Arguably the greatest success of race swapped casting has been the one that allowed a role previously played on screen by David Hasselhoff to be assumed by Samuel L. Jackson. The story with eye-patch wearing superspy and S.H.I.E.L.D. boss Nick Fury is a little bit more complicated than the others on this list, however. While the battle scarred Fury's appearance ever since the 1960s has had him as a rugged white guy with stubble and hair greying at the temples, in 2001 a separate version appeared in Marvel's Ultimates universe. Ultimate Nick Fury is not only an African-American take on the character, but his appearance and style were directly based on Jackson. Given many of the current crop of Marvel film adaptations are based on the Ultimates universe versions, casting Jackson as Fury was kind of a no brainer. Since first appearing in a cameo in Marvel Studio's first film Iron Man, Jackson as Fury has been the franchise's most ubiquitous figure, cropping up in seven movies including the upcoming Age of Ultron and various episodes of TV's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Jackson has become the definitive version of Fury, a good indication of the positive benefits of casting a charismatic actor regardless of race, and the result has been a Jackson-esque Fury appearing in the mainstream Marvel comics continuity as well as the Ultimates. In 2012 Marvel introduced the original Fury's son, Nick Fury Jr., who bears a remarkable resemblance to Jackson and will assume his father's mantle.
