MCU: 10 Fascinating Facts About Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

9. Nick Fury's Anecdote Had Real Life Origins

As Nick Fury introduces Captain America to the next generation of S.H.I.E.L.D. hellicarriers - aka Project Insight - he recalls a story involving his grandfather.

Emphasising the ostensible need for pre-emptive military capabilities, something Rogers decries as "fear... not freedom", Fury mentions how his old relative worked as an elevator operator at an unnamed hotel. On his way home, his grandfather would often get trouble from violent troublemakers, which prompted him to start carrying a handgun. It fails to convince Rogers that Project Insight is more pragmatic than, say, proto-fascist, but part of the story actually has real life origins.

Although Samuel L. Jackson's real-life grandfather didn't carry a gun, he did in fact work as an elevator operator in a hotel.

Coincidence? Perhaps - although Jackson had gone on record as early as 2013 regarding his grandfather's profession, so there's a good chance the detail may have been added in during filming.