is, not as we'd like it to be. It's getting damn near past time for you to get with that program."

"Don't hold your breath." ―Nick Fury and Captain America

Shortly after the Battle of New York, Captain America remained with S.H.I.E.L.D. and worked with the STRIKE team at Fury's behest, often partnered with Black Widow. Fury then covertly hired Georges Batroc and his team of mercenaries to take the Lemurian Star in order to provide cover for Romanov's mission to get information on Project Insight. After the successful mission, Rogers and Fury clashed over the director's secrecy concerning mission details.

Wishing to prove to Rogers that he was willing to share secrets, Fury decided to take him to see Project Insight, the overriding protocol to give Rogers security clearance. As they were going down in the elevator, Fury told Rogers the story of how his grandfather was often threatened and carried a gun to protect himself, telling Rogers that while his grandfather liked people he did not trust them and now they had guns somewhat bigger than what his grandfather's had.

Fury revealed to Rogers that S.H.I.E.L.D. intended to preemptively eliminate their enemies through the new Project Insight Helicarriers. Rogers, however, who mortified with the concept, noting how this meant that people were being killed before they had a chance to commit a crime, something that could be highly dangerous. Fury responded that soldiers like Rogers in World War II were involved in various war crimes, too, but Rogers refused to budge on his stance.

As Fury returned to his office and prepared to look into the files that Natasha Romanoff had gathered from the Lemurian Star, he found that he did not have clearance for the files. This confused Fury as there were very few to no documents which he was not cleared to access, this raised his suspicions that Project Insight could be a risk. Fury went into the elevator and prepared to speak to the only other man who could have access to the blocked file.

Fury found Alexander Pierce speaking to the World Security Council about the Hijacking and Retaking of the Lemurian Star, defending Fury's actions involving the mission and discussing Georges Batroc. Fury pulled Pierce out of the meeting and asked Secretary Pierce to delay Project Insight's launch, hesitant of the possible dangers of Project Insight to the world, Pierce was incredibly reluctant as he knew the amount of work which would go into such an action, but Fury insisted that it would be worthwhile. Pierce agreed with one condition, that Fury had Iron Man visit his niece's birthday party, Fury agreed and the pair shook hands and departed.[4]

"There are a lot of things you don't know about me."

"I know, Nick. That's the problem." ―Nick Fury and Steve Rogers

Afterward, Fury drove across Washington, D.C. and called Maria Hill, telling her to come to Washington to discuss his theories about Project Insight and gave her three hours to arrive, which she did not question. As Fury continued driving, he encountered two police officers who appeared to be watching him, so Fury insulted the pair, assuming that they were simply being racist and rude towards him.

Before he could react, a group of HYDRA agents disguised as cops attacked Fury while he was driving, slamming into his car and using an Electronic Battering Ram to try and get through the car's armor. Despite a broken arm, Fury was able to use his car's defense mechanisms to fight back against the assassins, using a machine gun against them before driving away. During a prolonged car chase, Fury continued to fight and outwit his attackers while driving.

Just as he nearly got safety after causing two of his assassin's car to be hit by a passing lorry, Fury encountered an assassin known as the Winter Soldier, who used a Disc Grenade to disable Fury's SUV, causing it to violently crash and greatly injure Fury. Before the Winter Soldier could walk to the car and execute Fury, Fury used a Mouse Hole to cut through the SUV and escape into the sewers, seeking assistance from the only person he felt he could trust.

Fury retreated to Steve Rogers's apartment and sat waiting in the darkness while listening to music. When Rogers arrived after speaking to his neighbor, Fury greeted him and showed him his injuries to express the seriousness of the situation while using coded messages to try and communicate the situation to him, as he knew that his apartment was bugged, claiming that he had been thrown out of his house by his wife, who very few people knew about.

