Since Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) introduced Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) — and the world — to "The Avenger Initiative" at the end of 2008's Iron Man, S.H.I.E.L.D., the fictional peacekeeping task force, has been the binding agent that tied every Marvel movie together.

But by the end of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, S.H.I.E.L.D. has been destroyed, both from the inside (thanks to the emergence of HYDRA sleeper agents) and the outside (thanks to those careening Helicrafts).

"Marvel is getting crazier and more inventive with each film," star Chris Evans told BuzzFeed last month at the film's Los Angeles press junket. "But, 'In Marvel We Trust,' so when I was told this movie was the end of S.H.I.E.L.D., I knew it was going to be the beginning of something even more amazing."

Marvel's well-documented shroud of secrecy prevented Evans, Samuel L. Jackson, and Anthony Mackie from detailing the long-term ramifications for the franchise, but all three actors spoke candidly about the immediate implications.

"Nick is retreating back to the shadow world," Jackson said of his character, who is presumed dead by the world at large at the end of The Winter Soldier. "It's this place that he and Natasha [Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow] refer to a lot, and it makes him a much more interesting character who won't be instantly recognizable because of that." Also helping to aid Fury's anonymity will be the lack of his iconic eyepatch, which he burned at the end of Winter Soldier and replaced with a pair of sunglasses Jackson personally picked out.

"We looked at a lot of glasses, and went with those because they were a specific color that blended into my skin tone," he told BuzzFeed. "It was most important they not be immediately recognizable as sunglasses because we didn't want it to look like he was trying to hide. We wanted it to look like this was simply a style choice to the outside world."

Jackson also cites the first of Winter Solder's post-credits sequences (there are two in total) — introducing Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), mutant twins who factor heavily into Age of Ultron — as evidence his character will remain in hiding for much of Joss Whedon's The Avengers sequel, due in theaters in May 2015.