The turn of the century brought a new era at Marvel Comics with the arrival of Joe Quesada as editor-in-chief and the explosive success of films like Spider-Man and X-Men. Shedding the complex continuity that had been the foundation of Marvel for so long, the company saw itself experimenting more in the late 1990's. Lost in the shuffle is Nick Fury, adrift in adventures where he mostly served as a mouthpiece for the prevalent "no nonsense, take no prisoners" philosophy in the wake of the Sept 11th tragedy.

The character gained new fans in his ultra-violent and foul-mouthed MAX incarnation and even more so in his ultra popular Samuel Jackson-patterned Ultimate alter ego. Still proving a cornerstone of the Marvel Universe, no matter what permutation, the original Nick Fury continued to appear in various classic Marvel titles. Following Dan Jurgen's run on Captain America, the S.H.I.E.L.D. family dwindled back to one as Nick Fury found himself mostly surrounded by nameless agents. Even stalwarts like Dum Dum were hard to find and Sharon Carter was nary seen outside of the pages of Captain America.

The mid 2000s ushered in a series of storylines that upset the status quo in the Marvel Universe to a degree unseen for some time; Avengers Disassembled, House of M, Civil War and Secret Invasion. Nick Fury featured at the heart of his own event miniseries, Secret War by Fury-super fan and lead Marvel architect Brian Michael Bendis. Fury was left on the run at the end of Secret War and the character adopted one of the lowest profiles in his history, appearing almost exclusively in the pages of Ed Brubacker's hit Captain America run. Eventually the unveiling of Secret Invasion brought Fury once again to the fore, standing side by side with the heroes of the Marvel Universe, leading into his first series since the early 1990s, Secret Warriors.

Nick Fury earned increased awareness by the public at large as a result of his appearance in the blockbuster 2008 film, Iron Man. Played by Samuel L. Jackson, the newly launched Marvel Cinematic Universe has taken a page from the Ultimate universe with the casting of Jackson as the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. With Jackson's agreement to play the part in future Marvel films, its guaranteed that Nick Fury will gain the widest exposure the character has had in its history.

Following the mega-success of The Avengers film, Marvel instituted a Marvel Now revamp that included introducing Marcus Johnson, aka Nick Fury Jr., as a potential replacement for "classic" Nick Fury. This new Fury was introduced in the pages of the Battle Scars miniseries, which also introduced Agent Coulson from the Marvel films into the regular Marvel universe of comics.

Original Sin in 2014 turned Nick Fury continuity on its head with retcons galore that posed a now greatly aged and crazed Fury as a galactic defender of Earth whose bloody hands earn him a cursed existance far removed from anything he was before.