Nick Fury: Back In Black?

Back in July I posted Nick Fury: A Portrait in Black and White, about how the character's appearance varies widely from one Marvel Comics project to the next. For example, the character designs above are both for animated versions of Nick Fury. The one on the left is from "X-Men: Evolution," the one on the right, from the upcoming "Ultimate Avengers" DVD.

Of course, comics fans have no trouble telling these two apart. The original Nick Fury, who debuted back in 1963, has (unlike The Punisher) always been white, while "Ultimate Nick Fury," from the Ultimate Marvel Universe, has always been black (no matter how much I've worked to blur the line between the two on the SHAFT website). That's fine as far as it goes. It doesn't really get interesting until Fury starts appearing in other licensed products and Marvel demonstrates that it is not the least bit concerned about "brand consistency." Fury seems to switch back and forth between Caucasian and African-American every time a new video game, cartoon, or movie is released.

In 2005 alone, Fury made cameo appearances in 3 different video games: The Punisher, Fantastic Four, and Ultimate Spider-Man. He's white in the Punisher one, which is set in the "normal" or "616" (don't ask) Marvel Universe, and black in the Spider-Man one, set in the Ultimate Universe. But why does the black Ultimate Nick Fury character appear in the Fantastic Four game, which was based on this summer's movie, which was clearly not based on the Ultimate Fantastic Four? His ethnicity seems to flip-flop at random.

Which brings me to the movies (and the point of today's post). David Hasselfhoff was cast as Nick Fury back in the '90s. Samuel L. Jackson was in talks to play him in 2003, then this summer it was announced that Marvel wanted Bruce Willis to star. And now, according to Comic Book Movie, Will Smith is up for the role.

If Captain America is the living symbol of freedom, his pal Nick Fury must be the living symbol of racial diversity.