Samuel L. Jackson may get his wish to return as Nick Fury in Untitled Avengers if a casting call for the movie is any indication. Fury has been an instrumental character in the expansion of the Marvel Cinematic Universe from day 1, and as three Phases come to a close, many anticipated Fury to be present. However, he has been noticeably absent since helping save Sokovia in Avengers: Age of Ultron. He was left out of Captain America: Civil War and at one point considered for Spider-Man: Homecoming, and only has an appearance in Captain Marvel lined up.

Jackson himself has expressed his surprise about his MCU character's absence of late, having said that Fury won't be in either Black Panther or Avengers 3&4. Based on this casting call however, Fury's may be returning in the fourth Avengers movie after all.

Related: Avengers 4 May Film in Scotland Next Year

AJC has published a new casting call for Avengers 4 - currently filming in Atlanta - and one of the two roles lines up with Fury. Avengers 4 is looking for photo doubles (typically someone with a similar appearance for background work) and for the part of "Man 1," Marvel is looking for a bald African-American male in the 30s to 50s age range that has a goatee. Since Jackson is also a bald African-American male with a goatee, he mainly fits the description, with the lone exception being his 68 years old age.

Screenshot Iron Man 2 Nick Fury

If this is indeed for a photo double for Fury, it at the very least confirms that Fury will be involved in some capacity. How big of a role he would ultimately have is unknown, but if the fate of the universe is at stake and should the super team he assembled be in bad shape, it would be more surprising if he didn't appear.

Since this casting call directly contradicts what Jackson said only a few weeks ago, some may question how plausible this actually is. That said, Marvel is notoriously secretive about their plans and possibly had yet to tell Jackson that he would appear in Avengers 4, to try and maintain the surprise. Even if he did know, though, Jackson may have been instructed to say he's not in Avengers 4, as to not spoil anything. It's perhaps more likely that Marvel was just keeping Jackson in the dark and have made their plans clear to him now, giving him about a month to prepare for his return to the MCU.

NEXT: Hawkeye May Become Ronin in Avengers 4

Source: AJC

Key Release Dates