'Avengers: Endgame' writers explain why Nick Fury was absent from the final battle

It was a case of all hands on deck in order to save humanity in the final, climactic battle scene in Avengers: Endgame.

All except for Nick Fury.

Samuel L. Jackson's irascible boss of superhero organisation SHIELD was notable by his lack of participation against Thanos's hoards.

Maybe it was bone spurs.

Speaking to ComicBook.com, Endgame writer Christopher Markus has explained why he wasn't involved, and sure, it makes a fair bit of sense.

“I don’t think we ever put him in,” Markus says plainly.

Read more: A grisly death for Captain America was axed from Endgame

“It was [because] we have such a traffic jam of heroes and so much power, that to have a guy who, in combat, would just be firing a gun… it doesn’t come off well for Nick Fury, frankly.”

Yep, that would have been a pretty underwhelming show of force, even if they gave him a really, really big gun.

And so, he survived and lived to fight another day. Or creepily stalk Peter Parker in Spider-Man: Far From Home, as it turns out.

Meanwhile, director Anthony Russo has also been discussing the rationale of another plot point in the movie – that of Steve Rogers passing the shield on to Sam Wilson, aka Falcon, to become the new Captain America rather than Bucky Barnes (though it is what happens in the comic books, so there's that too).

While at Comic Con in San Diego, Russo told Yahoo Movies in the US: “We wanted to make sure that we gave it proper thought in terms of who would move forward.

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“It seemed really appropriate for the connection that Cap and Sam had. Ever since they met in [2014's Captain America: The Winter Soldier] there seemed a very common bond between the two characters in terms of their military background, their humility, their sort of commitment to serving. It just seemed like that would be the person Cap would entrust.

“We had the conversation [about Bucky], but we try to logic it out and sit in the room and talk through what makes the most sense from an arc standpoint and from a logic standpoint, and Sam made the most sense.”