Nick Fury Should Be Spider-Man: Far From Home's MCU Cameo

Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury should join the cast of Spider-Man: Far From Home, with the veteran S.H.I.E.L.D. agent becoming Spider-Man's mentor. After three years of absence from the MCU, Nick Fury finally returned in the post-credits scene of Avengers: Infinity War, and next year's Captain Marvel will focus on his early career. But that should only be the beginning for a major role for the classic Marvel actor.

Taking to Instagram last week, Jackson shared a humorous image that suggested he was currently filming scenes related to the MCU. That led several sites to report the possibility that Jackson will appear in Spider-Man: Far From Home - the post was geotagged for Watford, England, just a short drive away from where the Spider-Man film is currently shooting. In reality, this is quite flimsy evidence; it's entirely possible Marvel took advantage of his proximity to some of their shooting to film additional photography for Avengers 4.

Whatever the truth may be, back in June last year we learned that there will be a major MCU cameo in Spider-Man: Far From Home. So far, two Marvel figures have been ruled out; Robert Downey Jr., whose major role in Spider-Man: Homecoming was a "one-and-done," and Doctor Strange. So it is distinctly possible that Fury will return.

This Page: The Future of Nick Fury In The MCU
Page 2: Why Fury Is Perfect For Spider-Man: Far From Home

What is Nick Fury's Role in the MCU Going Forward?

Nick Fury stands next to Captain America and Iron Man.

S.H.I.E.L.D. fell in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, with Nick Fury bowing out as director. He returned the next year in Avengers: Age of Ultron, but in something of an odd position, where he was clearly working alongside other veteran S.H.I.E.L.D. agents as part of something new. At the climactic end of the film, Fury even emerged in command of a S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, which he used to evacuate the doomed Sokovian capital city. Everything was left deliberately ambiguous, though, with the only indicator being a throwaway remark from Steve Rogers that "this is what S.H.I.E.L.D.'s supposed to be."

Avengers: Infinity War's post-credits scene reintroduced Nick Fury and Maria Hill as field agents for an unknown organization. Fury didn't appear to be in charge (he referred to "Control"), but their interests certainly aligned with his. They even had satellites monitoring former S.H.I.E.L.D. hotspots like Wakanda. Some have theorized that this is a resurgent S.H.I.E.L.D., but there's been no hint of that in either the movies or ABC's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. It's more likely that Marvel Studios is planning to do something new, with Fury a high-level field agent for an organization who could well be important to the future of the MCU.

While the scene's main focus was the fact that Fury sends out a Mayday for Captain Marvel, it drops enough tantalizing hints to suggest that something exciting is taking shape in the background of the MCU - a new organization, one that could work the heroes and fight against the villains. And Nick Fury seems to be on the front lines.

Page 2 of 2: Why Fury Is Perfect For Spider-Man: Far From Home

Nick Fury Has Been Peter Parker's Mentor Before

In the comics, Peter's parents were secretly agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. That was particularly prominent in the Ultimate universe, a relaunch in the early 2000s that has served as a major source of inspiration for the Marvel movies. In the Ultimate universe, that allowed Marvel to establish a close bond between Nick Fury and Spider-Man. Fury had known Peter's parents and had always wanted to do right by their child. When he deduced that Peter Parker was Spider-Man, Fury was thrilled, and he worked alongside the wall-crawler many times. Fury believed that Spider-Man could be one of the greatest heroes of all, and was grooming him to become a member of the Ultimates (the Ultimate universe equivalent of the Avengers).

Naturally, Fury's secretive nature often meant the relationship between the two was a strained one. At one point, the S.H.I.E.L.D. boss even began considering Peter to be a threat and had S.H.I.E.L.D. work on a way to depower the web-slinger. At the end of the day, though, the two were bound together by bonds of mutual respect and admiration. They were more than just mentor and student; they were friends. That dynamic has been carefully reproduced in several of Marvel's animated series, most notably the current ongoing Spider-Man series.

According to Kevin Feige, Marvel is working on a five-film arc for Spider-Man in the MCU. That arc seems to center in on his relationship with Tony Stark, who's become both a mentor and father figure for Tom Holland's Spider-Man. Sadly, it's set to come to a tragic end in next year's Avengers 4, with Downey's Marvel contract believed to be coming to an end. Most viewers are expecting Tony Stark to pay the ultimate price in order to defeat Thanos and either undo or avert the "snap." That will leave a gaping, Stark-sized hole in Peter's life. It's one that Nick Fury could potentially come to fill.

This May Explain Spider-Man: Far From Home's Globe-Trotting Plot

This idea actually fits remarkably well with the little we know of Spider-Man: Far From Home. The film will see Peter Parker and several of his friends go on what Feige has called a "summer vacation" to London, but it's also confirmed to be a "global adventure" that will see the wall-crawler travel around Europe. That's seemed more than a little strange; how will Peter afford to travel across the globe? Won't his friends work out that something strange is going on if Spider-Man keeps turning up in every place they visit? And how big a coincidence will it be if Peter's itinerary happens to follow Mysterio around the European continent, perfectly positioning Spider-Man to get in the villain's way?

If Peter is working with Nick Fury, though, the situation changes quite dramatically. Fury's mysterious organization would presumably be allied with Spider-Man against Mysterio, meaning Peter would have considerable resources to draw upon. They could bankroll aspects of Peter's trip, ensuring he can get from one potential hotspot to the next, funding his trip as he strives to defeat Mysterio. If Peter feigned illness to his friends, he could safely retire to his bedroom and slip out the window in costume, joining up with Fury to be flown across Europe to the site of Mysterio's latest activities.

There's comic book precedent for this kind of globe-trotting adventure. One of writer Dan Slott's most beloved arcs was To The Ends of the Earth, which basically saw Spider-Man embrace life as a James-Bond-esque superhero, with Doctor Octopus launching an insane plan that seemed to be lifted straight from GoldenEye. Integrating Nick Fury into the plot would allow Marvel to reproduce some of the core ideas from To The Ends of the Earth on the big screen.

Right now, we still don't know who the major MCU cameo in Spider-Man: Far From Home will be. That one post on social media is flimsy evidence, but it does raise the exciting possibility that Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury could actually cameo in the film. If he does, it would set Fury up for a major role in the MCU's Phase 4, as the ex-S.H.I.E.L.D. director becomes a front-line agent in the war against evil.