Sam Jackson Is Less Nick Fury, More Just Furious

As an Ultimates fan, no moment got me flailing my hands about like an excited little girl in 2008 more than Sam Jackson showing up at the end of Iron Man as Nick Fury. It was a lot more than a cameo to me–my nerdy brain decided it also meant that Marvel had a glorious plan for my cinematic future, that they had a plan in place for each of their non-Spidey/X-Men characters, that Avengers was on the way, and it would likely be based somewhat on The Ultimates, still one of the most enjoyable superhero comics I’ve ever read. It meant a lot to me, obviously.

But now Sam Jackson says he’s not sure he’ll be playing Fury, and I am weeping like a very sad little girl. From the LA Times:

Samuel L. Jackson, clearly bristling, said today that negotiations to put him in the role of Nick Fury have broken down because “there seems to be an economic crisis in the Marvel Comics world.”
…
“I saw [‘Iron Man’ and ‘Iron Man 2’ director] Jon Favreau at the Scream Awards
and we had a conversation. He said, ‘I hope things are working out for
you because we’re writing stuff for you.’ Then all of a sudden last
week I talked to my agents and manager and things aren’t really working that well.”

Jackson might just have been taking a public position that could
lead to a bigger payday (it certainly wouldn’t be the first time a
Hollywood star used an interview as a negotiating tactic) but he seemed
especially sour on the whole the topic of working with Marvel …

“There
was a huge kind of negotiation that broke down. I don’t know. Maybe I
won’t be Nick Fury. Maybe somebody else will be Nick Fury or maybe Nick
Fury won’t be in it. There seems to be an economic crisis in the Marvel
Comics world so [they’re saying to me], ‘We’re not making that deal.'”

I called Marvel Comics and they gave me a statement that suggested
that they still want to see Jackson wearing the eyepatch. “Marvel does
not comment on active negotiations,” was the boilerplate
repsonse, but there was that emphasis on the word “active” in the voice
of the spokesman who phoned me back. 

FUCK ME. Marvel, I haven’t asked a lot of you, but MAKE THIS FUCKING HAPPEN. You’re the guys who put in Jackson as Fury at the end of Iron Man, so you can’t drop him now! PONY UP, YOU BASTARDS