20 Fails That Nearly Killed The Marvel Film Universe

14. Nick Fury Was Almost Recast Or Cut From The MCU Entirely

There's one inarguable constant in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and that's Samuel L. Jackson, who is signed up to a juicy nine-film deal with Marvel, three of which remain to be fulfilled (one being Avengers: Age of Ultron, the other two being unknown). However, Jackson's role in the MCU was in doubt in early 2009, as the actor reportedly felt that the notoriously frugal Marvel were low-balling him on the original deal. It all got sorted out in the end, though Jackson candidly said that at the time that it was entirely possible for the part to either be recast or elided from the franchise entirely. Why It Would've Ruined The MCU: For starters, Jackson is the artistic basis for the contemporary comic book Nick Fury, so it's a role he was born to play, and even the most talented actor recast in the part would have likely been rejected by most audiences. And as for excluding Fury entirely from the MCU? That's an arguably even worse idea: he's the soul, the lynchpin of the series, helping tie everything together. One suspects that had this happened, Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg) would likely have taken over Fury's responsibilities, and though this could've worked, we love Fury because of his attitude and the fact that he functions well as both a strategist and a kick-a** action hero, which just isn't true of Coulson.