However, the Winter Soldier followed Fury there and fired two snipers round through the wall and into his chest, mortally wounding him. As Fury struggled for breath he gave Rogers the hard drive and told him not to trust anyone. Sharon Carter arrived and treated Fury's wounds while Rogers chased the Winter Soldier. While Rogers was unable to capture the assassin, Fury was then taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. His body was then taken by Hill.[4]

Fighting Back

"Well... Looks like you're giving the orders now, Captain." ―Nick Fury to Captain America

Despite Alexander Pierce and the entirety of S.H.I.E.L.D. believing him to have been killed, Fury had in fact successfully faked his death by using Tetrodotoxin B, a drug developed as a heart-rate suppressant by Bruce Banner to relieve stress. Fury retreated with Maria Hill and Doctor Fine to a hidden facility until Hill was able to bring Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff and Sam Wilson, who had almost been captured by HYDRA, to the base and reveal the truth.

Fury told the group that they needed to destroy Project Insight and save S.H.I.E.L.D., but Rogers insisted that he intended to destroy S.H.I.E.L.D. entirely, pointing out that Fury's compartmentalization and secrecy were what allowed HYDRA to infiltrate the organization, as well as create the Winter Soldier. Although Fury told him that he had not known about the Winter Soldier, Captain America pointed out that he probably would not have told him even if he had. Realizing that Romanoff, Wilson, and Hill agreed with Rogers, he agreed to destroy S.H.I.E.L.D.

The team then worked out a plan to infiltrate the Triskelion and destroy Project Insight, which had been revealed to be a HYDRA plot orchestrated by Arnim Zola and Alexander Pierce.[4] Before returning to the the Triskelion, Fury ordered Agents Bobbi Morse and Isabelle Hartley to rescue Robert Gonzales in the Iliad. He also ordered Morse to destroy the ship in order to avoid HYDRA from obtaining a Monolith of extraterrestrial origin.[29]

"You don't think we wiped your clearance from the system?"

"I know you erased my password. Probably deleted my retinal scan. But if you want to stay ahead of me, Mr. Secretary... you need to keep both eyes open." ―Alexander Pierce and Nick Fury

The plan went underway as Captain America rallied the remaining loyal S.H.I.E.L.D. agents together to fight HYDRA while Black Widow used the Photostatic Veil to disguise herself as Hawley to infiltrate the World Security Council and get the Project Insight's leader. Once Romanoff was able to capture Alexander Pierce, Fury arrived and confronted his former friend.

While Pierce joked about having sent flowers to Fury's funeral, he attempted to justify his actions of attempting to assassinate him and cause mass-genocide to Fury by comparing Project Insight to what Fury did in Bogotá, not waiting for orders but doing what needed to be done. Fury asked why Pierce made him Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Pierce explained that it was because he felt Fury was the best at what he did as well as being the most ruthless person he'd ever met.

Fury and Romanoff explained that they intended to release all of S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYDRA's files onto the internet, exposing Pierce as a traitor, However Pierce remained confident as he had ensured that Fury's clearance had already been wiped from the system, but Fury explained that to stay ahead of him, he needed to keep both eyes open, thus revealing he had a security contingency in place should S.H.I.E.L.D.'s arsenal fall into the wrong hands. Fury then used his blind eye, which Pierce had forgotten to delete from the retina scan, to unlock the system.

When Pierce attempted to turn the tables on his situation, killing all the members of the Council and trying to take Romanoff hostage, Fury was left with no choice but to surrender to save his friend's life. However, when Romanoff used a Taser Disk to disable the miniature bomb attached to her, Fury used the opportunity to shoot Pierce twice in the chest, killing him and leaving his body behind as he helped Romanoff get back to her feet.

Fury and Romanoff escaped in a helicopter and witnessed Rogers successfully complete their mission, destroying all of the Helicarriers while battling the Winter Soldier. As Fury flew the Helicopter, one of the Insight Helicarriers crashed into the side of the Triskelion, causing Sam Wilson to run for his life until he leaped from the window and barely managed to land inside the helicopter due to Fury's exceptional piloting skills.

