Loving it, hating it, or following it by inertia, no one can deny the Marvel Cinematic Universe is currently one of Hollywood’s biggest money-making machines. So far, Marvel Studios’ ambitious storytelling project includes an astonishing 47 movies, TV shows, and specials, with dozens more to come in the next few years. Of course, a franchise that big needs hundreds of well-known stars attached to play the roles of main heroes and villains. In addition, each MCU production also has a fair share of cameos from Stan Lee to pop singers. However, long before watching an MCU movie or TV show became an exercise in spotting cameos, Iron Man brought Samuel L. Jackson for a short post-credit scene that would forever change superhero live-action adaptations. And while there are many exciting cameos in Marvel Studios’ history, none has been so fundamental for the MCU as Jackson’s appearance.
Samuel L. Jackson's MCU Cameo Was a Leap of Faith
By the time Iron Man came to theaters, Marvel was on the verge of bankruptcy. After many years of struggling with debt — which would eventually lead the House of Ideas to sell many precious characters to Sony, Fox, and Universal — Marvel decided to invest big in Iron Man, the last chance for the company to retain its assets. It’s fair to say Iron Man was an all-or-nothing project, which helps to explain why Marvel Studios put so much love into every aspect of the project. Everything in Iron Man fits like a glove, from costume design to special effects, passing through scriptwriting and casting. Unsurprisingly, Iron Man scored big at the box office, allowing Marvel Studios to pursue their MCU dream. And fifteen years later, Iron Man remains one of the best movies Marvel Studios has ever released. With so much at stake, it’s impressive that Marvel Studios took so many risks with Iron Man. And that also extends to Jackson’s cameo and the MCU’s first post-credit scene.
While Robert Downey Jr. is a Hollywood big shot nowadays, he went through a career slope before the MCU. Jackson, on the other hand, has always been one of the most recognizable faces in the game. So, bringing Jackson to play Nick Fury in a comic book adaptation that was doing the impossible to beat the odds goes against every business instinct we might have — and keeping Jackson's appearance a secret sounds even more insane. We can only imagine the amount of work Kevin Feige and other MCU producers had to do to convince Disney to keep Jackson’s cameo a secret. So, it’s easy to understand why that post-credit scene was shot at the last minute.
As we recently discovered, comic book writer Brian Michael Bendis was called the day before Jackson got on the set and asked to write as many dialogue options as possible for a Nick Fury cameo. Bendis “stayed up all night” to workshop possibilities, knowing what that scene could represent. And in the end, the choice to make a connection between Iron Man and the Avengers would define the rules of the MCU.
The MCU’s Best Cameo Defined the Franchise
We are excited with every new cameo the MCU brings for post-credit scenes or wacky one-liners. And if we are being honest, some cameos are the highlight of many MCU projects. Still, nothing will ever come close to the adrenaline rush we comic book nerds felt when Jackson showed up in Tony Stark’s living room, looking exactly like the Ultimate version of Nick Fury. And when Fury tells Stark he’s part of a bigger universe and they should discuss something called Avengers Initiative, it truly felt like our dreams had come true.
Of course, we nerds were a minority of the people going to theaters to watch Iron Man. Most of the early MCU audience didn’t read comic books, had never heard of Iron Man, and couldn’t care less about the Avengers. And that’s all fine since time is limited, and we all must choose what we’ll obsess about. However, this also means the Jackson cameo in Iron Man kickstarted a longstanding MCU tradition: adding obscure comic book references and Easter eggs that people will try to understand by using forums, calling friends, or scouring entertainment news sites.
While only a fraction of Iron Man’s viewers recognized Nick Fury and knew the importance of that Avengers nod, everyone was crazy about it in the weeks after the movie’s release. That’s because people quickly realized a massive team-up was being built in the background, even if that wasn’t exactly true at the time since Marvel Studios wasn’t sure if Iron Man would be a success. Nevertheless, after Iron Man, Marvel Studios had millions of fans anxiously waiting for the next piece of the puzzle to be revealed. We could even say that that post-credit scene became a kind of unspoken contract between Marvel Studios and the fans, as there was no way to back out of the idea of a big cinematic crossover.
Jackson’s cameo was a promise, and that promise probably helped Marvel Studios and Disney to hold the lines when things got rough with The Incredible Hulk, or when Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger failed to bring the same money as Iron Man. And yet, the risk was well worth it, as The Avengers flew over the one billion mark at the box office.
It’s impossible to imagine the MCU without Jackson’s Nick Fury. So far, Jackson reprised his role in eleven movies and is also set to be a key character of The Marvels. On the TV front, Jackson helped give Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. the MCU connectivity it needed before the show learned to run on its own two legs. In addition, the character is part of four What If…? episodes, proving Nick Fury’s story is intertwined with the MCU’s most significant events.
Jackson’s Fury is even getting his own show with the upcoming Secret Invasion. And this beautiful journey began with a last-minute cameo no one really knew where it would take us. For those reasons, there’s not really a discussion here. Jackson’s appearance as Nick Fury is the best MCU cameo ever.
Iron Man is available on Disney+. Secret Invasion premieres on June 21, exclusively on Disney+.