Warning! Spoilers to Iron Man Annual #1 below!
former SHIELD director and super-spy Nick Fury Sr.. Taking on his father's name and profession conveniently turned Marcus into a new comic-book 'Nick Fury' who resembled the version played by Samuel L. Jackson in the MCU, but Nick Jr. now reveals that his deceased mother's skills and lessons were more instrumental in making him into Fury than his famous father ever was.
Created by Cullen Bunn, Christopher Yost, Matt Fraction, Scot Eaton for Battle Scars #1, Marcus Johnson survived a traumatic tour in Afghanistan to later attend his mother's funeral which was also secretly attended by Captain America and Sharon Carter. When Marcus deduced his mother had been murdered, Captain America and other heroes revealed he was being targeted not only because he was Nick Fury's son but also because his father's Infinity Formula was part of his DNA, granting him similar superhuman abilities. After he helped his father and the Avengers defeat their mutual enemy, he became an agent of SHIELD under his original name Nicholas Fury Jr where he was further tutored by Fury's protégé Maria Hill. Like his father, he maintained a rocky relationship with SHIELD and other Marvel heroes and was unafraid to go rogue if his mission or personal agenda called for it.
In the story by Jed MacKay and Juan Ferreyra, Nick Fury narrates internally about his life and how much has changed since he accepted his true name, trading in the military for doomsday scenarios, espionage, and other extraordinary incidents that threaten the world daily. While battling a multi-tentacled underwater creature, it is revealed that he has a tattoo on his chest ing his mother Nia Johnson who "was a spy every bit as good as my father."
Nia Johnson's death was the catalyst that leads the man formerly named Marcus to not only learn the truth behind his absent father but also point him toward his destiny as Fury. This story further elaborates that Fury's mother was more than that, she was his teacher. Fury attributes her for teaching him crucial lessons in memory retention, recognizing patterns, and how to focus which benefited him in his education, extracurriculars, and later his career in the military and SHIELD. Although his father's namesake and abilities help to a degree, Nick considers his mother as his true inspiration stating " It was my mother who made me Fury."
Fury's ission about his mother helps to add significance to a character who often serves only as motivation for one's grief, revenge or to better oneself similar to Spider-Man's Uncle Ben or Batman's Thomas and Martha Wayne. Instead of being just another footnote in his history, Nia Johnson is another of Marvel's unsung greats, a single mom who helped raise the son of Marvel's most controversial spy to be better than his father. As Fury sits in front of his computer analyzing the patterns of international terrorists, other spies, and the introduction of new players, Nick Fury carries his mother's memory, literally and mentally, every time he saves the world.