Rogers managed to survive his battle with the Winter Soldier and their mission was complete, resulting in the world learning of HYDRA's attempt to take over the world. Following the subsequent fall of S.H.I.E.L.D., Fury went into hiding, burning his possessions, replacing his eyepatch with a pair of sunglasses along with wardrobe change to blend into a crowd.[4] Only a select few others were given knowledge of his survival including Eric Koenig and Phil Coulson.[30]

Departing

"We've been data mining HYDRA's files. Looks like a lot of rats didn't go down with the ship. I'm headed to Europe tonight. Wanted to ask if you'd come."

"There's something I got to do first." ―Nick Fury and Steve Rogers

Fury went to his fake graveside to talk with Captain America, Falcon, and Black Widow before he went into hiding. Fury then departed for Europe, intending to seek out and take down all of the remaining HYDRA cells. He asked if Falcon would like to join him there, but Falcon refused, saying that he was a soldier, not a spy. As they shook hands, Fury reminded them not to tell anyone of his survival.[4]

Fury later guided Phil Coulson to a secure S.H.I.E.L.D. base in the Canadian wilderness, using Coulson's S.H.I.E.L.D. badge to send the base's coordinates. Coulson took a leap of faith in assuming that Fury and not HYDRA had sent the coordinates. Once at Providence, Eric Koenig assured Coulson that Fury was alive, but that only they, Hill, and a few Avengers were aware of this. Koenig instructed Coulson to keep it secret from his team for the time being.[30]

While Fury remained under the radar, Melinda May confronted Maria Hill to find out who led Project T.A.H.I.T.I., so Hill simply told her the cryptic answer that Fury had given her. May then suggested that Hill ask Fury herself, but Hill quickly said that Fury was still dead. May, doubting this, replied that she would believe that when she saw it herself. Later, May realized what Fury meant by his riddle and went out to recover the video hidden inside of Coulson's grave.[17]

"I went to great pains to make sure you didn't die the first time."

"Now's probably not the best time, but I'd like to have a lengthy conversation with you about that. It might get loud."

"And I owe you that. But right now, we owe Garrett a punch in the teeth, wouldn't you say?" ―Nick Fury and Phil Coulson

On his way to Europe, Fury received a weak distress call which led him to Agents Jemma Simmons and Leo Fitz, who were stranded in the ocean. He managed to rescue both of them, although Fitz suffered brain damage from the ordeal. When Simmons awoke while being treated, however, she was able to provide him with the information he needed to find Phil Coulson. Fury headed to the Cybertek Manufacturing Facility where Coulson was involved with a fight against HYDRA.

Fury managed to locate Coulson in a fierce battle against the rogue S.H.I.E.L.D. agent John Garrett, who had gained super strength, as Coulson crawled for cover he found Fury waiting for him, joking about his current appearance since going underground. Although Coulson was furious about being kept in the dark about Project T.A.H.I.T.I., they agreed it was best to focus on defeating Garrett, so Fury supplied Coulson with the Destroyer Armor Prototype Gun. Together they fought Garrett, who had become extremely powerful due to being injected with the GH.325 serum.

While Coulson blasted away his bodyguards, Garrett was able to survive when Fury shot him multiple times in the chest due to his new enhanced healing and began mocking Fury and Coulson. As Garrett continued to monologue about his plans, Fury was able to correct him when he misquoted one of Fury's speeches, making it clear that his mindset was all wrong. However, Skye managed to communicate with Deathlok who betrayed Garrett and killed him by crushing his head while Fury and Coulson looked on without sympathy.[31]

A New Foundation

"There's no one else I'd trust with this."

"Thank you, sir. How should I proceed?"

"That's up to you... Director." ―Nick Fury and Phil Coulson

On the Bus, Phil Coulson, accompanied by Melinda May, infuriated, yelled at Fury because he proceeded to use the Project T.A.H.I.T.I. on him even after Coulson told him that the procedure was dangerous, especially since it was meant to resurrect a fallen Avenger. Fury told Coulson that he brought Coulson back because, in his eyes, Coulson was an Avenger, one of the few people that he trusted and told Coulson that S.H.I.E.L.D.'s goal was founded on the purest of ideas: protection. He then gave Coulson the Toolbox, a device that contained everything Coulson would need to rebuild S.H.I.E.L.D. and appointed him as the new Director.

