8 Marvel Movies No One Remembers
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Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (1998)
Credit: 20th Century Fox
Written by David Goyer (Blade, Batman Begins)? A proper production company (20th Century Fox)?
Supporting characters who were actually from the comics?
David Hasselhoff as Nick Fury?
How could it fail?
Nick Fury was the last of the low-budget Marvel TV films before Blade and X-Men changed the formula. And like the others it came and went with barely a whimper, with its original broadcast coming behind a rerun of JAG in the ratings. The main problem is that whilst several of the other films on this list have a camp fun to them, Nick Fury is just dull. It never takes any risks.
Hasselhoff is a gamely gruff Fury, hamming it up and chewing scenery like his life depended on it. The rest of the cast are recognizable without being particularly inspiring, including a young Lisa Rinna (best known today as one of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills). They play a range of characters plucked from the comics, including Dum Dum Dugan, Arnim Zola, Alexander Pierce, Baron von Strucker and Andrea von Strucker. Andreas was curiously absent, though Werner von Strucker did make an appearance.
David Hasselhoff still comes across a little bitter about not being brought back as Fury in the MCU, saying in a 2012 interview:
My Nick Fury was the organic Nick Fury that was written and discussed with Stan Lee before anyone got in there to change it. Avi Arad, when they bought (the rights), said, ‘Don't worry, you're going to be the Nick Fury forever,' and they lied.