Everyone knows that Nick Fury was redesigned in Marvel Comics to look like Samuel L. Jackson, and everyone knows that was one of the major reasons why the legendary actor agreed to show up in Kevin Feige’s cinematic universe as the cycloptic head of S.H.I.E.L.D. as the first appearance on a groundbreaking nine-picture contract.
Now that the Multiverse Saga is in full swing, there are no limits on which actors to have played Marvel characters can be brought back for a fan-baiting cameo, but the MCU would have to be pretty desperate for a cheap pop were it to draft in David Hasselhoff as a variant of Fury.
The Baywatch veteran played the role in a thoroughly terrible made-for-TV movie released in 1998, painting the picture of a bizarre alternate reality where the guy known for running in slo-mo on the beach ended up as the one who assembled the Avengers, which doesn’t really bear thinking about.
In a wide-ranging interview with Vulture spanning his entire career, Jackson reflected on his legacy as the eye patch and trenchcoat enthusiast, which he drastically undersold as “better me than David Hasselhoff, is that what you’re saying?” In case there was any doubt, the answer is most definitely yes.
He did lightly garnish his predecessor with praise by saying his outing was “alright,” but unless hell freezes over and they come face to face in The Kang Dynasty or Secret Wars, there’s only ever going to be one definitive take on Nick Fury, and it ain’t The Hoff.