Fury, Confused

I had planned on continuing my rant about hijacked superheroes with my views about Nick Fury. The more I researched though, the more I started to realize how funny and ridiculous this really is.

I don't mean Nick is ridiculous, far from it. Nick Fury holds a special place in my heart. He embodies all that was "cool" and manly from the 60's. He is a stud, tough as nails. There is just something legendary about the character and the way he was drawn. Iconic. No superpowers, he's a hero from our "Greatest Generation" is the embodiment of a decade. There are so many things wrapped up in the original Nick Fury, that I feel a connection.

Skipping all the detail, original Fury is like my grandpa's friends that I grew up around. WWII vets, a little older and grizzled, tough as nails and able to endure any kind of hardship. Add to that the 60's feel of what it meant to be a "man", straight out of the James Bond stereotypes. Fury though was a little more underground, more of the cloak and dagger, not so much of the chick magnet. The way Steranko drew him was not only representative of the character, but an art movement. Check it out.

He wasn't so much superhero as much as super spy. He had a rather believable backstory that felt "right". The new generation Nick Fury is completely different. He's not clean, he's a bastard child, seriously. In order to fit Samuel L Jackson into the mold, they had to create an entire nutty story to explain his existence. Nick Fury Jr. is the result of 60's Fury hanging out at the Playboy Club too often. A forgotten love child. Such a sad end to such a black and white (forget the pun) character. Now, it's a given that Samuel Jackson is tough, and therefore lends his bad assery to the new Fury, but tough in a completely different way. He's gangster tough. Street tough. He's smooth, he's a trash talker. It's a different generational take on the original character. If Original Fury is the 60s, Jackson Fury creeps out of the 70s.

This picture locks it. The leather and turtleneck, he reminded me of something, someone. I never lived in the city, but I imagine this is what street tuffs from NY City looked like in the 70s. With that thought in mind, I scoured my brain for what was bugging me.

Then I found it. The music in my head, the slang one liners, honkey. John Shaft!!! This is him! It's such a rip off. Just take away the eye patch and add a little afro. The Avengers are led by Shaft, who once said, " When you lead your revolution, whitey better be standing still because you don't run worth a damn no more." In fact, SamJ played Shaft in the 200 remake.

After seeing this, there is no believability to the "new" Fury. It just doesn't fit. It's not the same character. They are two different beings. While I am loyal to the original, I do love Samuel L Jackson, his lines in Pulp Fiction are some of the greatest. I had been a little upset by his appearance in the Avengers, until I started thinking, "Who would play the original Nick Fury? The white one?" Well, all it took was a little more research. My personal choice would be Kurt Russel, of the Snake variety. I think he is perfect, maybe missing a touch of Clint Eastwood. But I did find this little gem. Apparently a movie has already been made, and gladly, I missed it. This image ended the debate. Nick Fury should stay on the pages of comic books, there is no real life representation possible.

Yup, that's Knight Rider Baywatch Drunk Hasselhoff as Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD. Blasphemy.