Samuel L. Jackson has been out and about promoting his upcoming indie-romcom The Avengers from upstart whippersnapper Marvel Studios. Here’s what he had to say about the possibilities of spinning his Nick Fury role into its own film:
“Natasha [Black Widow] is part of S.H.I.E.L.D., Hawkeye is part of S.H.I.E.L.D., and I couldn’t do a S.H.I.E.L.D. movie without those two people. They’re essential elements of what’s there. Now we know Agent [Maria] Hill is an essential element of S.H.I.E.L.D. so she would have to be there. And I’m still not sure if she’s the eyes and ears of the council hanging around inside their place and telling people, ‘We’ve got these superheroes over here!’ She wants my job. I can tell. She’s ambitious. I don’t know how much of S.H.I.E.L.D. [Marvel] want[s] to expose…I mean, we’re not superheroes. We’re more of a shadow world. So, it would be more like ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’ with good toys-closer to a ‘Bond’ movie than a superhero movie.”
I don’t see why Marvel wouldn’t consider doing a SHIELD film at some point. But to consider doing one without Clark Gregg’s Agent Coulson? That just seems false. Then again, Coulson’s omission in the above quote (which reads like a role call for said film) leaves me suspicious of his fate in Avengers*.
What interests me about a SHIELD film is the notion of regular people living and working in a world of superheroes. The characters in a SHIELD movie would be badasses in their own right, but Fury and Hill aren’t part of a super team. They don’t have special powers or god hammers or future armor. How would normals come to terms with such inferiority after The Avengers? That underlining approach, to me, would be much more interesting than a straight forward actioner that has SHIELD facing down a B-tier Marvel villain. Though admittedly, both approaches could work in tandem in the same film.
*Speculation on my part – I haven’t seen the film and if I knew that to be the case I certainly wouldn’t share it with you here. Still, it’d be a shame to forgo Gregg’s talents.