Carol Danvers and Nick Fury’s History in the Comics

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Captain Marvel and Nick Fury have always led parallel lives. Both Carol Danvers and Nicholas Fury Sr. had careers in the military that eventually led to them both taking on top-secret missions. Where Fury rose through the ranks to become S.H.I.E.L.D.’s longtime leader, Danvers distinguished herself as Captain Marvel, a Kree-powered hero who would later become the leader of the Avengers. Throughout their heroic journeys, Captain Marvel and Nick Fury proved themselves to be two of the toughest heroes in the Marvel Universe.

Now, we’re looking back at how Captain Marvel and Nick Fury first met each other and are breaking down how their team-ups played out. We’ll also take a closer look at how these two leaders have a tighter relationship in the Ultimate Marvel Universe.

HOW CAPTAIN MARVEL MET NICK FURY

While Captain Marvel and Fury might stand alongside Earth’s Mightiest Heroes today, these heroes initially encountered each other while working as intelligence operatives in WOLVERINE (1988) #-1 by Larry Hama and Cary Nord. Shortly after escaping the Weapon X Program, Wolverine, who did not remember anything about his past, met with Dr. Myron MacLain, the scientist who discovered the formula for Adamantium. When Sabretooth and several Hydra agents attacked Wolverine at his meeting, Nick Fury and Carol Danvers saved him and drove him to safety. Although Fury was happy to see his wartime pal, Wolverine had no recollection of Fury. Once the heroes defeated Sabretooth, Fury disobeyed his orders to bring Logan in, which surprised Danvers. However, Fury said that letting the amnesiac Logan return to Canada would be his only chance for peace.

Ironically, Col. Fury gave Danvers, who was now working for the U.S. Department of Defense, orders for her next mission in BEFORE THE FANTASTIC FOUR: BEN GRIMM AND LOGAN (2000) #1 by Larry Hama and Kaare Andrews. Before the Thing and Wolverine became super heroes, they were given a mission to fly an experimental plane into Russia. Danvers accompanied them to operate some experimental scientific equipment aboard the aircraft, but her skill as a pilot ultimately played a crucial role in helping the future heroes get home.

CAPTAIN MARVEL AND NICK FURY IN SECRET INVASION

After Danvers developed powers and became a super hero, she and Fury, who was now a leader in S.H.I.E.L.D., both became regular associates of the Avengers. When the Thing invited several heroes to a poker night at Avengers Mansion, Fury and Danvers both showed up, joked with each other, and teamed up with the other heroes there to take down the rogue General Jacob Pollock in MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE (1974) #51 by Peter B. Gillis and Frank Miller. 

However, Danvers and Fury’s subsequent meeting was far less friendly. When Fury realized that the alien Skrulls were using their shapeshifting abilities to replace numerous heroes, he went into hiding and assembled the Secret Warriors, a team of young heroes, to defend Earth. When the Avengers were still trying to figure out which heroes were secret Skrulls, the aliens dropped an invasion force in Manhattan. After several younger heroes were defeated, Fury and his team stepped out of the shadows to take them on. Danvers, who was operating as Ms. Marvel, also tried to take on the Skrulls in SECRET INVASION (2008) #4 by Brian Michael Bendis and Leinil Francis Yu. But after Fury’s crew rescued the fallen heroes and civilians, he shot Danvers—thinking that she was a Skrull—and teleported away, leaving her to battle the Skrulls for hours. Despite that, a homesick Captain Marvel was still happy to run into one of Fury’s Life-Model Decoys as he and other robotic replicas of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents patrolled space in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY ANNUAL (2014) #1 by Bendis and Frank Cho.

ULTIMATE CAPTAIN MARVEL AND NICK FURY

Carol Danvers and Nick Fury had a much closer relationship in the Ultimate Marvel Comics Universe, which imagined a world where Marvel’s heroes emerged for the first time in the modern day. In this timeline, General Nick Fury served as the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and played a central role in assembling and commanding the Ultimates, this world’s version of the Avengers. Unlike her Earth-616 counterpart, Ultimate Carol Danvers never developed superhuman powers. Instead, Captain Carol Danvers served as an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., starting with her debut in ULTIMATE SECRET (2005) #1 by Warren Ellis and Steve McNiven. While Earth faced the world-devouring threat of Gah Lak Tus, Danvers served as the head of a security team guarding a top-secret spacecraft. However, Fury was impressed by her and promoted her to be his assistant.

After working with heroes like the X-Men and the Fantastic Four, Captain Danvers took over as S.H.I.E.L.D.’s leader when Fury was missing in another dimension. After ULTIMATUM (2008) devastated New York, Captain Danvers brought Captain America, Iron Man, and several other surviving heroes together to form the New Ultimates. After Fury returned to the Ultimate Universe, he assembled the Ultimate Avengers, a team of heroes that included Hawkeye, Blade, War Machine, and the Punisher. Fury and Danvers both believed that the other was selling prototype Super-Soldiers on the black market, and they tried to take each other down starting in ULTIMATE AVENGERS VS. NEW ULTIMATES (2011) #1 by Mark Millar, Leinil Francis Yu, and Stephen Segovia. After Gregory Stark was revealed to have orchestrated the conflict, Fury reassumed his role as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Danvers served as the Chief of Staff to Captain America after he was elected President of the United States until his death.