Jon Favreau: Nick Fury's First Appearance was Meant to be a Lark

Back in 2008, we were introduced to Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury in the end-credits of Jon Favreau's Iron Man. His few lines would then spark the explosion that was the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but Favreau originally meant for the scene to be playful fanservice.

Talking to Entertainment Weekly, Favreau reveals:

"That was a bit of a lark. I wanted to include Easter eggs that the fans would appreciate and we thought the idea of a post-credit scene it could be fun. It was something that wasn't really in the script originally. But I thought the idea of Nick Fury being Sam Jackson would be really fun, because when Nick Fury was reimagined in The Ultimates (comic book) they recast him as Sam Jackson, and I thought that that would be a really good nod to the audience. And Kevin [Feige, Marvel Studios executive] was way into it, too. Kevin really lit up. We worked on that dialog together. We were very careful how we selected the words. ‘You're part of a bigger world now, a bigger universe,' and ‘the Avengers Initiative,' laid breadcrumbs for what was to come."

When Mark Millar created The Ultimates, he had cleverly had the new Nick Fury be modeled directly after Samuel L. Jackson; who knew that Jackson would eventually end up embodying that character six years later? Other fan casting in the comic includes Brad Pitt (Captain America), Johnny Depp (Iron Man), Matthew McConaughey (Hank Pym), Lucy Liu (Wasp), and Steve Buscemi (Bruce Banner).

Now that I think about it, I'm actually kind of bummed that Favreau hasn't directed a Marvel movie since Iron Man 2. I'd love for him to come back and work for Marvel, but now he's busy making Lion King for Disney. He's always found time to reprise his role of Happy Hogan though.

We don't know for sure, but Favreau could appear in Avengers: Infinity War April 27.

See Also: Avengers Infinity War: Karen Gillian had No Idea that Nebula Would End Up being so Important