Marvel launches its much-anticipated mobile game Marvel Snap this week, and to promote it, persuaded Samuel L Jackson to star in an ad that sees his character, Nick Fury, get fired.

Marvel Snap, which is released today, is a card battler game that lets fans assemble a Marvel dream team of heroes and villains before battling their way through the multiverse. Marketed by game development and publishing company Nuverse in collaboration with Marvel Entertainment, the game was developed by Second Dinner, and features more than 1000 cards at launch, featuring just about every fan favorite hero and villain in the Marvel universe.

Created by [email protected], the ad sees Fury unceremoniously ousted from his job as Director of SHIELD, thanks to a young Marvel Snap fan who wants him as her screensaver. Other social media spots sees Fury trying to explain the trickier aspects of his role savng the world to the young fan, who already knows it all from playing the game. The ads remind viewers: "the entire Marvel universe is in your hands." The spot was directed by Steve Rogers via Biscuit Films.

Marvel is also encouraging fans to sign up to replace Fury themselves, via a website.

"At this point, Samuel L. Jackson basically is Nick Fury," explained Kevin Mulroy, executive creative director and partner at Mischief, which was appointed to handle the launch campaign in September last year.

"He's not a guy you just up and fire. And if you do, the replacement better have a pretty sick resume, saving the world and whatnot. So we had fun playing with who that person could be, and keeping the scene human and intimate. At its core, it's a scene about a man losing his job—to someone who wasn't even born the first time he prevented the annihilation of the human race."

"Not only did we win the pitch with this idea and actually make it, which rarely happens, but our Chief Strategy Officer Jeff McCrory’s head literally (yes, I said literally) exploded when we sold this idea," added Mulroy. "The massive comic book geek in him can now die happy. Which is good, because his brains are still all over the conference room glass."

"Everything we are doing with this campaign is a love letter to Marvel fans," said Rishi Mohan, head of marketing, Marvel Snap (Nuverse)" in a statement. "We’re thrilled to get a chance to help expand the Marvel story while remaining true to the universe."