Nick Fury

Colonel Nicholas Joseph Fury Sr. is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by co-plotter/artist Jack Kirby and writer/editor Stan Lee, he first appeared in Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #1 (May 1963), a World War II combat series that portrayed the cigar-chomping sergeant as leader of a U.S. Army Ranger unit.

The modern-day character, initially a CIA agent, debuted a few months later in Fantastic Four #21 (December 1963). In Strange Tales #135 (August 1965), the character was transformed into a James Bond-like spy and leading agent of the fictional espionage agency S.H.I.E.L.D. The character makes frequent appearances in Marvel books as the former head of S.H.I.E.L.D., and as an intermediary between the U.S. government or the United Nations and various superheroes. It is eventually revealed that he takes a special medication called the Infinity Formula that halted his aging and allows him to be active despite being nearly a century old, later leading to him becoming The Unseen, herald of Uatu the Watcher, and forming a new team of Exiles.