Once he had told him that how S.H.I.E.L.D. proceeded from here was up to Coulson, Fury then got up and prepared to leave the Bus, telling Coulson that he intended to put his focus on having his feet on the ground rather than having a view of everything like he had as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. When Coulson suggested that he meant he would disappear, Fury laughed and lifted up his sunglasses to reveal his scarred eye, telling Coulson with a smile that he should know him better than that as he would be everywhere, he then turned around he walked away, leaving S.H.I.E.L.D. in the best hands.[31]

Advising the Avengers

"Back in the day, I had eyes everywhere, ears everywhere else. Here we all are, back on earth, with nothing but our wit and our will to save the world. So stand. Outwit the platinum bastard." ―Nick Fury to the Avengers

When Tony Stark inadvertently created an artificial intelligence robot known as Ultron, his creation immediately turned against humanity and declared war with mankind. The Avengers battled Ultron and the Maximoff twins whom Ultron had recruited; however, the battle left almost all the Earth's Mightiest Heroes wounded both physically and mentally.

The team traveled to Clint Barton's Homestead where Fury was waiting. Fury spoke to Stark in private and tried to get his mind back on track after Wanda Maximoff had used her powers to make Stark see visions of a terrible future in which the Avengers had been killed. When Stark claimed that he would be responsible for the deaths of his friends, Fury reminded him that he did not invent the concept of hate and war, but he could fight against them.

Having revealed his survival to the rest of the Avengers, Fury and the team discussed their next move. Natasha Romanoff mocked Stark for his failure to save the world and Fury tried to offer them all the confidence to go into battle again to save the world. Romanoff also commented that she had hoped Fury would have more to offer but he insisted that this team was enough and together they could stand and outwit and defeat Ultron and his army.

Eventually, Bruce Banner worked out that Ultron's next move would be to force Helen Cho to build him a new body out of Vibranium and the Scepter, one that if he was able to use, he would be too powerful to stop, so they got ready to investigate in Seoul. As the team prepared for their next battle with Ultron, Fury spoke to Stark and requested Maria Hill's assistance with the next stage in his plan to help the Avengers, which he accepted without any hesitation.[11]

"Sir, we have multiple bogeys converging on our starboard flank."

"Show them what we got." ―Maria Hill and Nick Fury

Fury had secretly been working with Phil Coulson on a project known as the Theta Protocol, a hidden Helicarrier kept completely off records for emergency use only. With Coulson's[32] and Maria Hill's help, Fury gathered together a team of former S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and took possession of the Helicarrier. While the Avengers continued their battle with Ultron's army, Fury arrived in the Helicarrier and used the Lifeboats to take the civilians to safety; he sent War Machine into the battle to fight the army of Ultron robots.

Midway through the battle, one of the Ultron Sentries crashed onto the bridge of the Helicarrier and attempted to kill the crew inside, going straight for Cameron Klein. Although Maria Hill shot at the robot multiple times, this did not seem to slow the machine down. Fury finally managed to destroy it by stabbing it through the head with a piece of debris. With Fury's help, the Avengers were able to destroy Ultron and save thousands of lives.[11]

New Avengers

"Nothing lasts forever."

"Trouble, Ms. Romanoff. No matter who wins or loses, trouble still comes around." ―Natasha Romanoff and Nick Fury

Fury later arrived at the New Avengers Facility in upstate New York and told Natasha Romanoff the last known location of the Avengers Quinjet, which Hulk had taken at the end of the battle. He suggested that Banner had likely escaped and gone to live in peace. Romanoff asked Fury if he had known she and Banner would get feelings for each other; Fury answered that he had simply hoped for the best and had gotten a great team for them to use.[11]

In the wake of dissolution of the Avengers which had been due to the actions of Helmut Zemo, Fury began operating under a private crew of his own, with hand-selected operatives. He was met by Maria Hill at his safehouse to discuss recent events of that conflict, which included the falling out between Tony Stark and Steve Rogers and the imprisonment of Rogers's entire team at the Raft. Fury would later meet with Rogers to convince him to contact Stark and work things out in the wake of their civil war, although this seemed like an impossible task.[33]

Snap and Blip

Thanos' Victory

"What is it?"

