It is a surprise to no one that I like Nick Fury. As his concept stage and release is coming closer, I thought I'd share some thoughts I've had.
First the big one. Classic Nick Fury versus the Ultimate Nick Fury inspired guy that is everywhere these days. Let's just say that I have strong opinions about the status of classic Fury's treatment in the 616 over the last few years. They don't matter as much as Marvel Heroes is concerned though. Naturally the ultimate inspired look would be the default. But I don't think the classic one needs to be an enhanced costume. Partly because that would be a lot of enhanced costumes for one guy, and partly because Keith David is a talented guy who has a voice that could work for both versions. Just please, give me a Steranko-era costume at release. That's all I ask.
Now for powers. It seems to me that it would be logical to have "Howling Commando" be the shooty tree, "Agent of SHIELD" be the tech stuff like explosives or LMD revives, or whatever, and "Director of SHIELD" be the summoning tree. Back in the day, it was being bounced around that Fury would be Nickromancer, like a d2 summoner. I don't think that is as needed these days. Doom and Ultron both can swarm with summons, and Magik is pretty much a D2 Necro anyway.
That's why I thought to take a page out of some other characters books. I think a Command system like Magik would work out, with a mixture of small fry and a choice of heavy hitter. But then I had a thought... Why not give Nick four different summons that were basically cooldown effects? They have a duration and cooldown, and hit hard. The even if the duration got so high as to exceed the cooldown, you couldn't have two of the same summon out at the same time anyway.
The first is obvious.
That is Dum Dum Dugan punching out Godzilla. How can you not have that guy be a heavy hitter? The other obvious one would be a SHIELD goon swarm. Depending on things, it could be two different summons, a ranged or melee, or one summon that brings in a rifle agent, shotgun agent, and minigun agent. I don't know about the other two summons. Maybe Quake and/or Clay Quartermain or something.
Now, what I think would be interesting is the passive at the end of the tree. Let's call it Supreme Espionage Leadership for now. In addition to giving a party buff (and I think Fury should give two different party buffs, Endurance and Toughness for example) it would boost Summon Ally Damage, Duration, and Health. It would also explore new design space by buffing the Teamup. Straight damage bonus would be simpliest, but more interesting would have the buff change based on team-ups role. More damage if Active, more duration if Assist, or proc cooldown reduction if Passive.
Then I would have three specializations for the passive that make Nick's summons work like Team-Ups. Want the goons out all the time? Select Backup and now they get +10 minutes duration, but a penalty to damage. Want to go summonless? Take Unseen Army for some passive bonuses, and perhaps procs based on how much you invested in the summons. Or take Elite Forces for the same cooldown/heavy damage version already backed in. Elite Forces would add a mighty mandroid to the SHIELD swarm cooldown as an example, or unlock a special attack for Dum Dum.
Those are my thoughts regarding Fury. Whatever Gazillion goes with, I hope he is as fun to play as to read.