The character was introduced in the mini-series Battle Scars. He bears a strong resemblance to the Ultimate Marvelversion of Nick Fury and the Marvel Cinematic Universe incarnation as portrayed by Samuel L. Jackson; the Ultimate version's appearance was based on that of Jackson before the actor's portrayal in the films. Nick Fury Jr. appears in the 2013 Secret Avengers series by Nick Spencer and Luke Ross. In January 2017, Marvel announced that the character would get his first ongoing solo series named Nick Fury.
While serving in the Middle East, Marcus Johnson is told that his mother Nia Jones has been murdered back in the United States. He returns home and is attacked by the men who killed his mother and by Taskmaster, but is saved by Captain America. S.H.I.E.L.D. agents arrive and take him to a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility, after a while Johnson comes to feel he is being held there against his will and escapes. He escapes and is caught by Taskmaster once again. Before he can obtain any information, a man in a mask saves him and escapes. Johnson catches up to the man who is revealed to be his father Nick Fury. Fury and Johnson are captured by the organization Leviathan's former member Orion who has Johnson's left eye cut out and confirms that Johnson has the Infinity Formula in his DNA. Fury breaks the restraints and gives Johnson enough time to escape, but is captured and Fury's blood transfused to Orion so that Orion's youth can be restored, draining Fury's remaining Infinity Formula. Johnson saves Fury with the help of S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Phil Coulson and later kills Orion. After convalescing, Johnson is given Steve Rogers's Super Soldier uniform to wear. As a new agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., he is also informed of his birth name. Fury and Coulson make a cameo appearance in Scarlet Spider #5, and are part of the framing sequence in Marvel NOW! Point One. In a 2013 storyline as part of the Marvel NOW! branding, Nick, Coulson, and Maria Hill form the S.H.I.E.L.D. version of the Secret Avengers with Hawkeye and Black Widow. Fury is involved in the first mission that involved fighting a group of al-Qaeda terrorists. Fury then joins the Secret Avengers to raid Bagalia in order to recruit Taskmaster. While the Secret Avengers are fighting the Masters of Evil, Fury manages to pay off Crossfireto let Taskmaster out of imprisonment. During the "AXIS" storyline, Nick was with S.H.I.E.L.D. when the organization has gathered Captain America to discuss what was going to be of the Red Skull, now that the Stark Sentinels had been dismantled and the concentration camps torn down. Fury tried to convince Sam Wilson to hand over. But under the inversion spell's influence, Wilson was violent and punched him before leaving. During the "Civil War II" storyline, Fury was on a mission to neutralize a Hydra cell that were posing as S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents. The prediction of Ulysses Cain's vision had the Hydra cell's attack on S.H.I.E.L.D. be fatal. When heading to a base in Arizona, Fury was attacked by actual agents instead of Hydra infiltrators as suspected. In order for him to find the traitors, Fury faked his death and went under the radar. Upon interrogating dirty S.H.I.E.L.D. benefactor Elton Blake, Fury was directed to the S.H.I.E.L.D. base Ulu in Alaska. Arriving at Ulu and confronting the unknown mastermind, Fury was caught off-guard by the unknown mastermind who got away. Upon infiltrating the base Ogma, Nick managed to download classified data and escape while evading Black Widow in the process. Nick's investigation led him to the underground base Kratos where he encountered a rogue Life Model Decoy of his father named Leader who stated that Cain's prediction didn't involve the Hydra cell and that it would've cost him his life. Leader learned about Cain's abilities and wanted to take Nick out of the picture to take over S.H.I.E.L.D. and reinvent it. In order to stop Leader, Nick had to destroy the main support beam which caused Kratos to collapse and destroy Leader. Upon surviving the collapse, Nick salvaged Leader's head so that he can hack it and learn how he discovered his plan. Nick forgave Hill for sending him on a mission that would've resulted in his death and states that he is not ready to return to S.H.I.E.L.D. yet. Upon his return to S.H.I.E.L.D. as a top-ranking agent, Fury infiltrates the French Riviera where he ends up in a cat and mouse game with Hydra Agent Frankie Noble. During the aftermath part of the "Secret Empire" storyline, Fury was seen watching Frank Castle slay every Hydra Agent in the abandoned warehouse as a way to atone for siding with Hydra. As Castle takes leave, Fury speaks on all comms that Castle is ready. Fury then gives Castle access to the War Machine armor for a deniable operation against a rogue Eastern European state caught using old S.H.I.E.L.D. resources.
Powers and abilities
Nick Fury Jr. initially appears to have no superhuman qualities but his physical conditioning from his time with the US Army Rangers. However, he inherited his father's Infinity Formula at birth, slowing his aging process, speeding his healing time, and granting him peak human physical abilities.
Reception
The reaction by comic book fans to the revelation of Marcus Johnson being Nick Fury's son and replacing his father has been mixed. Tom Brevoort believes this is a prudent move by Marvel because the African American incarnation appears in films, animated shows, and other licensed adaptations.
In other media
Since the 2000s, most appearances of Nick Fury in other media have been modeled on the Ultimate Marvel version of the character which is based on actor Samuel L. Jackson who later portrayed the character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies.
