Nick Fury: The Ultimate Artist Manager

Artist managers represent different kinds of artists ranging from musicians, to actors, book writers, composers, vocalists, motivational speakers, sport stars, and in some cases superheroes.
 Yes! Superheroes. Superheroes are artists who sometimes require the services of a highly skilled artist manger in order to concentrate on what they are good at the most, which is creating art. Nick Fury, a character from Marvel’s Comic Universe, would make a perfect example. In director Josh Weldon’s 2012 blockbuster and adaptation of Marvel's Comic Universe, The Avengers, Colonel Nick Fury was played by Samuel L. Jackson who was in charge of managing the Avengers, a group of individuals including Iron Man, Sir Incredible Hulk, Captain America, Thor, Black Widow and Hawkeye.

Now if you will imagine the Avengers as a rock band, let’s say… The Beatles. Work with me here okay, I’m actually going somewhere with this. Similar to The Beatles, The Avengers consist of individuals with strong personalities and different skill sets. Their various talents require an artist manager who would supervise all their day-to-day tasks, and responsibilities in order to function well as a unit. This is where Nick Fury is most effective. His job as the artist manager for the Avengers requires deciding what missions they took on. He usually had all the information they needed: the magnitude of the problem, its effects, and the coordinates of the bad guys. All the Avengers had to do was show up and “Smash!” (I stole that one from Captain America).

An artist manager could be talented but he/she never interferes with the artist’s creative decisions. This principle holds true in Nick Fury’s case. He has skills of his own, but always sticks to what he is best at, which is management of the artist. He is aware of the gifts each member of his band possesses; therefore, he gives them total creative control. In addition, for sake of motivating the Avengers, he acts like a friend every now and then, but he is neither a yes-man nor a boss to them. Artist management can be a very demanding job, and even though there are no contracts or publishing rights for Colonel Nick Fury to map out, there is no denying that he is an ultimate artist manager.