The first G.I. Joe was first released in 1964, coining the term “action figure” and revolutionizing the boys’ toy industry. But by the time the '80s rolled around, the industry had changed once again. The Star Wars line was dominating the action figure aisles, and G.I. Joe parent company Hasbro was desperate to compete. Shrinking the line down to a much smaller 3.75-inch scale of the Star Wars figures, Hasbro designed a whole new line of Joes to for release in 1982. There was only one problem: the company didn’t have a story for its generic toy soldiers. Hasbro then reached out to Marvel Comics to help develop storylines and character profiles to use in later G.I. Joe comics and cartoons. As it turned out, one Marvel staffer already had a few ideas of his own.
That Marvel staffer was Larry Hama, a Vietnam War vet who had already built up an established career in comics as an artist, writer and editor. At the same time that Hasbro prepared its G.I. Joe relaunch, Larry Hama has been working on his own pitch at Marvel entitled Fury Force, which would have followed the adventures of S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury’s son, Nick Fury, Jr., leading his own elite team of specialized commandos. Before any more work could commence, then-Marvel Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter met with Hasbro to discuss potential ideas. Once Hasbro agreed to license the G.I. Joe line to Marvel, Shooter knew exactly who to call. "I went straight to Larry’s office,” Shooter recalls in a 2011 blog post, feeling that his military background made Hama the perfect choice for G.I. Joe. “He thought, and I agreed, that much of what he’d already cooked up for Nick Fury could be adapted to the project.” Hama would not only go on to write the eventual comic book, but also the all-important file cards for most of the toy line, fleshing out the characters and their backstories.
G.I. Joe Was Based on Fury Force, Larry Hama’s Unused Marvel Pitch
Looking at those original Marvel G.I. Joe comics, it’s not hard to see how Snake Eyes, Scarlett and the rest of the Joes fighting the forces of Cobra could be swapped out for Nick Fury’s son and his elite team of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents fighting Hydra terrorists. More importantly, Hama’s initial Fury Force sketches and concepts show just how crucial he was to the development of the G.I. Joe: ARAH world. "(Hama) had a lot of ideas,” Shooter states, relating that the concept of the Joe’s base being hidden underground were there in Hama’s original Fury Force pitch. Shooter goes to elaborate on just how important Hama was to G.I. Joe: “Larry would create an appropriate vehicle or weapon to use the (toy’s gimmick), usually on the spot. Hasbro would explain some new marketing tack or characters it intended to introduce and Larry would find a way to make it work.”
Oddly enough, Marvel would eventually introduce a Nick Fury, Jr. character, more closely modeled on the Ultimate Comics version based on Samuel L. Jackson, who himself would go on to play Nick Fury in the MCU. Whatever the case, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero will always owe its existence in part to Marvel’s Nick Fury.
Source: “The Secret Parts of the Origin of G.I. Joe” by Jim Shooter, jimshooter.com
