Who Nick Fury is
Fury is the MCU's original connector. He walked into Tony Stark's living room at the end of Iron Man, wearing his eye patch and long coat, and told him he was part of a bigger universe. For the next decade, his job was to gather heroes, keep secrets and lie when he thought he had to. He does not have powers. What he has is nerve, a vast network of contacts and a deep distrust of everyone, including his own bosses.
That distrust has a cost. Fury is rarely the most honest person in the room, and several films are about the people around him deciding whether he is worth trusting.
Every Nick Fury appearance in story order
- Captain America: The First Avenger (2011, film, essential)
- Captain Marvel (2019, film, essential)
- Iron Man (2008, film, essential)
- Iron Man 2 (2010, film, recommended)
- Thor (2011, film, recommended)
- The Avengers (2012, film, essential)
- Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013, series, optional)
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014, film, essential)
- Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015, film, essential)
- Avengers: Infinity War (2018, film, essential)
- Avengers: Endgame (2019, film, essential)
- What If...? (2021, series, optional): an alternate-universe animated appearance
- Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019, film, recommended)
- Secret Invasion (2023, series, optional)
- The Marvels (2023, film, recommended)
Several of these are small. In The First Avenger, Iron Man, Thor and Infinity War he appears at the very end or in a post-credits scene, and his Endgame moment is a brief cameo. His visits to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. are guest spots.
Turning points
Captain Marvel shows Fury before the eye patch, a younger agent with both eyes and a sense of humor, who learns that Earth is not alone. It also explains where the Avengers name came from and how he lost that eye, which is funnier than you might expect.
The Avengers is his big moment as a leader, pulling a team together on a flying aircraft carrier and pushing them to work as one. The Winter Soldier turns the camera on him. The organization he built turns out to be rotten in ways he did not see, and the film shakes his position to the core.
Later titles move him off Earth and into the shadows. Secret Invasion is his first leading role in a series, a slower spy story about the Skrulls, and The Marvels finds him running a space station and working alongside Carol Danvers again.
The people he recruited
Fury's history with Carol Danvers is the first chapter. After that comes Phil Coulson, his most trusted agent, and Black Widow (Natasha Romanoff), who becomes one of his closest allies. He recruits Tony Stark, convinces Steve Rogers to keep fighting in a new century and keeps an eye on Thor long before most people believe in gods.
Samuel L. Jackson as Fury
Jackson gives Fury his authority with almost no effort: one look, one line, and the scene is his. He also lets the dry wit show, which keeps the character from being a stern rule-giver. In Captain Marvel he plays a younger, looser version thanks to digital de-aging. His career outside Marvel is huge, from Jules in Pulp Fiction and the title role in Jackie Brown to Mace Windu in the Star Wars prequels and the voice of Frozone in The Incredibles.
Which order to watch
For Fury's own story, focus on Captain Marvel, The Avengers and The Winter Soldier, then add Age of Ultron and the last two Avengers films. The early cameos are fun but not needed. Secret Invasion is optional and slow, so watch it only if you want more of Fury himself, and keep The Marvels for after it.