Nick Fury (Nicholas Joseph Nick Fury)

The Ultimate Universe's Nick Fury is a Super-Soldier Serum-enhanced veteran whose slowed aging and peak-beyond-human abilities made him the natural choice to direct S.H.I.E.L.D., the world's premier intelligence agency, keeping Earth's mightiest threats in check from the shadows.

Few characters embody Marvel's bold Modern Age reinvention quite like this Nick Fury — the hard-edged super-spy who stepped onto the page in 2001 courtesy of Brian Michael Bendis and Mike Allred in Ultimate Marvel Team-Up #5, part of the line that rewired the Marvel Universe for a new generation. Over a publishing run stretching an impressive quarter-century, he's carved out his place across Ultimate Spider-Man, Ultimate Six, and Ultimate Avengers, keeping company with the likes of Spider-Man, Captain America, Tony Stark, and Peter Parker — as elite a roster of co-stars as Marvel has to offer. With a key issue already to his name and 51 catalog appearances spanning 2001 to 2026, this is a Fury built for the long haul — a fixture of the Ultimate universe whose presence signals that the stakes just got very, very serious.