Nick Fury, Jr.

Nicholas Joseph "Nick" Fury, Jr. (originally known as Marcus Johnson) is a fictional comic book character appearing in books published by Marvel Comics. He is one of an unknown number of sons of Nick Fury, a former Army hero, super-spy, and later director of the intelligence agency S.H.I.E.L.D.^[1]

Publication history

Marcus Johnson was introduced in the mini-series Battle Scars. He bears a strong resemblance to the Ultimate Marvel version of Nick Fury and the Marvel Cinematic Universe incarnation of Fury as portrayed by Samuel L. Jackson.^[2] The appearance of the Ultimate Universe version of Nick Fury was based on that of Samuel L. Jackson, who then portrayed him in the films.^[3]

Nick Fury, Jr. appears in the 2013 Secret Avengers series by Nick Spencer and Luke Ross.^[4]

Fictional character biography

While serving in the Middle East, Marcus Johnson receives word that his mother Nia Jones has been murdered back in the United States. He returns home and is attacked by the Russian hitmen who killed her, and by Taskmaster, but is saved by Captain America. S.H.I.E.L.D. agents arrive and take him to a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility for medical treatment. After failing to get answers as to why he was targeted and his mother killed, Johnson comes to feel he is being held there against his will and escapes.^[5]

While searching for Taskmaster, Marcus is attacked by Deadpool, who is also after Marcus. As they fight, Taskmaster arrived and dispatches Deadpool, but Marcus himself defeats Taskmaster. Johnson is felled, however, by the Serpent Squad. When Deadpool again intervenes, Johnson escapes with Taskmaster as his prisoner, and later interrogates him. Before he can obtain any information, a masked man stuns Taskmaster, drains Johnson's energy for a moment, and escapes. Johnson catches up with the man, who is revealed to be Johnson's father, Nick Fury.^[6]

While arguing and eventually coming to blows over the revelation, Fury and Johnson are captured by mercenaries who bring them to Orion (who was a former member of the organization Leviathan). Orion has Johnson's left eye cut out and confirms that Johnson has the Infinity Formula in his DNA. Fury escapes his restraints and gives Johnson enough time to escape, but Fury is captured and his blood transfused to Orion, so that Orion's youth can be restored. The transfusion drains Fury of the remaining Infinity Formula in his system, and he is then tortured and mind-probed by Orion's telepath, who acquires all of Fury's S.H.I.E.L.D. secrets and fail-safes.^[1]

Johnson saves Fury with the help of S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Phil Coulson and later kills Orion. After convalescing, Johnson is given the Super Soldier uniform that Steve Rogers once wore. As a new agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., Johnson is also informed that his birth name is "Nicholas Fury, Jr.".^[7]

Fury, Jr. and Phil Coulson make a cameo appearance in Scarlet Spider #5,^[8] and are part of the framing sequence in Marvel NOW! Point One.^[9]

In a 2013 storyline as part of the Marvel NOW! branding, Nick Fury, Jr., Coulson, and Maria Hill form the S.H.I.E.L.D. version of the Secret Avengers with Hawkeye and Black Widow. Fury Jr. is involved in the first mission that involved fighting a group of al-Qaeda terrorists.^[10] Fury, Jr. then joins the Secret Avengers to raid Bagalia in order to recruit Taskmaster. While the Secret Avengers are fighting the Masters of Evil, Fury, Jr. manages to pay off Crossfire to let Taskmaster out of his imprisonment.^[11]

During the AXIS storyline, Nick Fury, Jr. was with S.H.I.E.L.D. when the organization has gathered Captain America to discuss what was going to be of the Red Skull, now that the Stark Sentinels had been dismantled and the concentration camps torn down. Nick Fury, Jr. tried to convince Sam Wilson to hand him over. But under the influence of the inversion spell, Wilson was violent and punched him before leaving.^[12]

Powers and abilities

Initially, Marcus appears to have no superhuman qualities but his peak physical conditioning from his time with the US Army Rangers. Marcus inherited his father's Infinity Formula at birth, slowing his age and speeding his healing time.

Reception

The reaction by comic book fans to the revelation of Johnson being Fury's son and his replacing his father has been mixed.^[2][13][14] Marvel's Vice President of publishing, Tom Brevoort, believes this is a prudent move by Marvel because the African American incarnation appears in films, animated shows, and other licensed adaptations.^[15]

References

External links

• Marcus Johnson at Marvel Wiki