Nick Fury

Nicholas "Nick" Joseph Fury was an officer of the US Army and a CIA Agent during the Cold War. He later joined S.H.I.E.L.D. He quickly impressed his S.H.I.E.L.D. bosses and was ultimately promoted to the position of Director, He led S.H.I.E.L.D. for years, founding the Avengers Initiative, Project T.A.H.I.T.I. and Project Insight.

Preceding the S.H.I.E.L.D. Civil War, an assassination attempt was made on his life. Fury survived but chose to remain officially dead, choosing to tell only a select few that he was still alive. After the attack on the Triskelion, he went deep underground to begin rooting out the forces of HYDRA. As a part of this mission, he joined Phil Coulson and helped him and his team defeat John Garrett. Afterwards, he made Coulson the new Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and left to continue his mission.