Captain Marvel: Nick Fury almost lost his eye in a different way

By Erik Swann | May 21, 2019

Captain Marvel directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck had initially had other ideas for how Nick Fury would lose his eye.

Captain Marvel finally revealed the true circumstances behind ex-SHIELD director Nick Fury losing his eye, and it wasn’t exactly what fans were expecting. Having Goose the Cat (or Flerken) scratch it out was a surprise. But according to directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, this wasn’t always the plan.

While promoting the home media release of Captain Marvel, Fleck explained to Comic Book Movie that there were many ideas for dealing with the loss of Fury’s eye. Their initial plan was to have him lose during a battle with a Skrull. However, this idea gradually became a bit too straightforward:

"“There were definitely a lot of discussions and that was not the first idea on the table. You’re probably going to ask me what some of the other ideas were and I don’t know if I can tell you that, not because I’m hiding anything, but because there were just so many absurd ideas we had. There was a strong contender for a while that a fight with the Skrulls seemed like the most obvious choice but then the more we thought about it, it just became too obvious.”"

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Due to the actual nature of the incident, it seems Fury hasn’t been completely honest about how he lost his eye when he references it in the present. Many may remember him saying that placing his trust in someone is what lost him the eye. Fleck explained that he and Boden liked the idea of Fury having fudged the events just a bit:

"“Since this is just as much Nick Fury’s origin story as Captain Marvel’s, we thought that it would be a fun piece of his backstory that moving forward, he was creative a new narrative for himself that he didn’t really talk about but he was fine with people wanting to muse about a potentially more serious way he could have lost his eye.”"

Boden even added that Fury wouldn’t want to “go around flaunting that he basically got a cat scratch!” This is understandable, and does make sense to Fury’s character. As a tough spy who’s taken part in a slew of battles over his life, he has an image to maintain. And his SHIELD co-workers – and the Avengers – wouldn’t let him live it down if he revealed that he lost his eye to a cat scratch.

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The manner in which Fury lost his eye may have been an epic moment, but it’s hard to deny it was unexpected and creative. It’s also fun to think that the truth could still be discovered in the present day. Carol Danvers could have even revealed it to the Avengers off camera during the events of Endgame, after all.