(CBR) SPOILER WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for “0-8-4,” the second episode of “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”
If you had your one good eye on the end of this week’s episode of “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” on ABC, you were rewarded with the arrival of one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s most important characters.
Samuel L. Jackson made his debut “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” appearance tonight, gracing the small-screen for the very first time as Nick Fury, the spy agency’s director. Fury appeared at the end of the hour to reprimand the somehow-still-alive Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg), whose latest black-ops mission resulted in extreme damage to The Bus, the aircraft that houses Coulson and his team.
“Really Coulson? Six days? It only took you six days to take a piece of completely renovated state of the art machinery and turn it into scrap,” Fury angrily barks at Coulson as he surveys the damage to The Bus.
“My team acted with my authority,” Coulson responds with his typical cool demeanor.
“Don’t talk to me about authority,” Fury grunts back, words he repeats throughout the scene. He reminds Coulson that he has the authority to “downgrade [his] ass to a Winnebago.”
“I want it fixed just like you found it,” orders the S.H.I.E.L.D. director. “Don’t have Fitz-Simmons making modifications, like a damn fish tank.”
Fury gives Coulson one last warning, about the dangers of recruiting newcomer Skye, before he leaves the scene, muttering, “Talking to me about authority.”
Immediately following Fury’s departure, Coulson gives an order into his comm-link: “Yeah, we’re going to have to kill the fish tank.”
Speculation about a potential Jackson cameo heated up earlier in the week thanks to a wide variety of clues, from series lead Clark Gregg’s own Twitter account to a mysterious promo on the official “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” Facebook page. Given the way the Fury cameo played out, and ABC and Marvel’s promise of more post-credits scenes in the episodes to come, you can count on seeing even more of Director Fury as “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” progresses.
“The Asset,” the third episode of “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” airs 8 p.m. (7 p.m. Central) Tuesday, Oct. 8, on ABC.