Stephen Lang Wants to Play Marvel’s Original Nick Fury

Samuel L. Jackson may be the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Nick Fury, but that hasn’t stopped Stephen Lang from hoping he might get a turn at the character — or at least a version of him.

The Avatar actor recently told Screen Rant that he would love to play Nick Fury, but not the S.H.I.E.L.D agent version that already exists in the MCU. Instead, Lang would be interested in playing the other version of Nick Fury, the original Howling Commandos character citing Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos as his all-time favorite Marvel comic book series.

“My favorite comic book of all of the Marvel series was always Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos,” Lang said. “I friggin’ loved Sgt. Fury’s Howling Commandos and to me it was always like, I want to be Nick Fury.”

While the idea of there being two Nick Furys in the MCU may sound a bit far-fetched, there’s comic book precedent for it. Jackson’s version of the character was based on the Ultimate version — which in a very meta turn of events, was inspired by Jackson in the first place — and is very different from the mainstream Marvel character of the same name. However, Marvel introduced a Jackson-based version of Fury into the mainstream universe in the form of Nick Fury, Jr. This could provide an opening for there to be room for two Furys in the MCU, especially if a Howling Commandos version of the character was used to explore the Agent Carter era.

As fans might recall, the Howling Commandos team played important roles in Captain America: The First Avenger as well as the Agent Carter series. If Marvel really wanted to introduce Sgt. Fury into the MCU while still maintaining Jackson’s version, a Howling Commandos-centric television series would make for a fun opportunity, as well as give fans a chance to revisit the loose ends left behind when Agent Carter was cancelled.

For now, though, there are no plans to bring Sgt. Fury into the MCU, but fans will have an opportunity to see Jackson back in action soon. Fury will next show up in the upcoming Captain Marvel.

Captain Marvel opens in theaters on March 8, 2019.

Other upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe movies include; Black Panther on February 16th, Avengers: Infinity War on May 4th, Ant-Man and the Wasp on July 6th, the fourth Avengers movie on May 3, 2019, the sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming on July 5, 2019, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in 2020.