Samuel L. Jackson broke down the significance of a memorableSecret Invasion scenewith Don Cheadle.Despite being an integral part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe for several years, this new series marks the first time that Jackson’s iconic Marvel character will be in the lead role.
WithSecret Invasionepisode 1 seeing many returning characters,the second episode seesJackson’s Fury demanding a meeting with James ‘War Machine’ Rhodes, trying to convince the former Avenger and military hero to help him combat the Skrull threat. When Rhodes rebuffs him, Fury gets more vulnerable when trying to get through to him.“Men who look like us don’t get promoted because of who our daddies know,” Fury recounts to Rhodes. “Every ounce of power that we wrestle from the vice grip of the mediocre Alexander Pierces who run this world was earned in blood. So let’s make the power mean something. Help a brother out.”
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The moment is quite heavy and might be one of the things one actor had in mind when revealingSecret Invasionwould appeal to adult viewers, as the exchange is a social commentary that only a presence like Jackson could have delivered with such weight. Jackson toldVarietyhe spoke to the show’s writers about what it was like for Fury to have “that much power as a Black man, and how they can be diminished at any moment by someone else just saying a specific thing or changing the trajectory of one’s career path because of it.”
Jackson also reflected on Rhodey and Fury’s career paths in the MCU. “Rhodey and Fury have risen to this place where we have a certain amount of power; even though we’re better than the people who have power, we still got to suppress ourselves in a specific way,” Jackson continued. “And Marvel’s not afraid to let us explore that.”
The ideas expressed here are powerful and tap into a struggle that the superhero genre and the MCU have only glancingly touched on since becoming a more mainstream offering. While the show is not perfect, withSecret Invasionalready falling into the fridging trap, moments like these might elevate the exploration of Nick Fury and the dire straits he and the world are currently in, even without the alien invaders knocking.