"Multiple bogeys over Wakanda."

"Same energy signature as New York?"

"Ten times bigger." ―Nick Fury and Maria Hill

While he was driving through Atlanta with Maria Hill moments after the Battle of Wakanda had ended and with still no clear idea of what was happening, Fury asked Hill for updates on Tony Stark's location after he had disappeared into a Q-Ship, to which she replied they found nothing despite extensive search around the globe. Hill had then informed Fury of unidentified objects detected over in Wakanda, indicating that something serious was happening there.

Before Fury could then order Hill to notify Cameron Klein where they would meet, a car spiraled out of control right in front of them and crashed, blocking their route. When Hill stepped out of Fury's car to check whether the occupants were injured, she simply noted nobody was in it, unaware that it was all due to the actions of Thanos having just activated the Infinity Gauntlet. The duo began to notice civilians disappearing and a helicopter colliding into a nearby building.

As Fury instructed Hill to call control for a code red, she alerted Fury she was fading away herself, as Fury watched in horror with nothing he could do to save her. Following Hill's death, Fury then raced back to his car and grabbed his pager and sent out an emergency alert to Captain Marvel, mere seconds before his hand vanished, cursing as he corroded into dust. However, Fury was successful in sending the alert to Danvers[34] who arrived on Earth to assist the Avengers.[35]

Five years later, the Avengers ultimately discovered how to reverse the effects of the Snap by traveling to the past and recovering the Infinity Stones. Fury, as well as all other victims, was resurrected. Following the battle against Thanos, Fury attended the funeral of Tony Stark, who sacrificed himself in order to destroy Thanos' army.[35]

As per Stark's wishes, Fury was given a pair of glasses that housed the E.D.I.T.H. artificial tactical intelligence system, and was instructed to bequeath the glasses to Peter Parker on Stark's behalf, having been made aware that Parker was actually Spider-Man. Noticing Parker at the funeral, Fury was going to introduce himself and deliver the glasses, but changed his mind feeling that the time was not right nor appropriate.[6]

Rendezvous with Talos

"Everybody back to work! Who's got my shoes?" ―Nick Fury

After spending some time re-establishing contact with the Skrulls, Fury asked Talos and Soren to impersonate him and Maria Hill on Earth for a while as he took a vacation on the Skrull flagship in space. Fury also gave Talos the E.D.I.T.H. glasses Tony Stark wanted him to deliver to Peter Parker, and informed Talos of Parker's identity as Spider-Man.

Some time later, Fury was contacted by Talos and was informed of Mysterio and how they had been tricked. Realizing that the situation had gotten worse, Fury decided to end his vacation. Turning off his simulation of the beach, Fury told the other Skrulls to get back to work, asking them where his shoes were.[36]

Personality

"When you want to build something, you need a strong foundation. Now, you know how few people I trust, Coulson."

"You can count them on one hand."

"And I'm not afraid to cut off fingers." ―Nick Fury and Phil Coulson

Nick Fury is somewhat of an enigma, but his actions prove him to be bold and pragmatic. It's nearly impossible to read his emotions. He is known to manipulate people and is the bearer of many, classified, global security secrets. Nor does he tell whatever happened to his damaged eye. However, while showing Project Insight to Steve Rogers he gives a backstory saying, he lost an eye the last time he trusted someone, insinuating he doesn't trust easily and he is known to compartmentalize. Ironically, Fury lost sight in his left eye over trusting Goose, and not an enemy.

