All 6 Times Nick Fury Died (MCU & Comics)

Disney+ series ‘Secret Invasion’ is one the way, and one of the most important characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is finally getting its own TV show. Besides Nick Fury, we will finally see what other characters close to the former director of S.H.I.E.L.D. were doing after ‘Avengers: Endgame,’ like Maria Hill, Talos, and James “Rhodey” Rhodes. Of course, the series premiere prompted us to explore Nick Fury’s biography in the comics and Marvel Cinematic Universe, specifically, his spy life. This is regarding his faking death multiple times in both universes, which will be the main topic of this article.

Nick Fury died multiple times in the comics, but most of them were fake deaths. Of course, these deaths occurred in alternate universes like Marvel Zombies, but most fake deaths weren’t that significant. Fury truly died at least six times and faked his death multiple times in the comics. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Fury faked his death once in ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ and truly died in ‘Avengers: Infinity War.’

The topic of Nick Fury dying in comics is much more complicated than in Marvel Cinematic Universe, so we will mention the true deaths of the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and mention some fake deaths that were significant for the story.

How many times Nick Fury died in the comics and MCU?

One of the biggest occurrences in Marvel and mainstream comic book media is how their characters rarely stay dead. Yes, over the years, we saw some huge superhero deaths, like Barry Allen’s Flash, Supergirl, or, in the Marvel case, the original Captain Mar-Vell, who was killed off, brought back and died of cancer in one of the stories a few decades later.

Nick Fury is known to be a director of S.H.I.E.L.D., but he is also a commando and a spy with mysterious life and agenda. Over the years, we saw Fury’s character change immensely, from being (mostly) a regular man to an extraterrestrial being. We will mention legitimate deaths in Marvel Comics, not fake deaths that eventually brought back the spy.

So buckle up because here we go!

1. Nick Fury died in the ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ after Thanos ‘snapped’ half of the universe.

The epic ending of ‘Avengers: Infinity War‘ is still talked about today since no one expected Marvel Studios literally kill half of their main cast. Throughout the whole Infinity Saga, we saw Nick Fury recruiting superheroes worldwide to form the notable team, Avengers. Of course, it all started with the first Iron Man movie, Fury recruiting Tony Stark, and others following later.

Now, we know that this particular Phase of the MCU heavily teased Thanos’ arrival and encounter with Avengers, but no one expected Russo Brothers to let the Mad Titan win and kill half of the universe. Thanos ‘snapped’ Nick Fury and Maria Hill, S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives and staples of the former secret government agency, among billions of people and aliens.

People audibly gasped in theaters when that happened, and we couldn’t believe that one of the most important people in the MCU got killed. Of course, Hulk’s ‘unsnapping’ brought half of the universe back, including Fury and Hill, but this death counts because the former director really died.

2. In the alternate world of Earth X, Nick Fury is dead, and several of his LMDs are fighting against Cold War communists.

Earth X storyline is an alternate comic book limited series from 1999, where Marvel Universe is set in a dystopian reality.

Ten years after the end of the heroic age, Black Bolt released a mutagenic Terrigen Mist to turn humans into Inhumans and save his people. In the meantime, Captain America quits Avengers after killing Red Skull, but what about Nick Fury? In this universe, Nick Fury is dead, but his Life Model Decoys, which are essentially his copies, fight against communists from the Cold War era. This particular story was discontinued since it didn’t impress with the sales. Nevertheless, at least in one story, Nick Fury is truly dead.

3. House of M crossover event sees one of Fury’s soldiers killing him.

‘House of M‘ is one the most ‘bonkers’ storylines in the Marvel Comics. Scarlet Witch replaces Earth-616 with another timeline where everything and everyone is different, and Nick Fury is one of them.

At first, Nick Fury disappears, but we later learn that he is kept alive by the mutants to be a Drill Instructor and use his talents to train mutant soldiers. One of the soldiers is a mutant named Earshot, whose powers are unique – he can throw his voice precisely and over long distances. Earshot tricks Fury and lures him toward the planted bomb, which explodes and kills him on the spot.

This whole crossover is extremely interesting, so definitely check it out. Moreover, this is one of the rare instances of Fury actually dying.

4. Marvel Zombies sees many superheroes dying, including Nick Fury.

The ‘Marvel Zombies’ left much to be desired regarding its story, at least some of the spin-offs and specials, but it provided us with the reality of the Earth population being infected by a virus that turns everyone into zombies. Technically, zombies aren’t dead, but in this context, they are.

Of course, most of the population does get infected with some of the most popular Marvel superheroes suffering the same fate. Sentry brings the virus to Earth, infecting X-Men, Avengers, Fantastic Four, and others. Among the infected is Nick Fury, who organizes the resistance but is killed by zombified Fantastic Four.

Before he died, Fury ordered Thor to destroy the teleported Tony Stark built for traveling across the universes and saved the whole Multiverse. Typical Fury saving the day once again, even on his deathbed.

5. In the depressing story called simply ‘Ruins,’ from 1995, we see Fury killing himself.

There are many depressing stories in Marvel Comics, but this one was just too much. ‘Ruins,’ written by Warren Ellis, follows a story of Daily Bugle reported Phil Sheldon, who decides to write a book about the world where everything that went well on Earth-616 goes wrong. Specifically, the experiments, accidents, and other events that saw famous Marvel characters becoming superheroes resulted in horrible deaths and deformations.

For example, Professor X is actually President X, who leads the oppressing United States of America and is essentially a dictator. Avengers are a secessionist group of superheroes that are eventually killed. Wolverine’s body is slowly decaying due to adamantium being poisoned, and Bruce Banner becomes a green monster pulsing with tumors after the gamma radiation blast. The whole story is ominous, and Nick Fury’s story is no better.

When Sheldon asks Fury for an interview to get his perspective on where everything went wrong, we see Fury being as twisted as he can be. He is a cannibalistic war veteran who shoots and kills a dog, then a prostitute Jean Grey, and afterward kills himself on the spot. A truly disturbing story where everything goes wrong for our characters.

6. In the ‘Dark Ages’ storyline from 2021, we see Nick Fury Jr. suffering a brutal death.

Finally, the most recent death of Nick Fury, at least the Jr. one, is in the Tom Taylor comic book story titled ‘Dark Ages.’ The comic follows Earth’s Mightiest Heroes to protect the planet Earth from the mysterious threat that has awakened within the planet.

However, they fail, and the home they knew turns into darkness. Now they need to figure out their lives during the dark ages, rebuild everything from scratch, and figure out how to bring their world back. In this particular ongoing story by Tom Taylor, Nick Fury dies a horrible death by being hooked and dragged to the enemy ship of Ghost Riders – the ones who made a deal with the devil and lost their souls. Another ominous story that will make you feel sorry for our superheroes.

And that’s all. Fury faked his death so many times in the comics that even one ‘Captain America’ comic book issue from the 1990s features superheroes saying that Nick Fury might just be dead “for real” – and of course, that doesn’t happen at all. Fury is alive and well in that story, but these six instances, where Fury’s death was significant and truly real are listed in this article.

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