50 Greatest Super Heroes In Comic Book History

33. Nick Fury

(Write-up by Nick Tylwalk, Bam Smack Pow Editor)

We’re stretching the definition of super hero just a bit for Mr. Fury, but maybe not as much as you think. If there was nothing “super” about Nick, he’d have given up the good fight after his Howling Commandos days. Thanks to the Infinity Formula, he’s been able to keep up his super spy act well into the 21st Century.

That’s a good thing, because it’s hard to envision the Marvel Universe without him. I’m not talking about in combat, though Nick can certainly handle himself there, but as the guy who knows all the answers and has planned for every contingency. When the super heroes can’t figure out what’s going on, or they simply need a place to lie low, it’s Fury who they call.

Recent revelations stemming from Marvel’s Original Sin series suggested that he played an even more active role in safeguarding the Earth than originally suspected, serving as the “man on the wall” to fend off extraterrestrial and interdimensional threats without the world even knowing about them. This expansion of his job to be like James Bond meeting the Men in Black would seem ridiculous for almost anyone else, yet strangely fitting for the man with the eyepatch.

Adding to his high profile, Samuel L. Jackson has made the Marvel Cinematic Universe version of Fury into a household name. He may not fly, shoot lasers out of his eyes or toss cars around — at least not without some high-tech help — but we’d say Nick Fury is plenty super enough for our purposes.

Next: No. 32: Proof that good things can come from hell