Why Nick Fury was not in Captain America: Civil War is a question that has followed the MCU since 2016, but it can be answered by both story reasons and behind-the-scene reasons. While Captain America 3 could have been a Steve Rogers story only, Marvel ended up g Robert Downey Jr. for a role in the film that would become an Avengers-level event. The comic book arc Civil War was taken as an inspiration for the movie, and pretty much every Avenger in the MCU was brought for the movie – not to mention the MCU debuts of Black Panther and Spider-Man.
The scale of Captain America: Civil War could not be compared to any other previous solo MCU movies. The story took place in many different places, countries, and governments from all over the world wanted the Avengers to respond to their acts by g the Sokovia Accords, and even the reclusive Wakanda stepped into the discussions. With so much at stake for the Avengers and for the rest of the world, it made sense for Civil War to involve so many characters, and the only absences that could be easily explained were that of Thor and Hulk, who were both off-planet.
For that reason, it was hard not to notice Nick Fury’s absence in Civil War. Fury had been the mind behind the Avengers initiative, and even after the team became steered away from SHIELD, the Samuel L. Jackson character continued as a trustable friend of Stark, Rogers, Romanoff, and the others. Civil War happened two years after Captain America: The Winter Soldier in the MCU timeline, meaning that SHIELD was no more by the time the conflict between Iron Man and Captain America happened. Even still, Avengers: Age of Ultron’s helicarrier rescue scene proved that Fury and Maria Hill were still active, which makes their absence in Civil War even stranger, even though logically this could be explained by Fury being busy with taking down the remnants of HYDRA. However, the writers and directors of Civil War believed that Nick Fury’s presence in the movie would bring a lot more questions – questions that Civil War would not have the time to answer. Still, it is interesting to analyze how different Civil War would have been with Nick Fury in it and which side would he pick in the conflict, if at all.
Why Nick Fury Wasn’t In Civil War
During an interview in 2016 (via Avengers: Endgame Iron Man funeral scene. Three years after Civil War, Nick Fury had a prominent role in Captain Marvel, the last movie in Samuel L. Jackson’s original nice-pictures deal.
Where Nick Fury Was During Civil War
In of the story, there is not much in the movies to reveal what exactly Fury was doing during Civil War, but it makes sense he and Hill were not directly involved in such a public event. Civil War happened shortly two years after HYDRA’s influence over SHIELD had been exposed, and Fury had just been declared dead not too long ago. Fury, Maria Hill, and others of trust were still trying to clean up the house after the events of The Winter Soldier, and there was no longer an organization as resourceful as SHIELD to back them up in their missions. In Age of Ultron, for example, Nick Fury could only get to the Avengers in Clint and Laura Barton’s house, and much of what was left from SHIELD’s firepower was seen during the final battle against Ultron’s bots. Fury’s perspective on the events of Civil War was at least somewhat discussed in the Captain Marvel official comic book prelude. In the story, Nick Fury encountered Steve Rogers and asked him to try to work things out with Tony Stark – which would not happen until Avengers: Endgame.
Whose Side Would Nick Fury Be On In Civil War
In the Marvel comics’ first Civil War, the storyline that inspired the 2016 MCU movie, Nick Fury was not that much involved in the conflict – mostly because he was already worried about Skrulls hiding in plain sight on Earth. However, it could be said that Fury was more aligned with Captain America, as the former SHIELD mandatary allowed Rogers to use his secret bases as a hideout. In the MCU, it's likely that something similar would happen, with Fury leaning more into Captain American’s side. While Nick Fury would have probably been smart enough not to be manipulated by Zemo as the rest of the Avengers were, he would still not be favorable of the Sokovia Accords. Despite working under a government agency for decades and being director of SHIELD for years, Nick Fury always acted by what he thought was right – and never blindly followed orders.
This was first evident in The Avengers, in which Fury disobeyed a direct order to fire a nuclear weapon against Manhattan and instead opted to trust the Avengers to win the Battle of New York. Not only did Fury question the SHIELD’s directors in front of them, but he also did everything he could to try to stop the plane from leaving the base. Fury also ed the Avengers being on their own after defeating Loki, as he believed Earth was going to be safer at their hands. Whatever level of trust Fury still had in those he worked for completely ended after the reveal of HYDRA and its Project Insight, further adding to the idea that Nick Fury would never agree to hand Earth’s Mightiest Heroes over to any organizations under something like the Captain America: Civil War Sokovia Accords.
