5 best Stan Lee cameos in the Marvel Cinematic Universe
Stan Lee is a staple in every Marvel Cinematic Universe film to date (and even non-MCU films, too!). Each cameo has its own unique spin to it.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe knows that every film has to contain a cameo by creator Stan Lee. Even if he doesn’t understand what the heck he’s doing. And as cheesy as they have been, it’s always a delight to see how he’ll pop up in the next film… and the next one…
Unfortunately, there will come a day when Stan Lee won’t grace us with his presence in an MCU film. It will come as a sad day, one you may not recognize until you leave the theater and it hits you.
Until that day comes, Stan Lee will still grace our screen for the next few Marvel films. We’re here to highlight the six best cameos of the MCU so far.
A quick honorable mention goes to his cameo in The Incredible Hulk as the man who drinks the soda infected with Banner’s blood. It’s a coy Simpsons reference, even if only I think it’s a Simpsons reference.
The Avengers
He shows up near the very end in a news broadcast about the Incident. “Superheroes in New York?” he says incredulously. “Give me a break!” And he returns to his chess game, not unlike Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr.
It’s just so perfect because … he helped make superheroes in New York a thing. It’s his fault (alongside others like Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko).
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Stan Lee’s cameos always feel like he kind of just stumbled into whatever’s happening in the film. For this one in The Winter Soldier, however, it comes through a little more authentic than others… even if he’s still in the same situation.
This time he’s a security guard at the Smithsonian and as he’s on his nightly rounds, discovers Captain America’s original outfit missing from the display. “I am so fired,” he says with a sigh, resigned. It does seem a fireable offense, losing Cap’s outfit to a burglar (…who happens to be Cap himself).
Ant-Man
One of the best parts of Ant-Man is Luis giving Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang all of the details about these jobs. All of the wrong details. That includes his last storytelling moment of the film, where he says an Avenger was asking about Ant-Man.
Seeing Stan Lee mouth the line “Yeah, crazy stupid fine!” just makes you crack up. And it has absolutely nothing to do with what Lang wants to know.
Captain America: Civil War
The cameo in Captain America: Civil War certainly isn’t a serious one at all. It honestly comes as a lighthearted moment after a few minutes of something more serious.
Lee shows up as a FedEx man delivering a package for “Tony Stank,” which Rhodey runs away with immediately. It comes after a scene of him trying to walk again using Tony’s fancy walking rig, only to fall down in pain and struggle to get up. Rhodey does go on to tell Tony that he doesn’t regret the decisions that led him to this predicament.
And the fact that he immediately jumps on Lee’s Tony Stank name means he hasn’t lost his sense of humor.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
This one might be a fan favorite cameo of his. Stan Lee appears both in the film and in a post-credits scene among the Watchers. Which is a huge implication.
For those of you who aren’t as well-versed in comic book lore, the Watchers are an ancient race that observe the universe. Literally, they just sit back and watch everything unfold throughout the universe.
On initial viewing of this post-credits scene, fans freaked. Lee was there talking about when he was a FedEx worker… making it sound like he’s actually been playing the same character in every single appearance, making it sound like he’s a Watcher himself (everyone wanted him to be Uatu, the main Watcher, because that would be awesome).
James Gunn did come out and say that no, he’s not a Watcher. He’s just a Watcher informant. Still, this scene is awesome. Stan Lee takes his place among the greats of the universe. Rightly so.
Next: 8 essential MCU films to watch before Avengers: Infinity War
So what cameos did we miss that make your list of best Stan Lee cameos? Let us know in the comments!