Here's why Nick Fury was absent in Marvel's 'Civil War'

Here’s why Nick Fury was absent in Marvel’s ‘Civil War’

By Meredith Woerner

May 10, 2016 11:10 AM PT

Just about every Marvel character was crammed into “Captain America: Civil War,” and a few new ones too. However where was the man that is responsible for assembling the Avengers? Where was Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury during the big breakup of Earth’s mightiest heroes?

We asked “Civil War” screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely to clear up Fury’s absence from one of the biggest comic book fights to date.

I’m curious. Where was Fury?

Stephen McFeely: I’m curious too!

Christopher Markus: We called him, but he let the line blink. Primarily it felt like one too many possible opinions. We didn’t want him to take one side or the other, because that’s not his place in the universe. And then we didn’t want another, “Is he still with the government? Is he opposed to the government but supporting the government?” It got to be the potential for a lot more polemic discussion that the movie did not have room for.

He’s the guy who put it together. He’s been the sort of parent figure to the Avengers. Let the parent go away, and see if the kids can handle this. See if the kids can be who they’re supposed to be without that governing voice. Um... and they didn’t do that good of a job.

Are we going to see him in “Infinity Wars?”

McFeely: I would think.

Markus: It’s probably all hands on deck.

McFeely: Don’t you assume you’ll see everybody in the “Infinity Wars?”

You heard it here first: Everybody is in “Infinity Wars.” Hopefully that includes Sam Rockwell’s Justin Hammer and Whiplash’s bird.

As for the work on “Infinity Wars” itself, Markus and McFeely admit they’ve been “locked in a room” trying to hash out the earliest drafts of the next gigantic Marvel Cinematic Universe undertaking. If the movies follow the comics, “Infinity Wars” will bring all the Marvel movie characters together for an even bigger fight than “Civil War.” That includes even all Marvel characters in space or lost; this is a big, and deeply complicated undertaking. And the writers are aware of this.

“Explaining quickly something that is going to be just completely incomprehensible to the average person is a tough one,” Markus said. That said, Markus is “heartened by the popularity of things like ‘Game of Thrones’ where even the people who read the books and really love the show don’t always know what’s going on. Knowing 100% what a warg is, it’s not essential to the enjoyment of the show.”

And McFeely reiterates that if you were a fan of “Winter Soldier” (another Marvel movie McFeely and Markus worked on) you’ll know that the duo wasn’t beholden to the source material. Right now the current “Infinity Wars” draft is unlimited in scope and scale, a little “pie in the sky” as described by the writer. And next up will be reality -- or, edits.

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