Secret Invasion: Why Was Nick Fury Not Wearing His Eyepatch?

Warning: This post contains SPOILERS for Secret Invasion

Steve Rogers’ defining feature as Captain America is his vibranium shield, Tony Stark’s is his Arc Reactor as Iron Man, and Nicholas J. Fury–the former Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and founder of the Avengers–has his signature eye patch.

RELATED: Secret Invasion: Where Are The Avengers?

Therefore, fans were understandably confused while Fury paraded around the events of Marvel and Disney Plus’ Secret Invasion show without his iconic accessory. Here’s why Fury has not been wearing his eye patch in the miniseries.

Why Was Fury Not Wearing His Eye Patch?

Landing on Earth after his lengthy stint on the space station S.A.B.E.R., Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) was notably without his eye patch on arrival, and the character continued to let his cloudy eye breathe for the first four episodes of Secret Invasion. After debuting within the MCU during the post-credits scene for 2008’s Iron Man, Fury has never been without his eye patch, not including the prequel feature Captain Marvel, but there’s a simple explanation for the patch’s recent absence.

Speaking to Vanity Fair back in March, actor Samuel L. Jackson provided an eye-opening explanation for the eye patch mystery. Jackson pointed out that “the patch is part of who the strong Nick Fury was,” emphasizing that “it’s part of his vulnerability now.” Touching on Fury’s lack of form in earlier episodes of the show, pointed out by Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) and Rhodey (Don Cheadle), Jackson continued: “You can look at it and see he’s not this perfectly indestructible person. He doesn’t feel like that guy.”

RELATED: Secret Invasion: Is Talos Really Dead?

It’s clear from the actor’s statement that Fury’s eye patch was a symbol of strength and dominance, and now that he’s taken a knock from the Blip, Fury is in a weakened state, physically, mentally, and emotionally, and the exposure of his scarred eye is emblematic of his fragility.

Fury Returns To Form

Losing Maria Hill, Talos (Ben Mendelsohn), and Rhodey to the Skrull imposter Raava, Fury has never been at rock bottom, especially since he refuses to call in help from the Avengers. But instead of surrendering to his shortcomings, Secret Invasion episode 5, titled Harvest, showed his resurgence.

Now exposed to the world as Maria’s killer–even though viewers know it was Gravik in disguise– Fury has all the odds stacked against him, but after uniting with M16’s Sonya Falsworth (Olivia Colman), Fury travels to Finland with her in order to shift back into high gear. We see Fury and Sonya visit one of the former’s many fake graves planted around the world, where he retrieves the Harvest vial, and in another panel hidden inside a tomb, we see Fury switch coats and don his eye patch once again.

RELATED: Secret Invasion: Are Dr. Rosa And Victor Dalton In Marvel Comics?

Deciding to reclaim his eye patch and swap his more debonair coat for a slicker one is more in line with Fury’s style we’ve known for over a decade. This wardrobe change symbolizes the character’s return to form in the wake of Gravik’s (Kingsley Ben-Adir) ultimatum, just in time for the finale, and he no doubt has a plan up his sleeve ahead of his meeting with the Super Skrull villain.

What Happened To Nick Fury’s Eye?

During the majority of Fury’s MCU appearances, fans just accepted that the agent was an eye down and that’s the way it was, and it wasn’t until the 2019 Phase 3 prequel film, Captain Marvel, when the cause of Fury’s scar was revealed.

While traveling with Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) to gather intel on Dr. Wendy Lawson, a.k.a. Mar-Vell, Fury meets a ginger cat called Goose, but the feline turns out to be a Flerken–an alien creature harboring many tentacles in its mouth–who joins them on their investigation. During a moment of bonding (or at least Fury thought it was) Goose decides to scratch Fury’s left eye, thus explaining the character’s injury in the MCU.

Comparing his scar from earlier appearances to the one in Secret Invasion, Fury’s mark has changed drastically, evolving from a web of scars surrounding the eye resembling lightning bolts to three, clear scratches cut across the eye more in line with Goose’s claws. Since it’s not clearly visible during a majority of Secret Invasion, we’re going to ignore the fact that Fury also had a scar resembling a pitchfork during episode 3, which may or may not confirm his secret identity as the long-anticipated Mephisto–do with that information what you will.

Comic book aficionados will know that Marvel Comics explained a different set of events behind Fury’s lost eye, stating the scar was caused by grenade shrapnel during World War II that caused him to lose 95% of his vision and gain one gnarly disfigurement. The Fantastic Four comics included Fury without an eye patch while he was working for the CIA and fighting in the Korean War, but it was later revealed that he wore a bionic eye replacement and his natural eye was obliterated after being shot by Scorpio.

NEXT: Secret Invasion: Who Is Priscilla Fury, Nick Fury’s Wife?