Why is Samuel L. Jackson smiling like that?  Because he knows how many more paydays he's got coming playing Nick Fury in the Marvel Universe.

Credit: Paramount Pictures/Marvel Studios

This just makes good sense.  After all, Samuel L. Jackson was one of the first people famously signed to a nine-picture deal by Marvel Studios, and his Nick Fury character is one of the lynchpins of the larger Marvel Universe.

In an appearance this week on RadioBigBoy, Jackson talked about the extended deal he's got with the studio and how busy it's going to keep him for the next few years.  He confirmed that he will be appearing in "Captain America," but not "Thor," which we knew.  He talks about how he'll be in "The Avengers" for the summer after that, which we also knew.

What was interesting was the news that we're going to be getting a "S.H.I.E.L.D." movie the year after "The Avengers."

It's not the most surprising thing to hear.  I'm curious to see how you build a movie around S.H.I.E.L.D. that's different from "The Avengers," but when you spend time building out these characters, film after film, why not use them?  Why not create a vehicle specifically for them? 

The most interesting thing about the way they're building all these movies is that Samuel L. Jackson is the ground zero, the character who ties all of these other characters together, and at 62 years old, he looks better than he ever has and he's finally playing the comic book leads that men half his age would love to play.  He has already made the role of Nick Fury his in a very permanent way, embracing the iconic design and investing him with a swagger ("I'm the realest person that you're ever gonna meet!") that makes him seem like the puppet master pulling all the strings in the Marvel Universe, and that's before we ever see Nick Fury in action.

From what I've heard, I'd expect him to have his largest role in the Marvel Universe yet when he does "Captain America," and then he's playing a near-lead in "The Avengers."  That film is on track to be the biggest thing that Marvel Studios has ever made in terms of scale, and I doubt a "S.H.I.E.L.D." movie would be the same sort of scope.  Instead, could that end up being the film that is used to lay down a secret history of this onscreen world they're building?  Could it be the film where we see how Fury and his team (which may well include The Black Widow and Agent Coulson, the only two S.H.I.E.L.D. members we've met so far) take care of all the problems no one else knows how to address?

Whatever the case, I'm curious to see what Marvel has to say about Sam's statements, and I'm sure we won't hear any official announcements on something like this for a while.  When we do, we'll have that for you right here at HitFix.

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