With a cameo at the end of Iron Man, Samuel L. Jackson spread joy across the fanboy universe by appearing as Nick Fury, a character designed in his likelihood in the Ultimate line of Marvel comic books. Now, it appears that Jackson likely won't reprise his role as Nick Fury.
"There was a huge kind of negotiation that broke down. I don't know. Maybe I won't be Nick Fury," Jackson told the LA Times, "There seems to be an economic crisis in the Marvel Comics world so [they're saying to me], 'We're not making that deal.'"
Jackson, as Fury, could potentially appear in 3 of the upcoming Marvel movies: Iron Man 2, First Avenger: Captain America and The Avengers. According to Jackson, he would have at least appeared in Iron Man 2. "I saw [Iron Man 2 director] Jon Favreau at the Scream Awards and we had a conversation. He said, 'I hope things are working out for you because we're writing stuff for you.' Then all of a sudden last week I talked to my agents and manager and things aren't really working that well."
While Marvel will only offer that they are in "active negotiations," but Jackson is not sold. "Maybe somebody else will be Nick Fury or maybe Nick Fury won't be in it."
But who else could play a role fashioned after Jackson himself? Maybe it's time to call David Hasselhoff, who already played Fury in a 1998 TV movie written by Unborn director and Batman writer David S. Goyer.