Credit: Inside the MagicIt’s no secret that Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige knows what fans want. And in this particular case, Disney’s idea for an ambitious project featuring Nick Fury was music to his ears—literally.
Samuel L. Jackson is back in action as former S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury in Marvel’s latest Disney+ series, Secret Invasion. The show follows a shaken Fury as he returns to Earth after Thanos’ defeat in Avengers: Endgame (2019) amid learning of a global conspiracy set forth by a radicalized group of disgruntled Skrull refugees who are trying to claim Earth as their own by starting a war between the U.S. and Russia.
Along the way, he’ll have to rely on the support of allies like Agent Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) and Skrull General Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) to help stomp out this dangerous threat, all while keeping an eye on the mysterious MI6 Agent Sonya Flasworth (Olivia Colman) and Talos’ daughter, G’iah, who seems to be questioning her allegiance to Skrull General Gravik (Kingsley Ben-Adir) and his cause.
Nick Fury is also set to star in the upcoming Captain Marvel (2019) sequel, The Marvels (2023), where he’ll be reunited with Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers after the high-flying superhero finds herself in a sticky situation upon the discovery that her powers have been mixed-up with Jersey teen Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani) and WandaVision‘s Monica Rambeau/Photon (Teyonah Parris).
Coinciding with his show and his upcoming MCU flick, Nick Fury also makes a less-than-conventional appearance in yet another Marvel project that might, perhaps, seem a bit out of character with the wise-cracking, “No BS” S.H.I.E.L.D. agent we all know and love: Disneyland California Adventure Resort’s Rogers: The Musical.
Inspired by the fictional Broadway show from the Disney+ Hawkeye miniseries, Disney Parks and Marvel Studios made Rogers: The Musical a reality by creating a live theater adaptation of the long-running MCU gag for Disneyland Resort, which will be hosted at the Hyperion Theater through the end of August.
For the new MCU-sical, Rogers: The Musical‘s creative team was tasked with creating several new Marvel-inspired showstoppers, one of which featured the star of Secret Invasion himself: Nick Fury. And it seems like his musical number sparked a strong reaction from the Marvel Studios President.
Kevin Feige has long been a supporter of Rogers: The Musical, with Hawkeye series director Rhys Thomas revealing that Feige “seized on it right away” when the show was in early development and remained invested in the idea despite Thomas’ concerns, insisting, “No, we’re doing it.” Since then, the studio exec actually chose to kickstart his company’s panel at last year’s D23 Expo with an energetic live performance of “Save the City,” further cementing his love for the musical concept.
Now, following Rogers: The Musical‘s opening night at Disneyland on June 30, Disney and Marvel creatives revealed Feige’s initial reaction to Nick Fury’s song and dance number titled “What You Missed,” where he gives Cap the notebook from Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) while filling him in on major historical events he missed via an energetic musical number.
Unbelievable as it may seem, this indeed means the ex-S.H.I.E.L.D. Director sings about all things pop culture, including Star Wars (a hilarious meta-reference considering Samuel L. Jackon’s role in the Prequel Trilogy), I Love Lucy, the moon landing, Steve Jobs, and even Nirvana.
Following a media preview of Rogers: The Musical, David Bushore, the Vice President of Franchise Creative and Marketing at Marvel Studios, shared Feige’s hilarious reaction to the Nick Fury musical number after WDI (Walt Disney Imagineering) pitched the stage show and brought them the animatic, saying:
I have to set this up. So Dan [Fields] brings me the animatic, and we’re watching it at WDI, and Nick Fury’s singing. And, I’m like, ‘Ok, interesting. Um, what?’ And then, we talked about it and you explained it and I went, ‘Ok, I get it, I get it, I get it. Cool. Cool. Cool.’
Although Bushore might’ve been reluctant at first, Dan Fields, the Executive Creative Director at Disney Live Entertainment, apparently did a good job at convincing him and Fiege to go through with Rogers: The Musical, who continued by sharing the Marvel President’s overly-enthusiastic response to Nick Fury’s “What You Missed” song:
And Kevin says, ‘Nick Fury sings? That should be on the billboard!’ He said, ‘Embrace that. Lean into that.’ So that kind of trust between the studio and the entertainment and Imagineering and the scope of these amazing consultants and collaborators, that’s where that energy comes from. We get to create something new.
It’s not surprising that Kevin Feige would show his support for Rogers: The Musical, even if the Creative Directors were initially nervous about pitching it. With Marvel leaning into the more lighthearted, comedy aspects of the franchise in recent projects like Hawkeye, Thor: Love and Thunder (2022), and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023), a campy musical act exclusive to Disneyland California Adventure seems like just the kind of fun crowd-pleaser Marvel sorely needs at the moment.
And so far, fans can’t seem to get enough of the new-unveiled Hyperion show. Virtual queues and “Premium Viewing Experience packages” have sold out in the days following its premiere, with all four showtimes filling up daily. Considering Rogers: The Musical has an extremely limited run, this isn’t exactly surprising, though its smash-hit success at Disneyland might push the Park to extend the show through fall.
For now, Kevin Feige’s hilariously on-brand reaction to Nick Fury’s musical number in Rogers says it all about what Guests can expect to see in the brand-new theater production. And who knows? Maybe we’ll get an in-universe reference to “What You Missed” in future episodes of Secret Invasion.
Have you gotten the chance to see Rogers: The Musical yet? If so, what did you think? Share your thoughts in the comments below.