The "eagle eyes" at Entertainment Weekly brought something to our attention that you may want to take note of. In a Facebook promo for tomorrow night's all-new episode of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. there's a familiar item on the logo at the very end; Yup, an eyepatch. Now, who which bad motherf*cker in the Marvel Universe wears an eyepatch? Oh, right, that would be Nick Fury, commander of the titular organization and all around badass as played by Samuel L. Jackson throughout the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Is the inclusion of said eyepatch a guarantee we'll see Jackson make a guest appearance? Not necessarily, but the promo does say, "Be sure to stay until the end of the credits on Tuesday. In true Marvel fashion, you never know what might happen."
My bet is that Jackson does make an appearance. We'll find out if I'm wrong tomorrow, but if you had me put money on it now, sure, I'd toss in a few bucks for that. The thing is, although S.H.I.E.L.D. broke all kinds of debut records, the real test comes in the form of longevity and momentum and one way to get both of those is to pull out the stops. Dropping in a few guest spots that don't equate more committment than a lunch break walk-on role is a sure fire bet to keep folks coming back just to see who turns up. Also, it's a great way to cross promote, especially with a hammer-wielding god of thunder about to drop a sequel and a shield-wielding patriot following just behind. Why not capitalize on that, right?
The series got some ratings kudos, but reception was a little lukewarm, which isn't uncommon for a new show, but not the temperature you want to stay at if you're looking to make it to season two. We'll see what happens tomorrow night, when Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. kicks off their second episode with a potentially kick ass cameo.
And be sure to check back for our review of the episode on Wednesday morning as we kick off our new review column for the show: Welcome to Level 7: This Week on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.!
Samuel L. Jackson will next be seen as Nick Fury (for sure!) in CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER on April 4, 2014.