All of Stan Lee’s Marvel Cinematic Universe cameos ranked

Stan Lee has appeared in every MCU film so far, as well as a lot of other Marvel movies and TV shows. Regardless, we’re on a quest to rank all his MCU cameos through the years.

It’s barely setting in that Avengers: Endgame marks Stan Lee’s final MCU cameo. Over the years, Lee has helped create and mold tons of comic book characters, and his impact on the comic industry itself is immeasurable.

While the sting from his death earlier this year still hurts, we’re traveling down recollection road in the form of his cameos. Sure, he’s had dozens of movie cameos in animated films, the MCU, and beyond. Just accounting for Marvel films, he’s had 60 cameos alone.

In line with the end of an era in Endgame, we’re going through all 22 of Stan Lee’s MCU cameos and ranking them. (Which is a difficult task because we love them all.)

22. The Incredible Hulk

Lee’s cameo does add a bit to the story in The Incredible Hulk film. While many of us have forgotten the Hulk’s MCU-official film, we haven’t forgotten that Lee didn’t really have any dialogue in his cameo.

21. Iron Man 3

The third installment of the Iron Man trilogy gave us another silent Stan Lee cameo. Nonetheless, he looked so happy in his featurette.

20. Guardians of the Galaxy

Is “Mister Smiles” officially one of Stan Lee’s nicknames yet? Or do we still need Rocket to weigh in on this?

19. Thor: The Dark World

In The Dark World, Lee was less interested in Dr. Selvig’s lecture and more interested in getting his shoe back. The film itself was obsessed with shoes, but we’re still hanging on a cliff here. Did he actually get his shoe back?

18. Captain America: The First Avenger

In Captain America: The First Avenger, Lee portrayed a WWII General who just wanted to see Captain America. Too bad Steve Rogers had other priorities.

17. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

Lee’s astronaut character was rudely interrupted during his story, and we’re still not over it. FYI, we still want to know what happened back when he was a Federal Express man, and we would’ve given a ride home (if we knew how to drive a spaceship).

16. Ant-Man and the Wasp

We probably don’t need to delve into the innuendo about the ’60s. Clearly, this is proof that citizens in the MCU need insurance for sporadic superhero-related vehicular damage.

15. Avengers: Infinity War

If only we knew this comedic moment would later lead to the pain of the snappening. The Avengers really should’ve recruited Lee’s bus driver character on their conquest to stop Thanos.

14. Black Panther

We’d trust Stan Lee to hold our chips for safekeeping. In a movie that has many highlights, we’re glad Lee’s cameo added another highlight to the Academy Award-winning film.

13. Spider-Man: Homecoming

We have a soft spot for Lee’s cameo character yelling at Spider-Man. Not that we really want to see anyone yell at Spidey, but Peter Park did pester the whole neighborhood.

12. Doctor Strange

His cameo in Doctor Strange reminds us that he might be the only person in the Marvel Cinematic Universe who isn’t phased by superheroes. We’re glad at least someone was impartial to the accords.

11. Captain Marvel

Can we just bask in the fact that Lee and Carol Danvers share a smile as she’s amid a Skrull-sleuthing mission? It’s such a precious moment.

10. Avengers

Superheroes in New York? We agree with Lee. That’s totally unbelievable.

9. Iron Man

Only Tony Stark would get a pass for mistaking Stan Lee for Hugh Hefner in the first Iron Man film. Honestly, it just adds more nostalgia to Tony’s brief red-carpet debut in his first film.

8. Iron Man 2

The Iron Man trilogy has a running theme of mistaken identities. This time, Lee’s character ran under the guise of Larry King. And now that we think of it, a lot of real-life people exist in the MCU.

7. Thor: Ragnarok

This version of Lee’s lengthy list of MCU characters gave up short-haired Thor. While short-haired Thor was quite short-lived, we’re grateful regardless.

6. Ant-Man

We’re glad that Stan Lee’s cameo found a home in one of Luis’ equally iconic stories. We couldn’t think of a better placement for his Ant-Man appearance.

5. Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Though his night-shift guard character might have thought he’d be fired, we’d like to think he got promoted. After all, Winter Soldier marked the return of Captain America, and the stolen museum suit made that officially happen.

4. Captain America: Civil War

Tony Stark is the king of nicknames and pet names. While Tony hasn’t given Rhodey a nickname yet, Tony got a pet name from Stan Lee (in deliveryman form), and we think that warrants this cameo being on our top five list.

3. Avengers: Age of Ultron

Simply put: It pays homage to Stan Lee’s iconic catchphrase. Excelsior!

2. Thor

Okay, Stan Lee’s cameo counterpart wasn’t worthy of pulling Mjolnir out of the crater in the first Thor movie. However, we think Lee would’ve been worthy of the power of Thor.

1. Avengers: Endgame

By default, this is our favorite Stan Lee cameo. He’s a part of an MCU milestone. Seeing as his cameo involved time travel into the past, we never found out if Lee’s character ever survived the snap. Despite the lack of closure, this Stan Lee snippet is number one on our list.

We wish we had more time to appreciate Stan Lee’s work and to see him in the MCU and well beyond that. However, we’re glad that we have these memories to cherish because that’s one of our favorite parts about comic book media.