Samuel L. Jackson was surprised by his Marvel contract's length: 'How long I gotta stay alive to make nine movies?'

The Nick Fury actor joked he had no idea how fast the Marvel machine could grind through a nine-picture deal.

Samuel L. Jackson has been in the movie business for a long time, but he'd never seen anything like his Marvel contract.

"I knew I had a nine-picture deal," Jackson recently recalled to GQ. "When Kevin [Feige, Marvel Studios president] said that, 'We're gonna offer you a nine-picture deal,'" Jackson thought, "How long I gotta stay alive to make nine movies?"

Jackson continued, "It's not the quickest process in the world, people don't do it. I didn't know they were going to make nine movies in like two and a half years. It's kinda crazy, like, Oh sh--, I'm using up my contracts! But it worked out."

It's true that Marvel moves through films faster than most studios would ever dare to try, but "two and a half years" is in reality more like 11. Jackson's first appearance in the MCU as Nick Fury, the former spy, Avengers founder, and director of S.H.I.E.L.D., was in 2008's Iron Man, and his ninth was in 2019's Spider-Man: Far From Home.

The character and the conditions at Marvel were clearly agreeable enough to Jackson, because he has starred in a tenth film (The Marvels), three TV series (Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., What If...?, and Secret Invasion), and three video games (Iron Man 2, Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes, and Disney Infinity 3.0) as Fury.

Related: Samuel L. Jackson teases a 'flawed' Nick Fury in Secret Invasion

When asked about his favorite moment as the character, Jackson didn't hesitate in naming the scene in Captain America: The Winter Soldier "when he's in the car, I mean, that's quintessential Nick Fury. It's like, Okay, no panic, just cool, figuring it out, make the next move, make the next move, make the next move. You know, badass s---."

The 2014 film's scene sees Fury outmaneuver an assassination attempt orchestrated by the villainous HYDRA by opening fire from a turret built into his SUV.

Related: Pulp Fiction star Samuel L. Jackson challenges Quentin Tarantino's Marvel comments

Jackson was also asked about his stated desire to have Fury visit Wakanda one day. He explained that "all of us were doing that — all the Black people in the Marvel universe were trying to figure out why we can't go to Wakanda: me, Don [Cheadle], Anthony Mackie."

Black Panther and its sequel, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, featured two of the most impressive ensemble casts of Black actors the industry's ever seen. But "I still didn't get there," Jackson lamented.

Jackson's last Marvel project was Nia DaCosta's The Marvels, in 2023. He had a packed roster this year, with roles in four non-Marvel films, including his voice role as Vic in The Garfield Movie and his starring role in the August Wilson adaptation The Piano Lesson. He can be seen next in the Western The Unholy Trinity opposite Pierce Brosnan.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.