Samuel L Jackson – Nick Fury In Avengers and Thor

Samuel L. Jackson stopped by NBC to share some super info on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and gave a heads-up to what’s going on in his world, as well as providing a little bit of surprise information.

Jackson is a guy who doesn’t have to worry about job security for a while. He has a nine-picture deal with Marvel Studios and has done two of them so far (Iron Man, Iron Man 2). He’ll be spending the next couple of months in the shoes of Nick Fury, spending a day to film his scenes for Thor and a day shooting for Captain America: The First Avenger. Right now, even Jackson doesn’t know how or when Fury makes his appearance in the films but probably feels that the roles are small since Fury is just “connective tissue for them to join the Avengers.” He’ll have more screen time in April when work begins on The Avengers.

One little piece of surprise news was that Jackson would be doing some screen tests in a few days as the studio begins the search for Nick Fury’s sidekick. As with just about everything else related to The Avengers, rumors are already flying around, suggesting that some names are already being considered, with one in particular as the favorite. The names being mentioned are Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, the upcoming The Thing), Cobie Smulders (How I Met Your Mother, The Slammin’ Salmon), Morena Baccarin (Firefly, V), and Jessica Lucas (The Covenant, Melrose Place). Baccarin is thought to have a slight edge because of her past work with Josh Whedon on Firefly and his tendency to work with people he has a history with.

Whoever the lucky person is who gets the role will also have a nine-picture deal, indicating that Nick Fury’s sidekick won’t just be making an appearance in The Avengers.

Check out the clip with Jackson and Fallon to hear the man talk about it himself and check out the trailer for The Sunset Limited that Jackson also talks about with Fallon.