Was Nick Fury Actually Supposed to Die for Real in ‘The Winter Soldier’?

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is filled with incredible characters and fantastic storylines, although they don’t always follow the comics exactly. This is completely understandable, because they are trying to create something unique and surprising for the fans. Sometimes the changes work, and sometimes they don’t.

One thing is for sure: the fans don’t love it when the MCU pulls the same fake deaths over and over again.

It loses the element of surprise, and becomes really repetitive. Nick Fury is one of those characters that, at this point, we probably won’t ever believe to be truly dead. 

Nick Fury is a huge part of the MCU

Nick Fury is one of the few characters–aside from Iron Man–who have been around since the first MCU film. Fans caught their first glimpse of Samuel L. Jackson portraying Nick Fury in the post-credits scene in Iron Man. Since then, Fury has made appearances in ten more films. 

The super spy was responsible for forming The Avengers and once was the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. The former C.I.A. operative got his start in the United States Army. He dedicated his life to protecting the world from the greatest villains, and he continued that job after joining S.H.I.E.L.D. 

Once he was appointed as the head of S.H.I.E.L.D., he focused his efforts on recruiting the world’s greatest heroes to assist him in fighting against extraterrestrial threats. He was convinced of this threat after encountering the Kree and Skrulls, but had difficulty convincing others that his concerns were warranted.

He was eventually successful in recruiting Iron Man and Captain America, and called The Avengers into action against Loki’s invasion.

Nick Fury’s death in the ‘Winter Soldier’

After the events at the end of The Avengers, Captain America becomes a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, working closely with Fury. During Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Fury is involved in Project Insight. Project Insight plans to launch helicarriers that will connect with satellites and be used to neutralize hostile enemies. He soon discovers that the project is suspicious, and requests that it be delayed. 

After discovering that HYDRA was involved in Project Insight, Fury attempted to meet with Maria Hill. He was attacked by HYDRA agents pretending to be Washington D.C. police officers. Fury escaped his overturned SUV after a disc grenade from the Winter Soldier blew it up. He went to Steve Roger’s apartment, only to be shot through the wall by the Winter Soldier.

Later, the team is taken to a secret facility where they learn that Fury didn’t die. He faked his death using a serum from Bruce Banner that made it appear as if he had no heartbeat. 

How many other times has Nick Fury ‘died’?

When The Winter Soldier hit theaters, many fans expected the MCU to really kill Nick Fury, leaving Maria Hill to take his place. The popular fan theory was that he would die, then the character would be brought in as a Life Model Decoy–LMDs are androids designed by S.H.I.E.L.D. to exactly replicate a human. 

The MCU threw everyone for a loop, however, when they revealed that Fury was alive. Although this was surprising during The Winter Soldier, it became a bit redundant in later movies. So much so that according to CBR, some fans believe he was originally supposed to stay dead.

Fast-forward to the post-credit scenes of Infinity War, and you’ll find Nick Fury dying again. This time we weren’t overly concerned that Fury’s death would be permanent, as most of us assumed The Avengers would find a way to reverse the snap. 

In Spider-Man: Far From Home, audiences were tricked by the MCU a third time. Peter Parker realizes that he handed over Tony Stark’s priceless program, E.D.I.T.H., to the villainous Mysterio. He meets Fury to attempt to warn him about the villain, only to see Fury shot to death by a drone. We discovered in a post-credits scene that it wasn’t actually Fury–it was a shape-shifting Skrull named Talos.

Fury is shown alive and well, in some unknown destination in space. Perhaps we will learn more about what he’s doing out there in the next MCU movie.