Legend to legend, Samuel L. Jackson shared a valuable piece of advice he received from Bruce Willis while they were filming the 1994 action hit Die Hard With a Vengeance. In a special feature for Vanity Fair celebrating Willis' 70th birthday, Jackson recounted Willis' sage words: "Hopefully you’ll be able to find a character that, when you make bad movies and they don’t make any money, you can always go back to this character everybody loves." Willis emphasized the importance of having a beloved character to fall back on, citing examples like Arnold Schwarzenegger's Terminator, Sylvester Stallone's Rocky and Rambo, and his own John McClane. It wasn't until Jackson landed the role of Nick Fury with a nine-picture deal that he realized he had found his own iconic character, just as Willis had suggested.

Jackson's journey as Nick Fury began with a post-credits cameo in 2008's Iron Man. He then fully embraced the role in 2010's Iron Man 2. Since his debut, Jackson has reprised the role in an impressive total of 10 films, three TV series, and two video games. His most recent performances as Nick Fury can be seen in the 2023 film The Marvels, the series Secret Invasion, and a voice role in the Season 2 finale of the animated series Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur.

In a humorous reflection, Jackson shared with GQ in September 2024 that he initially questioned whether he would live long enough to fulfill his nine-film contract with Marvel. He admitted to underestimating the speed of the Marvel production machine, saying, "I knew I had a nine-picture deal when Kevin [Feige] said, 'We wanna offer you a nine-picture deal.' I was like, 'How long I gotta stay alive to make nine movies?' It's not the quickest process in the world and people don't do it, so I didn't know they were gonna make nine movies in like two-and-a-half years. Which is kind of crazy. I was like 'Oh s—t, I'm using up my contracts!' but it worked out."