“I’ll get that vampire’s blood if I have to suck it from her neck.”
The terrorist organization HYDRA breaks into the headquarters of S.H.I.E.L.D. and steals the cryogenically frozen body of Baron Wolfgang Von Strucker, killing Agent Clay Quartermain (Adrian G. Griffiths) in the process. Although HYDRA’s threat to the world has been reduced it is now being run by Von Strucker’s children, daughter, Andrea Von Strucker, code name Viper (Sandra Hess) and son, Werner Von Strucker (Scott Heindl). Baron Von Strucker’s body contains a pathogen known as the Death’s Head Virus. The virus was developed by Dr. Arnim Zola (Peter Haworth) as Hitler’s doomsday weapon.
Colonel Nick Fury (David Hasselhoff) having been discharged, is living in an abandoned mine in the Yukon. S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Alexander Goodwin Pierce (Neil Roberts) and Contessa Valentina de Allegro Fontaine (Lisa Rinna) are sent to inform Fury of the threat and to reinstate him into the organization. Fury is not too thrilled to return to S.H.I.E.L.D. until he hears about Quartermain’s death.
On the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier Fury meets telepath Kate Neville (Tracy Waterhouse) and reconnects with Timothy Dugan (Garry Chalk), Gabriel Jones (Ron Canada) and renews his verbal battle with Director Jack Pincer (Tom McBeath). Fury becomes familiarized with technological advancements since he left.
Dr. Zola is being held in a S.H.I.E.L.D. safe house. Using a local Interpol contact, Inspector Runciter (Stellina Rusich), they visit the safe house. Inspector Runciter turns out to be Viper in disguise. Viper poisons Fury by kissing him with a slow acting poisoned lipstick. Hydra is then able to kidnap Zola. Hydra then creates the virus and threatens to release it to Manhattan unless they are paid one billion dollars. Fury must now find Viper, get a sample of her blood to have an antidote created within 48 hours or he will die. Plus, he must find the Death’s Head virus and stop it before 8 million people are infected.
“Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D” was released in 1998 and was directed by Rod Hardy. It is an action, science fiction, superhero movie. The film was a pilot for a television series that was never sold. It was produced by Marvel Entertainment Group and 20th Century Fox Television.
Before 2008, when Iron Man launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there was the occasional Marvel character film. Some, like “The Punisher”, “Blade”, the early Spiderman and X-men films did well. They are technically not part of the Cinematic Universe but they were done competently and had a good following. Others, like “The Fantastic Four” 1994, “Howard the Duck” 1986, and “Captain America” 1990 did not. Then there a couple films that were also pilots for television shows that never got off the ground. This is one of them.
David Hasselhoff may have gone off the deep end, but for a time he did some pretty cool stuff. Between “Knight Rider” and “Baywatch” he had a decent fan base. It wasn’t until he was filmed drunk, eating a messy hamburger that people got a little turned off by him. As for Nick Fury, he’s not as good as Samuel L. Jackson but he’s not all that bad. In fact, he was the first to play the iconic character in a live action program.
Hasselhoff wanted to play Nick Fury without the eye patch. His plans were changed when he developed pink eye the first day of filming.