Early stories had Nick as a plain clothed spy, but the character would ultimately be transitioned into a leather catsuit with white gloves S.H.I.E.L.D.

In Strange Tales #151, the series would undergo a major shift: Stan Lee gave control of the book to Jim Steranko.

Furthermore, Steranko would retcon the origin of Hydra as the creation of Sgt Fury recurring villain Baron Wolfgang von Strucker.

Strucker would be killed off shortly after appearing in the strip, though the character would be brought back to life in the 1989 Nick Fury series decades later.

The five issues that Steranko wrote set up a new rival for Nick Fury in the form of "Scorpio"; a foreign assassin/race car driver whose true identity was a mystery to readers and S.H.I.E.L.D.

The final original issue (#15, November 1969) of the series saw Nick Fury killed by a masked assassin known as "Bulls-eye" (no relations to the Daredevil villain of the same name).

Nick Fury would not stay dead for long; two months after the publication of his book's final issue, the character would be revived in Avengers #72 (January 1970).

Opposing them was a revived Hydra, who early in the series announce their return by blowing up the main office building Nick Fury's rebuild S.H.I.E.L.D.

The bulk of the series would follow the cat and mouse game between Fury and Strucker, who sought to hide his resurrection from the rest of the world.