Marvel Tried Censoring A Nick Fury Comic (But Failed. Hard.)

Why is Nick not wearing his eyepatch in this shot? What does his beard represent? What information can we glean from the sweater he’s wearing? We don’t know; who cares. Let’s talk about the old Nick Fury comic that was too sexy for its own good instead. 

In the late ’60s, the Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. series by writer/artist Jim Steranko was one of Marvel’s hottest titles — so hot that they were constantly like, “Whoa, whoa, tone it down before someone sees this.” One character who regularly scandalized Marvel’s editors was S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Contessa Valentina Allegra de la Fontaine (played in the MCU by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who took the role solely because she realized she’d have the longest end credits row ever). For instance, one time, they blanked out the Contessa’s butt to make her cheeks less pronounced. Or, well, not pronounced at all.

Marvel Comics

Or like she’s a mutant with an empty void instead of a butt. 

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More than once, they removed lines from the Contessa’s cleavage, making it look like she likes to wear outfits with big skin-colored patches on the chest.

Marvel Comics

We’re surprised they didn’t add more smoke because it’s healthy for young boys. 

But one time, Marvel’s attempts to de-eroticize Steranko’s work backfired pretty spectacularly and ended up achieving the opposite. In Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #2 from 1968, Steranko drew a silent sequence of Fury and the Contessa hanging out together, ending with a shot of the two kissing. No butt (or void) grabbing or anything like that; they’re just putting their arms around each other while making out. 

Marvel Comics

Though it could also be interpreted as a shot of her about to knee him in the groin. 

Marvel Tried Censoring A Nick Fury Comic (But Failed. Hard.)
Source: Pinoy Daily News