A new book about the MCU’s history reveals Joss Whedon’s role in Samuel L. Jackson’s difficult scene in an Avengers film.

Samuel L. Jackson broke his one condition for the MCU’s Avengers — and it’s all thanks to director Joss Whedon.

Joss Whedon joins the list of Hollywood’s most difficult directors as more people open up about their experiences working with him. The cast and crew of Buffy the Vampire Slayer revealed how as a showrunner Whedon was a stickler for rules on the set, and that he would even make unreasonable demands that bordered on abusive.

More recently, actor Ray Fisher also shared how the director clashed with all the stars of Justice League. These separate accounts are only reinforced in MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios, where it was confirmed that Whedon similarly butted heads with Samuel L. Jackson, forcing the actor to do one scene in The Avengers.

Co-authored by Joanna Robinson, Dave Gonzales, and Gavin Edwards, MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios is a never-before-revealed insider’s look into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. One account detailed how Mark Ruffalo and Samuel L. Jackson arrived early at The Avengers’ Albuquerque set to file a complaint. It appears Jackson wouldn’t do one thing since he was cast as Nick Fury, a personal rule he kept throughout his appearances in Iron Man 1 and 2, Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger. He was also explicit about this request with Whedon while the latter was developing the script for The Avengers.

Jackson’s Difficult Avengers Scene

“When Whedon had consulted with Jackson before writing the screenplay, the then-sixty-two-year-old actor had made only one request about Nick Fury: he didn’t want to run,” the book explained. “But now [Jackson] pulled out his script and pointed to a stage direction where Fury ran onto the deck of the Helicarrier with a rocket launcher. ‘What’s this say here? It says I run!'” It’s easy to imagine Jackson delivering that line as a thinly veiled threat, likely similar to his famous spiel in an iconic Pulp Fiction scene. According to the account, Whedon’s response was curt but surprisingly effective: “Just that once. You only run once.”

It turned out Jackson was fine with the compromise. The actor called Whedon a “motherf****r” as his usual term of endearment for people and situations he dislikes and was immediately over it. Jackson’s most memorable use of that line is arguably at the end of Avengers: Infinity War, where Nick Fury failed to finish uttering the word before uttering the word before Thanos’ infamous snap. Fortunately, the character was resurrected and resumed his role as a driving force behind the MCU’s definitive events, such as Secret Invasion and The Marvels.