Does Nick Fury Have Superpowers? & How He Got Them?
Nick Fury has been one of the staples of Marvel Comics for decades, specifically since 1963. The director of S.H.I.E.L.D. was initially a CIA agent who first appeared in the ‘Fantastic Four’ comics, and he was supposed to be a James Bond-style character – a spy with mysterious life who leads the secret agency S.H.I.E.L.D. Since then, Fury has established himself as the staple and leader of the Earth’s superheroes. But when you realize he has been a veteran of World War II and, over sixty years later, still looks quite young, it makes us wonder if Nick Fury has any superpowers.
Nick Fury Sr., also known as the original version of the character in the Marvel comics, got severely injured during World War II – the grenade blast injured his left eye and the landmine accident that almost killed him. However, the French scientist Berthold Sternberg developed the alchemical serum diluted from Elixir of Life and gave it to the heavily injured Fury. The serum didn’t give any superhuman powers to Fury, but his aging decreased rapidly, hence why he looks younger than his years. The same goes for his son Nick Fury Jr. who inherited his father’s Infinity Formula, while MCU Nick Fury seemingly has no superpowers. All versions of the characters are very prominent in other areas.
Nick Fury’s character changed quite a lot in the Marvel comics, but his powers didn’t, in all honesty. Nick Fury Sr. did have a period where he was an operative of the Watcher Uatu, as The Unseen, but he was brought back to normal. Nevertheless, we will discuss all three characters’ powers.
Does Nick Fury Sr. have powers in Marvel comics?
The story behind Nick Fury’s character is very intriguing since his lore was changed a few years ago. The story goes something like this – Marvel Comics realized that their comic book sales started decreasing, and they needed to figure out how to save their company which had been showing regression throughout the 1990s.
Then vice president of Marvel, Bill Jemas, thought of the idea to reset the existing characters and start again. This is where Brian Michael Bendis came into play and started developing the idea of the ‘Ultimate Marvel series.’ This was essentially an attempt to reimagine some of the characters, like the Avengers and other supporting characters.
During that run, we got the Ultimates, X-Men, and most notably (at least for this article), another version of Nick Fury, closely resembling the famous actor Samuel L. Jackson.
The notable actor saw that the new Nick Fury was designed by his looks and made a deal with Marvel for him to play the live-action director of S.H.I.E.L.D. in the future. In the end, that happened, and Marvel Comics decided to reimagine the old Nick Fury and make the new Nick Fury his biological son.
We got a new character in Nick Fury Jr., but now the older Nick Fury got an interesting character update – his powers.
The original Nick Fury was born just after World War I in New York City, specifically in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood. We know that that era of American history was extremely hard and marked by poverty and normal life struggles.
To escape poverty and hard life, Fury enlists in the U.S. military and eventually is deployed to World War II. This is where Fury’s life changes massively – he meets Dum Dum Dugan, Gabe Jones, Captain America, Bucky Barnes, and various other soldiers. However, the harsh reality of the war affects anyone, and Fury is one of those who suffer major life-threatening injuries.
The only way to save Fury’s life is for him to get the Infinity Formula, developed and created by Professor Berthold Sternberg in France. Fury’s life is saved, and with the life preserved, the skilled soldier stops aging – Infinity Formula slows his aging process.
Frankly, the Infinity Formula didn’t provide Fury with anything exceptional – his aging slowed, and Fury didn’t get additional powers. However, during the Original Sin storyline, we see Fury telling Earth’s heroes who he really is.
The Infinity Formula is no longer, and Fury rapidly ages and dies. During the investigation for the murder of Uato, The Watcher, Fury realizes that the being saw who killed him and proceeds to steal the eyes and activate them. This leads to Fury gaining powers and barely defeating Doctor Midas, who killed Uatu with the help of the Avengers.
The Watchers eventually punish Fury for his “crimes” and force him to observe the timelines and Multiverse, but prevent him to interfere – Fury becomes the Unseen. Fury gains Hyper-Cosmic Awareness, and eventually, the resurrected Uatu takes the ability away from him.
This whole storyline sees Fury becoming ‘The Man on the Wall’ to defend humanity, appointed by Uatu, while Fury’s Cosmic Awareness and Infinity Formula are no more.
However, Fury’s story is currently on “pause” in Marvel Universe because in the ongoing comic book run titled ‘Fury,’ we see that Nick Fury Sr. seemingly gives over the responsibility of the universe to his son Nick Fury Jr., who we will discuss in the next section.
Does Nick Fury Jr. have superpowers in Marvel comics?
Nick Fury Jr. was introduced recently in Marvel comics, and he, as his father, doesn’t have any special superpowers, but he did inherit Fury Sr.’s Infinity Formula. As his father, Fury Jr. is very skilled in hand-to-hand combat and extensive training as part of the U.S. Army Rangers and S.H.I.E.L.D.
Because his body inherited Infinity Formula, it is part of his blood, and he doesn’t have to consume the serum every year like his father did. Of course, this means that the formula also gave Fury Jr. peak human condition, strength, and durability.
During his youth, and military career, Fury Jr. had amazing results in sports and physical activity, making him above the rest of his peers – the Infinity Formula garnered that ability. However, even with Infinity Formula, Fury, like Captain America, cannot be called superhuman because his Super-Soldier Serum greatly enhanced the soldier’s powers and physique.
But what about Nick Fury of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, does he have any powers? Let’s find out.
Does Nick Fury from MCU have superpowers?
We can safely say that Nick Fury doesn’t have any superpowers. However, the ‘Captain Marvel’ movie confirmed to us that Fury was part of the U.S. Military and CIA agency and eventually joined S.H.I.E.L.D. in 1988. He is an exceptional spy with a military background who started his career during Cold War, and only continued to work as a secret agent.
Fury seemingly doesn’t have an Infinity Formula like his counterparts in Marvel comics since he is around 70 years old in the MCU, which does correlate with Samuel L. Jackson’s real-life age.
Nevertheless, despite not having superpowers, all versions of Nick Fury are impactful in their universes – they are the staples and legendary characters.
Who is your favorite version of Nick Fury? And which superpower would suit the best for the man? Let us know in the comments below.
