Samuel L. Jackson on Nick Fury’s boring desk job in Captain Marvel

Over the past decade, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has grown into, well, it's own little universe, complete with legions of characters shifting in and out of each other's stories. The upcoming CAPTAIN MARVEL will not be much different as it will find Samuel L. Jackson, Djimon Hounsou, Lee Pace, and Clark Gregg all reprising their Marvel roles, but as the film takes place in the 1990s, we'll see these characters at a much different stage of their lives.

Since his very first appearance in the post-credit sequence of IRON MAN, Nick Fury (Jackson) has been an integral part of the MCU, seemingly having all the answers to this brave new world of superheros. However, in the world of CAPTAIN MARVEL, Fury is a mere rookie, and Samuel L. Jackson told Empire that his encounter with Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) constitutes his first extraterrestrial contact.

He’s been out of the army for a while, and he’s no basically riding a desk in the newly created S.H.I.E.L.D. He’s kind of bored! He doesn’t go in the field and do a lot of stuff. He’s doing threat assessment, and there’s not a lot of ways to do that that are exciting… The fact he helps [Captain Marvel] rediscover her history bonds them in a very real and genuine way. He becomes an integral part of who she is and how she sees the rest of the universe.

CAPTAIN MARVEL directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck spoke with Fandango about the film earlier this month, including commenting on what sort of vibe it will have compared to the other Marvel Cinematic Universe movies. "We approached this movie as being, at the heart of it, this mystery of self-identity for Captain Marvel. It has a lot of playfulness in it, and that kind of buddy-cop vibe that Captain Marvel has with the Nick Fury character was really an important touchstone for us," Boden said, with Fleck adding, "Yeah. Like the '80s and '90s buddy-cop movies, like 48 Hrs. or Lethal Weapon. We have some of that. Those movies, even the serious ones, they have a really terrific sense of humor, and we wanted to maintain that as well." Boden also spoke about what audiences will find the most surprising about this particular take on Captain Marvel.

I think one of the really fun things about this movie, because it is an origin story, is that it's not your traditional origin story. What's going to be fun and surprising for an audience is going to be uncovering the mystery of how this particular superhero got her powers and became who she is, along with [being] on a journey with this character. It was a really fun way to make a movie, a really fun way to imagine an origin story, because it has this nontraditional structure. I think it's going to be a fun ride for people.

CAPTAIN MARVEL will hit theaters on March 8, 2019.