Celebrating Stan Lee’s 100th Birthday: Great Stan Lee Movie Cameos

Stan Lee was a pillar in the comics community who created and co-created some of the most important comic book characters of all time. As a writer, editor, and publisher, he helped shape Marvel comics, and the larger comics industry, which continues to thrive on the foundation that he built. With the approach of what would have been Lee’s 100th birthday on December 28, 2022, we are celebrating Lee’s legacy in comics.

Marvel has a large slate of films and TV shows, and while the Marvel Cinematic Universe connects many of those projects, not all of them are part of the same world. What does connect just about every Marvel movie or show? Stan Lee cameos.

The writer-editor-publisher has had many roles in Marvel movies and shows. He was a delivery man, a bartender, a space barber, a bus driver, a librarian, a gambler, and was mistaken for Larry King. In New York City, he saved a little girl from falling debris, scoffed at the idea of superheroes in the city, and yelled at Spider-Man. Below are some of our favorite Stan Lee cameos.

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Avengers: Age of Ultron is universally regarded as the weakest Avengers movie, but it does have one of Lee’s best cameos. Lee plays a WWII vet attending an Avengers party who sees Thor drinking Asgardian liquor and asks for a shot. When Thor suggests that it might be too strong, Lee tells him that he fought at Omaha Beach and can handle it. The bit ends with two men helping an unsteady Lee leave the party as he drunkenly mumbles his famous catchphrase, “Excelsior.”

Ant-Man and the Wasp

As the heroes engage in an epic chase scene in Ant-Man and the Wasp, Lee appears as a man about to unlock his car when the Wasp shrinks it. A surprised Lee responsed to the strange turn of events by humorously commenting, “Well, the ‘60s were fun, but now I’m paying for it.”

Spider-Man 3

For Spider-Man 3, Lee appeared as a man in Times Square who walks up to Peter Parker as the latter is watching a news bulletin about Spider-Man. Seeing Lee with one of his best creations was cool enough, then gets better when he tells Peter, “You know, I guess one person can make a difference.” Then after a pause, he says one of his other catchphrases, “Nuff said.”

Thor

When Thor’s hammer is found lodged in the ground in his first movie, locals try unsuccessfully to pull it from the earth. Lee plays a man who attaches a chain to Mjolnir and his pickup truck, but only ends up tearing the bed off his truck. As the gathered crowd laughs, he leans out of the truck window and asks, “Did it work?”

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

In Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Lee plays himself trying to get into Reed Richards and Sue Storm’s wedding, but is turned away by a security guard because he isn’t on the guest list. The cameo is an easter egg that recreates a similar seen in Fantastic Four Annual #3 when Lee and Jack Kirby are denied entry to Sue and Reed’s wedding.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Lee appears in Captain America: The Winter Soldier as a security guard at the Smithsonian. After Cap steals his old World War II uniform that was displayed in an exhibit, Lee discovers that it is missing and dejectedly laments, “Oh man, I am so fired.”

X-Men: Apocalypse

Lee’s appearance in X-Men: Apocalypse was extra special because it included his wife, Joan. When Apocalypse launches nuclear weapons into the atmosphere, Stan and Joan Lee are shown clutching each other as they watch the event.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

For the wacky Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Lee played an astronaut marooned in space who regales the Watchers with stories, such as the time he was a deliveryman in Captain America: Civil War (the hilarious “Tony Stank” mispronunciation). He has a second post-credits cameo in which he asks the retreating Watchers for a ride home.

The Trial of the Incredible Hulk

Lee made his first appearance in a Marvel film or show in the TV movie, The Trial of the Incredible Hulk. He played the jury foreman in Dr. David Banner’s trial who witnesses his transformation into the Hulk.

Captain Marvel

Lee made a posthumous appearance in Captain Marvel as a guy on the subway reading the screenplay from Mallrats (a cameo he did in ’95). As Captain Marvel searches for a Skrull, he looks up and warmly smiles at Carol Danvers. Given that Lee had recently passed when the movie was released, the smile without a comical gag was a sweet moment for fans who were already missing Stan the Man.