To the surprise of fans everywhere rumors came abound that Samuel L. Jackson' negotiation's with Marvel to reprise his short roll as Nick Fury in Iron Man 2 have fallen through. Nick Fury is a bit role in Iron Man 1 but will no doubt play a heavy hitting role in the next few Marvel movies coming out in the next couple of years. This being said it would be nice to see some continuity from movie to movie. Having the same actor in the same roll not only keeps a sense of a continuing storyline arc through these next few movies but will also help the fans that aren't all that familiar with who Nick Fury is.
Comic book fans know who Nick Fury is and what roll he plays in the Comic book universe. The normal movie going audience does not. They know Nick Fury as Samuel L. Jackson and that's popular to them because he is liked in so many other movies.
The negotiation rumors with Sam are probably over money. If they are then this situation reminds me of the Mcfarlane/Marvel split in the 90's. When Marvel didn't want to up Mcfarlane's pay to stay onboard drawing their most popular title in years. I just wish that someone over at Marvel would suddenly come to the realization that "Hey were making millions of dollars on this movie and other properties lets give the fans what the fans want, even if it costs us some more up front. The returns certainly are there." Besides I call BS on this entire rumor. I'm hoping Marvel has gotten smarter and will not switch out one of their future main characters over a few pennies. Hopefully they will figure it out.
jman
Update: Variety has since confirmed that the breakdown in negotiations is in fact about the salary that Mr. Jackson would earn for reprising his role as Nick Fury. Mickey Rourke is reportedly only earning a base salary of $250,000 for his upcoming role in Iron Man 2. This kind of cheese doesn't cut it for the always yelling even when he talks Samuel L. Jackson.