Fury and his organization, S.H.I.E.L.D., share a cynical outlook. Sometimes, Fury finds that cutthroat actions and clandestine, illegal operations are necessary to protect the world. Fury stated that "the world is filling up with people that can't be matched" and advocates methods for S.H.I.E.L.D. to arm themselves against potential threats, even if it involves creating weapons of mass destruction. Fury himself quotes "that S.H.I.E.L.D. sees the world as it is, not how it likes to be seen"; though Captain America believed that Project Insight was controlling people using fear. Fury's main goal was world safety against alien and human threats, going so far as to create a team of people with extraordinary abilities called the Avengers and secretly planned to use the Tesseract for weapons as a secondary security option. The latter was kept a secret, even from the Avengers.

While his decisions make him appear ruthless and the nature of his profession occasionally requires a moral grey, Fury genuinely cares about human life and didn't see his agents or Avengers as pawns. Phil Coulson was his closest friend and he seems to trust people like Maria Hill and Steve Rogers. However, he did use Coulson's death to motivate the Avengers and used alien biology to bring him back to life, no matter how much Coulson begged to die. In fact, he would often help the Avengers, whether by providing resources or motivating them during turbulent times. When New York was under attack by the Chitauri, the World Security Council insisted on a nuclear strike on New York, but Fury refused to destroy a populated city. He was also seen rescuing people from Sokovia when Ultron uplifted it in the air and intended to use it as a weapon against Earth. In spite of the seriousness of his job, Fury has displayed a knack for dry humor and use of visual puns whilst regarding his eye and his constant global surveillance, often using irony and metaphors due to the combination, i.e. referring to Tony Stark "I've got my eye on you".

Fury is a man of great and indomitable will, but he can feel too, as he was shaken with the death of Coulson and was deeply disturbed at seeing Hill fade away due to the Snap. While visiting Tony Stark at Clint Barton's home, Fury told Stark that he cared very much about him. It is also shown that Fury has a soft spot for cats, as shown by his interactions with Goose. Fury was saddened by Stark's death and paid his respects to a fallen friend by attending his funeral.

One thing about Fury for certain is that he prefers everyone that knows him to only call him by his last name, even his family. This allows him to know instantly if there's a spy or imposter around if they call him Nick or Nicholas. Though if its someone who likes to annoy him, it also allows Fury to confirm their identity.

Abilities

Nick Fury is a natural leader, master strategist, manipulator, orator and has immense charisma. These skills of his are among the best and make him the greatest spy in the world. He has used these talents to great effect in his leadership of S.H.I.E.L.D. for years until he resigned. Phil Coulson has even stated that Nick was always five steps ahead of anyone else. Despite lacking superpowers, these attributes led to Quentin Beck consider him the most dangerous man in the world.

"Captain, he's the spy. His secrets have secrets." ―Tony Stark to Steve Rogers

Master Spy: Fury is highly skilled in espionage, stealth, disguise, and infiltration, capable of breaching high-security facilities without being detected. When he needed intelligence on Bruce Banner, he sat practically unnoticed among restaurant patrons to observe him. Fury also managed to make the majority of those who knew him to think he was dead, including HYDRA and the rest of the world. During his first meeting with Tony Stark, Fury was able to sneak into his mansion without being detected and managed to shut down J.A.R.V.I.S.'s systems.

"He could always see five steps ahead, which, for a one-eyed man, is impressive."

"He knew his enemies."

"And for better or worse, he could think like them." ―Phil Coulson and Skye

Master Tactician : Fury can instantly create strategies and plans several steps ahead of his enemies and allies alike, with Phil Coulson stating that he could see five steps ahead. He is able to elaborate complex strategies and apply them in not just battle, but any other activity as well. Fury has showed foresight by instigating many operations like the Avengers Initiative, Theta Protocol, Phase 2, Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S., Project T.A.H.I.T.I., and Project Insight to counter threats to global security. He was also able to out-think Alexander Pierce when the latter had forgotten to delete the retina scan of Fury's blind eye from the S.H.I.E.L.D. database.

