When Samuel L. Jackson first agreed to don the famous eye-patch and take on the role of Director Nick Fury for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the contract originally stipulated that he would be with the franchise for nine films. It may seem like not a lot of time has passed since his first post-credits cameo in the original Iron Man, but Jackson's time with Marvel may soon be coming to a close.
"I just know that the Marvel Universe is there, that there are things going on, and that I have three pictures left on my nine-picture deal. That's all I know," the actor said in a recent interview with Fandango when asked about his future with Marvel Studios. To date, Nick Fury has appeared in Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America: The first Avenger, The Avengers and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. For those wondering, The Hollywood Reporter says Jackson's recent cameo on the television series Marvel's Agents of SHIELD, did not count toward his cameo appearances and the actor seemed to be willing to do it either as a favor for Joss Whedon or simply for fun.
"I've done six [Marvel movies], and I'm about to do [number] seven [Marvel's The Avengers: Age of Ultron]," says Jackson, "so I'm running out of Marvel pictures -- unless they extend my contract."
Perhaps we're reading too much into this last statement, but Jackson's use of the word "they" rather than "I" implies that he would be on board for more films as the character of Fury were he to be offered an extension on his contract. When asked, the actor responded saying "Why wouldn't I?"
Fury likely won't be in the upcoming Marvel film "Guardians of the Galaxy," since it is supposed to take place well into the future after, presumably, Fury and the rest of the Avengers characters are dead. He could make a brief cameo in Edgar Wright's Ant-Man. No matter which way you slice it Marvel is running out of time with Director Nick Fury and will need to either make a move toward writing his character out of the franchise or renewing his contract and, it needs to make that move in the very near future.
