Nick Fury

Few characters embody Marvel's bold Modern Age reinvention quite like this Nick Fury — the hard-edged super-spy who stepped onto the page in 2001 courtesy of Brian Michael Bendis and Mike Allred in Ultimate Marvel Team-Up #5, part of the line that rewired the Marvel Universe for a new generation. Over a publishing run stretching an impressive quarter-century, he's carved out his place across Ultimate Spider-Man, Ultimate Six, and Ultimate Avengers, keeping company with the likes of Spider-Man, Captain America, Tony Stark, and Peter Parker — as elite a roster of co-stars as Marvel has to offer. With a key issue already to his name and 51 catalog appearances spanning 2001 to 2026, this is a Fury built for the long haul — a fixture of the Ultimate universe whose presence signals that the stakes just got very, very serious.