Marvel Studios
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It’s still fun to think that Samuel L. Jackson’s cameo in the end credits for Jon Favreau’s 2008 movie “Iron Man” — in which he played the eyepatch-wearing superhero wrangler Nick Fury — wasn’t meant to set up the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Favreau has previously indicated that “Iron Man” was not designed with any sequels in mind, stating that the credits stinger in which Fury informed Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) about the Avengers Initiative was meant to be a little wink to Marvel Comics fans. Wouldn’t it be neat if the Avengers teamed up? At that time, it was still only academic. It wasn’t until Disney bought Marvel in 2009 that plans for the MCU were earnestly put in motion. In that respect, Favreau’s 2010 follow-up, “Iron Man 2,” was the first true MCU film.
Jackson’s version of Nick Fury, of course, quickly became lodged in the popular consciousness, and the character has since appeared in several additional MCU feature films, along with the streaming series “Secret Invasion.” It was Fury who moved to unite the many heroes of the MCU, arranging them into a freelance military force. He was key to the property, and Jackson has played the part well. Notably, the MCU’s iteration of the character was also modeled after the Nick Fury featured in Marvel Comic’s Ultimates Universe, a unique line of comics that rebooted the company’s most famous characters in a new timeline.
Prior to Jackson’s casting as Fury, however, it seems that George Clooney was in talks to play the role. According to a 2015 report from Business Insider, Clooney turned down the offer after discovering (and being put off by) an ultra-gory Nick Fury comic written by Garth Ennis and partially illustrated by Darick Robertson, the creators of the ultra-gory “The Boys” comics.
George Clooney turned down the role of Nick Fury after finding some ultra-gory Marvel comics
Searchlight Pictures
Clooney, it seems, began to do some research on Nick Fury while he was in talks to play the character. Fury is an individual with a long and storied comic book history, stretching all the way back to his introduction in 1963. Although initially a hard-bitten, trench fighting American soldier in Marvel’s comics, he was re-envisioned as a CIA super-spy a few months after his debut. But it was another, much more recent Nick Fury story at the time that apparently turned Clooney’s stomach a little.
In the comic book series simply titled “Fury,” which was published across six issues from 2001 to 2002, there was a moment where Nick Fury strangled one of his enemies to death with his own entrails. As mentioned, the “Fury” comic miniseries hailed from Ennis and Robertson, who would go on to create the controversial superhero comic “The Boys” a few years later. “Fury” was published under Marvel’s “Max” imprint, you see, which allowed for edgier and more violent stories that were most assuredly not appropriate for little kids. Evidently, in addition to gutting and choking a soldier with his own guts, the title unleashes a string of f-bombs throughout Ennis and Robertson’s story.
This turn of events involving Clooney was also covered in Sean Howe’s 2013 book “Marvel Comics: The Untold Story: The Behind-the-Scenes Company History of Martin Goodman, Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and a Dominant American Force.” Notably, it’s unclear if Clooney was the concerned party or if his publicist merely pointed out that playing a comic book character with those violent actions in his past was unwise. Either way, Clooney was out.
What Garth Ennis thought of the Clooney kerfuffle
Marvel Studios
Luckily, “The Ultimates” debuted in 2002, launching the parallel Marvel Universe wherein Nick Fury looked and acted a lot more like Samuel L. Jackson. And when Jackson agreed to play Fury in “Iron Man,” everything fell into place.
In a 2024 episode of the “Comic Book Herald” video podcast series, Ennis was told about the Clooney kerfuffle and how his ultra-violent take on Nick Fury scared off one of Hollywood’s biggest stars. It was actually Ennis who theorized that it was Clooney’s publicist and not the actor himself who had raised concerns, stating:
“I did hear that, and I’d be fascinated to learn if it was true. I don’t know a lot about George Clooney. He seems to have an excellent sense of humor, if nothing else. If it’s true that he decided against playing Nick Fury on the basis of that ‘Fury’ book that I did (which is still one of my favorites, by the way) […] I would find that highly amusing. But I also wonder if it might have been more that perhaps someone said to him — some advisor or another — ‘You don’t wanna go near this.'”
Ennis also knew that if Nick Fury was to be included in a mainstream studio picture in 2008, Marvel Studios 100% would not have made the character behave the way Ennis wrote him. Thus, he reasoned, it’s churlish to think that Clooney would turn the role down based on one ultra-violent comic story. Whatever the case, “The Boys” was eventually adapted into a successful TV series, while Jackson went on to play Fury in several of the highest-grossing Marvel movies (and movies in general) of all time. It all worked out in the end.