: Fury can instantly create strategies and plans several steps ahead of his enemies and allies alike, with Phil Coulson stating that he could see five steps ahead. He is able to elaborate complex strategies and apply them in not just battle, but any other activity as well. Fury has showed foresight by instigating many operations like the Avengers Initiative, Theta Protocol, Phase 2, Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S., Project T.A.H.I.T.I., and Project Insight to counter threats to global security. He was also able to out-think Alexander Pierce when the latter had forgotten to delete the retina scan of Fury's blind eye from the S.H.I.E.L.D. database. Expert Combatant : Due to his CIA and army training, Fury is highly trained in the field of martial arts. While fighting against Talos, Fury was able to hold his own momentarily before being defeated due to his opponent's enhanced strength as a Skrull. He was also able to take down two brainwashed S.H.I.E.L.D. agents with ease while on the helicarrier.

: Due to his CIA and army training, Fury is highly trained in the field of martial arts. While fighting against Talos, Fury was able to hold his own momentarily before being defeated due to his opponent's enhanced strength as a Skrull. He was also able to take down two brainwashed S.H.I.E.L.D. agents with ease while on the helicarrier. Expert Marksman : Fury is also trained to use U.S. military firearms. He is accomplished in artillery such as a Rocket Launcher to accurately disable an F-35 Lightning from taking off to bombed Manhattan. During the HYDRA assassination attempt on his life, Nick used the built-in Turret of his personal SUV with expert precision, killing multiple HYDRA assassins in quick succession.

: Fury is also trained to use U.S. military firearms. He is accomplished in artillery such as a Rocket Launcher to accurately disable an F-35 Lightning from taking off to bombed Manhattan. During the HYDRA assassination attempt on his life, Nick used the built-in Turret of his personal SUV with expert precision, killing multiple HYDRA assassins in quick succession. Master Pilot: Fury was able to pilot a helicopter onto the helipad at the Triskelion and maneuver it through rubble in order to save Sam Wilson during the Triskelion's destruction.

Equipment

Weapons

Fury has access to an array of S.H.I.E.L.D. weapons, conventional and otherwise. In addition, due to him being the leader of a secret but a covert/military organization, he has access to the most cutting-edge technology S.H.I.E.L.D. has to offer.

Airtronic RPG-7 : A heavy rocket launcher that Fury used to disable a F-35 Lightning II that had received orders to drop a nuclear bomb on Manhattan. Though he successfully shot the rocket launcher and prevented the plane from taking off, another F-35 had been ordered to do the same, and Fury was unable to prevent it.

: A heavy rocket launcher that Fury used to disable a F-35 Lightning II that had received orders to drop a nuclear bomb on Manhattan. Though he successfully shot the rocket launcher and prevented the plane from taking off, another F-35 had been ordered to do the same, and Fury was unable to prevent it. Arnimhilation 99L Assault Weapon : To be added

: Destroyer Armor Prototype Gun: To be added

Other Equipment

"You really think Fury would give away all these goodies? You're talking about the same guy who messed around with Tesseract technology and sparked an alien invasion." ―John Garrett to Grant Ward

S.H.I.E.L.D. Uniform : A uniform made up of Kevlar and a fire-resistant material whose kindling temperature is 1,700 °F (930 °C). The uniform includes numerous S.H.I.E.L.D. paraphernalia such a radio-link tie.

: A uniform made up of Kevlar and a fire-resistant material whose kindling temperature is 1,700 °F (930 °C). The uniform includes numerous S.H.I.E.L.D. paraphernalia such a radio-link tie. Bulletproof Vest: A personal bulletproof vest worn by Fury for protection against projectiles and shrapnel from explosions. His vest protected him getting shot by Clint Barton when he under Loki's control.

This section requires expansion



Tesseract : To be added

: Captain America Card Collection: A vintage card collection of Captain America owned by Phil Coulson. Fury took the cards out of Coulson's locker and smeared them in his blood in order to motivate the Avengers into action against Loki.

"What is it?"

"Toolbox, to help you build it back up." ―Phil Coulson and Nick Fury

Toolbox: A compact digital storage device that holds a collected database of classified S.H.I.E.L.D. files, and additional information. Fury later gave this to Phil Coulson with the purpose of helping him rebuild S.H.I.E.L.D. after an infiltration by HYDRA left the organization fractured.

