How Old Is Nick Fury In Secret Invasion Anyway?
Using evidence from Captain Marvel, and accounting for The Blip, Nick Fury is 70 in Secret Invasion.
Audiences who have seen the beginning of Secret Invasion on Disney+ are already curious as to Nick Fury’s age in the series. As Samuel L. Jackson‘s character features prominently, it stands to reason that his presentation has come under some scrutiny. Amidst all the spy stuff, political intrigue, and important questions about ethics and terrorism, we can’t help but notice the now-gray-bearded agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. is looking older.
It would be easy to assume that Nick Fury is 74, the same age as Jackson, but that might not be the case. Time has been a hard thing to keep track of in the MCU, especially with all the time hopping, time looping, and, you know, universe snapping going on. Seeing the super spy without his eyepatch, exposing his scarred skin and clouded eye, along with his new full and silvered facial hair, certainly makes him seem older than he has in past depictions.
Nick Fury’s age has been canonically established onscreen, albeit in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it manner. In Captain Marvel, which takes place in the 1990s, viewers get a brief glimpse of Fury’s S.H.I.E.L.D. ID, which lists his birth date. The date on the ID is July 4, 1950, 11 months shy of Jackson’s birthday, and incidentally, in Atlanta, Georgia (though the dialogue in the film indicates it was actually Huntsville).
This would mean Nick Fury turns 73 this July 4, but that’s only his age if Secret Invasion takes place in 2023. But wait again, because it’s actually not that simple, as Fury has already died once. In Avengers: Infinity War, he was killed in the Thanos snap at the age of 68, meaning there is a hiccup in his timeline, known as the Blip.
When Nick Fury was restored to life, he returned as the same age he was when he died, 68 years old. But there was a five-year gap between the two events, meaning he had five years shaved off his age. Now, given that Secret Invasion is set two years after his return, we can surmise that Fury is 70 years old in the series.
It might be easy to assume Nick Fury is even older than that in Secret Invasion based on his appearance, which has sparked questions regarding his age since the earliest images from the series were released. It can also be easy to forget that Samuel L. Jackson himself has aged 15 years since first taking on the role for the post-credits scene in 2008’s Iron Man. This is both because it might be hard to remember that Iron Man happened that long ago and because Jackson looks so darn good.
It’s also easy to forget that Jackson is not the first actor to play Nick Fury onscreen. That honor belongs to David Hasselhoff in the 1998 TV movie Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. before Marvel Comics redesigned the character specifically to look like Jackson in 2002. Neither the movie nor the series it was meant to spawn took off, but now we have Secret Invasion, so we don’t have to wonder what might have been.
