Stan Lee: his 10 best Marvel movie cameos

Stan Lee, the American comics legend who co-created dozens of Marvel Comics characters, from Spider-Man to Daredevil to the X-Men, leaves behind not only a formidable creative legacy but a vast filmography of cameos in Marvel's films.  

The former president, chairman and editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics is mostly known by casual cinema fans as the man who shows up and makes a quick appearance in the majority of the Marvel films. However, he started doing cameos long before superhero films became the bread and butter of Hollywood.

Lee’s cameo appearances date back to the 1960s, when his likeness would occasionally pop up in the pages of the Marvel comics he oversaw.  

"The artists back then would draw me in as a joke or just to have fun,” Lee told Business Insider UK in a 2015 interview. “And I would put some dialogue balloons there and it looked as if I intended it. I didn’t try to do cameos in those days."

While he might not have intended to pop up in all things Marvel, Lee’s presence in Marvel’s films, from his first feature film cameo in 20th Century Fox's X-Men (2000) to  Black Panther, further cemented his position as the face of the Marvel brand and the Marvel godfather to fans.   

"If you blink your eye, you might miss me", he said at the 2011 Montreal Comic Con when discussing his brief on-screen appearances, but also stated he greatly enjoyed taking part in the films. "I just show up on the set and everybody treats me well. And I get my own trailer." 

Lee quipped, "I wonder if Brad Pitt looks at me and goes 'hmmm.'"

Prior to his passing, Lee had filmed cameos for Marvel Studios’ untitled Avengers 4 and Captain Marvel, and will have animated cameos in Sony’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Disney’s Ralph Breaks the Internet.  

It is a fitting finale that his final cameos in Marvel’s live-action films will be in the finale of Phase Three of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and in Marvel's first headlining female superhero film. 

Below are Stan Lee’s 10 best Mavel cameos. Excelsior!

Hulk (2003) 

Lee and former The Incredible Hulk actor Lou Ferringo appear as security guards. Not only was the cameo a full circle callback for Ferringo, who played Dr Bruce Banner/the Hulk on NBC's The Incredible Hulk (1978-1981) television series, but it was also Lee's first speaking cameo.

Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)

Lee was fond of the cameos that were humorous, having said saying "I like any of [the cameos] that seem a little bit funny”. This was one of his favourites, and shows him failing to gain entry to the wedding of Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd) and Susan Storm (Jessica Alba), aka Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman of the Fantastic Four, because the bouncer didn't believe he was was Stan Lee. 

Iron Man (2008) 

In his first cameo for Marvel Studio's Marvel Cinematic Universe, kicking off the beginning of a new era of superhero films, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) mistakes Lee for Playboy founder Hugh Hefner on a red carpet.

The Avengers (2012)

Lee had two appearances in the groundbreaking superhero team up. He appears near the end of the film in a news interview, exclaiming "superheroes in New York? Give me a break!" Lee also appears in one of Avengers's deleted scenes, calling Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) a moron for not taking the opportunity ask a waitress for her number.

The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

Lee as a civilian bops along to his classical music on his old school headphones in a library, while Spider-Man (Andrew Garfield) and the Lizard (Rhys Ifans) wreak havoc in the background, their fight nearly flattening Lee with a table

Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

As a World War II veteran at the Avengers's shindig who believes he can go toe to toe with thousand year old Asgard mead, Lee is an absolute hoot. 

Lee has gone on record stating his cameo in Ultron is the one he likes most: "My favorite is the one I did [with] Thor....now you're saying to yourself, 'Why is this Stan's favorite cameo?' and you haven't thought of the real reason. It's the only one I did that has two scenes."

Captain America: Civil War (2016) 

When interviewed by Australian radio music station Nova 96.9, Captain America: Civil War co-director Joe Russo revealed "you’re always looking to keep [the cameo] different with [Stan] and you want to surprise the audience because they get a kick out of it, but you also want to make it relevant in some way, so he delivers a key piece of information in the movie." 

The Russo Bros succeeded on both accounts with Lee cameoing as a Fed-Ex delivery man for "Tony Stank" - an excellent (unintentional) comedown for Tony, who made many questionable decisions throughout the film, and providing him with the cellphone in which he can contact the on the run Steve Rogers.   

X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)

Lee and his wife of seventy years, Joan Lee, played an elderly couple who are bystanders as villainous and all powerful mutant Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac) launches the world's nuclear missiles into space. This particular cameo was bittersweet, as Joan passed away the following year in 2017.  

Thor: Ragnarok (2017) 

As one of four Marvel Studios cameos filmed in a single day (the other three being Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 and Spider-Man: Homecoming), Lee's the unorthodox barber fits right in on the garbage planet Sakaar, ridding the captive Thor (Chris Hemsworth) of his lovely blonde locks before being thrown into the gladiator ring.   

Avengers: Infinity War (2018) 

While the teens on Peter Parker’s (Tom Holland) school bus are startled by the sight of Thanos's (Josh Brolin) giant spaceship arriving in New York City, Lee’s bus driver is unruffled, remarking "What’s the matter with you kids — you’ve never seen a spaceship before?"