Colonel Nick Fury

Few characters embody the Marvel Silver Age with quite the swagger of Colonel Nick Fury — the hard-edged, eye-patch-wearing super-spy who stormed onto the scene in Strange Tales #135 in 1965, courtesy of the legendary Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Over nearly six decades of Marvel history, Fury has proven himself one of the publisher's most enduring figures, anchoring his own Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. series and racking up 248 catalog appearances — 15 of them recognized as key collector issues. He's the kind of character who keeps rarefied company, sharing pages with the likes of Dum Dum Dugan, Steve Rogers, Captain America, and Spider-Man, which tells you everything about his place at the very center of the Marvel universe. If you want a character who has been essential to Marvel storytelling from the go-go sixties straight through to today, Colonel Nick Fury is your man.