By Lee Pfeiffer
MTV reports that there are serious discussions taking place about turning Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D into a new Marvel film franchise. The problem is that the films would be expensive and Fury doesn't have the name recognition of other Marvel heroes, though he has been portrayed as a supporting character by Samuel L. Jackson in the Iron Man films. Fury actually began as a popular Marvel WWII hero with the comic book Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos in a long-running series that began in 1962. In the mid-60s, Fury spun off into another comic during the James Bond rage. This found him working in the post-War years as a hi-tech secret agent for a government agency called S.H.I.E.L.D, which was an obvious nod to U.N.C.L.E. He still had his trademark eye patch and omnipresent cigar, however. The Nick Fury comics were initially drawn by Jack Kirby when they ran as installments in the Strange Tales comics. When he received his own comic, the early issues drawn by the moody but brilliant Jim Steranko were considered to be ground-breaking, but Steranko left Marvel after a short tenure and the Nick Fury comics lost much of their luster. For more on the development of Fury as a screen hero, click here