Every Time Nick Fury May Have Secretly Been a Skrull in the MCU

Spider-Man: Far From Home confirmed that Nick Fury is a character fans need to keep both eyes on, thanks to a huge post-credits revelation. That sent me back through the entire MCU to lay out every point where I believe Fury was secretly replaced by a Skrull, and where the real one was back in charge.

My starting point is Iron Man from 2008, where Fury first appeared in the post-credits scene. In hindsight, because of his past dealings with Captain Marvel, it became clear he already knew the planet might need protecting from what was coming. At this stage I believe Fury is one hundred percent human, but I think this moment works as the springboard for him to start putting contingency plans in place for the future.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier is where I think the first Skrull swap happens

Fury famously survives an assassination attempt in Winter Soldier, and after that attack I believe he decides to go into hiding. When he later meets Cap in his apartment, it makes sense that given the danger he was in, he would send a Skrull bodyguard in his place rather than risk himself again.

That theory would explain how this version of Fury is able to take a hit from a high caliber gun and still survive long enough to reach the hospital. It also lines up with the dialogue, since this Fury tells Cap to trust no one in that scene, and Skrulls are exactly the kind of characters who would drop a line about deception.

Fury's death scene never sat right with me, and I think that is because it is a Skrull

The follow up death scene, which happens concurrently with the earlier assassination attempt, always bothered me. I have never been able to reconcile this version of events with how Fury supposedly went into hiding beforehand. My read on it is that this is a Skrull on the operating table, which makes much more sense of how he is able to die and then come back later in the film.

I believe the Fury we see at the very end of Winter Soldier is the real one. But then the next time the character shows up, in Avengers: Age of Ultron, I think he has been swapped again.

The Captain Marvel toast test is the evidence I point to for Age of Ultron

So what evidence supports another swap by Age of Ultron? When Carol Danvers and Nick Fury meet in a bar around the midpoint of Captain Marvel, they test each other to prove neither of them is a Skrull. Fury tells Carol something so secret about himself that a Skrull could never fabricate it, which is that he cannot eat toast that has been cut diagonally.

It is a strange, oddly specific detail, which is exactly why I think it was included, because it works as a way to identify the real Fury later.

That detail connects directly to Age of Ultron. In the farm scene where Fury reunites with the team, he slices up a sandwich into triangles before eating it. It is not toast, but I think the same rule would still apply, and it is the only time we really see Fury eat on screen. Anyone familiar with how food gets used deliberately in film should notice that choice was not random.

From Captain Marvel onward I think Fury stays the real one, until Far From Home

From the Captain Marvel bar scene onward, I believe the Fury we see is genuinely human, including in the post-credits scene of Infinity War and again in Endgame at Tony's funeral. However, I think that funeral is what makes him realize he needs to step back for a while, which is why he calls Talos to take over in Far From Home, leading to the big reveal at the end of that film.

Whether the character does another switcheroo after that remains to be seen. The Marvels came out in phase five, and with the characters interacting properly with the alien race again, that could still confirm more of this theory.

Why I think a fourth Skrull is still unaccounted for

One thing I keep coming back to is that when the Skrulls land on Earth in Captain Marvel, there are clearly four in the group, yet only three are accounted for by the end of the film. That means one of them disappeared and was never seen or heard from again, which to me suggests that Skrull remained on Earth, probably working with Fury and the rest of Shield.

Do you think there is a fourth Skrull from Captain Marvel still working alongside Fury, and which of these swaps do you buy?