Mouse Hole : Fury had used a Mouse Hole in order to make his escape from his destroyed vehicle during an assassination attempt by the Winter Soldier, cutting through the overturned roof and disappearing into the sewers before the Winter Soldier could catch up with him.

: Fury had used a Mouse Hole in order to make his escape from his destroyed vehicle during an assassination attempt by the Winter Soldier, cutting through the overturned roof and disappearing into the sewers before the Winter Soldier could catch up with him. Tetrodotoxin B: After nearly being assassinated by the Winter Soldier who had shot him through the chest, Fury used this heart-slowing serum created by Bruce Banner to fake his death, allowing his heart rate to be slowed so far that it appeared he had no heartbeat at all.

This section requires expansion



Vehicles

Facilities

S.H.I.E.L.D. Field Office : Fury visited the S.H.I.E.L.D. Field Office, examining the body of a dead Skrull to the lab following the conflict with the Skrull. Upon the departure of Captain Marvel and the Skrulls, Fury returned to the field office with Goose.

: Fury visited the S.H.I.E.L.D. Field Office, examining the body of a dead Skrull to the lab following the conflict with the Skrull. Upon the departure of Captain Marvel and the Skrulls, Fury returned to the field office with Goose. S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters: Fury served at the S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters as his main base of operations when he was in the state of New York.

Joint Dark Energy Mission Facility : Fury visited the Joint Dark Energy Mission Facility in order to check a spontaneous activation of the Tesseract. During the operation, a portal was opened and Loki spontaneously appeared from it. After Loki killed most of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and controlled Hawkeye, Fury was attacked by Loki's command until he escaped before it got destroyed into the ground.

: Fury visited the Joint Dark Energy Mission Facility in order to check a spontaneous activation of the Tesseract. During the operation, a portal was opened and Loki spontaneously appeared from it. After Loki killed most of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and controlled Hawkeye, Fury was attacked by Loki's command until he escaped before it got destroyed into the ground. Triskelion : Fury visited the Triskelion as the primary headquarters for S.H.I.E.L.D., as it has secrets kept in the agency that he had led, such as Project Insight. During the HYDRA Uprising, Fury escaped the Triskelion as was destroyed by a Helicarrier.

: Fury visited the Triskelion as the primary headquarters for S.H.I.E.L.D., as it has secrets kept in the agency that he had led, such as Project Insight. During the HYDRA Uprising, Fury escaped the Triskelion as was destroyed by a Helicarrier. Guest House: Before the Guest House facility remained officially unaffiliated with S.H.I.E.L.D., Fury commissioned Project T.A.H.I.T.I., with Agent Phil Coulson as the project's overseer, in order to develop a way to save a mortally wounded Avenger.

"Fury's private base on North American soil: I had to see it for myself." ―Glenn Talbot

Providence : Fury used the Providence as one of his secret bases, used as a top secret underground S.H.I.E.L.D. facility.

: Fury used the Providence as one of his secret bases, used as a top secret underground S.H.I.E.L.D. facility. S.H.I.E.L.D. Dam Facility : Being held inside the S.H.I.E.L.D. Dam Facility, Fury recovered from his wounds after an attack. Once Maria Hill took Captain America, Black Widow, and Falcon to the facility, Fury had a talk with them about salvaging what was left of S.H.I.E.L.D. after stopping Project Insight.

: Being held inside the S.H.I.E.L.D. Dam Facility, Fury recovered from his wounds after an attack. Once Maria Hill took Captain America, Black Widow, and Falcon to the facility, Fury had a talk with them about salvaging what was left of S.H.I.E.L.D. after stopping Project Insight. Clint Barton's Homestead: As Tony Stark entered the barn of Clint Barton's Homestead, Fury greeted him and discussed the actions in creating artificial intelligence that can destroy the world. That night of his visit, Fury talked with the Avengers, discussing the Ultron Offensive, and how the Avengers needed to act to achieve victory.

Relationships

Appearances

Trivia

Although most of the characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe are based on their mainstream counterparts, this Nick Fury is modeled after his Ultimate version, who is himself modeled after Samuel L.