Ranking Every Stan Lee Movie Cameo From Worst To Best

Ever since the Marvel superheroes made the, jump from the comic book page to the silver screen, there’s been one thing that ties. them together more than anything else: the cameo appearances by Stan Lee. But while comic fans have been spotting the, co-creator of the Marvel Universe show up on screen for decades, not every cameo has. been as good as the others. Here’s every Marvel movie cameo by Stan. the Man, ranked from worst to best. Excelsior, True Believers! And rest in peace, Stan Lee. We'll miss seeing you on the big screen. Man-Thing While audiences always look forward to seeing. Stan show up in Marvel movies, you can’t really blame him for skipping out on this Sci-Fi Channel original film that was shot on the cheap in Australia. That’s an awfully long flight for Captain America, let alone Man-Thing. Instead, Stan only shows up as a photo as a missing person, and even then he’s nearly impossible to spot. That said, it’s pretty hilarious to imagine Stan having to fight off a swamp monster, even if we don’t get to see it. X-Men: The Last Stand While you might think Stan's cameos are a, mandatory part of anything that hits theaters with a Marvel logo attached to it, that's not exactly the case. He never appeared in the Blade trilogy, and, only showed up in about half of the movies in the X-Men franchise. It’s bad luck, then, that he missed out. on great mutant-themed movies like Logan and X-Men: First Class instead of skipping out on this one. The cameo itself, in which he marvels at a, garden hose defying gravity, is pretty basic, and it's nice that Stan can be spotted alongside legendary X-Men writer Chris Claremont, who spent 17 years as the primary writer of those. comics. Unfortunately, they're both surrounded by, a film that could charitably be called "disappointing." Turns out that garden hose was actually more. interesting than anything else going on in that movie. X-Men The very first Stan Lee cameo of the modern. era of Marvel movies is mostly interesting for showing us how far they’ve come. These days, Stan’s cameos are an event unto themselves, but in 2000? The co-creator of the X-Men was a hot dog vendor with no dialogue, in the background of a crowd scene whose brief appearance was. pretty easy to miss. Avengers The Avengers was a movie tasked making every. piece of the MCU up to that point work together, so it's pretty understandable that most of its runtime was focused on trying to do that. It's not until after the climax, when the. Avengers have come together as a team to save the world from an invading army of Chitauri, that Lee finally makes his appearance in a news broadcast. "Superheroes in NY? Gimme a break." It's an easy joke, but it works thanks entirely, to Lee’s effortless charm. Iron Man 3 One of the recurring gags about Stan's cameos, in the MCU movies is that he's often portrayed as a dirty old man. In the otherwise underrated Iron Man 3, that lasciviousness hits critical mass when we see him judging a beauty pageant and getting. pretty worked up over the contestants. In the end, not even Stan was happy with how, his cameo turned out. "My cameo had a couple of scenes in it, that, were funny has hell!" Unfortunately, Stan's cameo was cut for time,. leaving everyone unhappy. Congratulations anyhow, Miss Elk Ridge! "It's not my fault really I had nothing to, do with it! That's it!" Hulk Stan's first speaking cameo in a Marvel film came in Ang Lee's much-maligned Hulk movie, in which he showed up alongside former Hulk. actor Lou Ferrigno as a security guard. That raises a lot of questions. Why would you hire an 81 year-old man to be a security guard? Shouldn't he have retired? Does the Stan Lee of this movie's universe. need money so badly that he's willing to take a potentially dangerous job? Look, we're not saying Stan shouldn't be in the movie, but maybe if that lab had hired someone else to work security, there wouldn't. be so many gamma-ray monsters running around. Amazing Spider-Man 2 Stan's appearance in this movie was built entirely around the gag of having Stan Lee show up and say that he knows Spider-Man. It’s almost clever, but doesn't quite work. On one hand, Stan Lee should know Spider-Man he co-created the character and wrote over a hundred issues of his comic book. On the other hand, if he's just talking about. Peter Parker within the world of the movie, he should still know who he is he was the librarian at his high school in the previous movie. Guardians of the Galaxy Guardians of the Galaxy features one of the, only Stan Lee appearances where the other characters actually talk about him. In this case, he's a victim of Rocket's running. commentary on how much he hates the humanoid population of the planet Xandar, identifying him as… "A class-A pre-vert." Pretty harsh, but maybe Rocket saw Iron Man. 3. Venom In a movie that otherwise embraces Spider-Man's, most goopy foe in all his glory, Stan's cameo right before the credits roll in Venom is. pretty disappointing. Viewers spent the entire runtime waiting to see if their favorite mustachioed nonagenarian makes an appearance, only to encounter a scene so unnecessary that it could've been cut without anyone ever noticing. Sure, it's fun that this random dude on the. street knows that Eddie Brock has a slimy alien space cannibal living under his skin,, but after seeing the same idea done better elsewhere, it's a letdown. Is it too much to ask to see Stan the Man with giant knives for fingers? Spider-Man With the first Spider-Man movie, director. Sam Raimi gave us a scene where Stan actually got to be a hero himself, saving a kid from danger when the Green Goblin attacks. Not a bad tribute to the guy who wrote the. first hundred issues of Spidey's comic, but also nowhere near the fun that Raimi’s long-time. collaborator Bruce Campbell got to have in his far-more-compelling Spider-Man cameos. Spider-Man 2 Stan's cameo in the second Spider-Man film. is almost exactly the same as it was the last time around: a heroic passer-by who pulls, someone out of danger during Spidey's battle with a supervillain. The only thing that distinguishes it from, the first one — and puts it above it in our rankings — is what's going on around, it: Spider-Man's first big battle against Doctor Octopus, which starts in a bank and winds up scaling high-rise walls in the middle of Manhattan. It’s a great scene, even if Stan’s appearance. feels like a re-run. Daredevil 2003's Daredevil movie was memorable for all, the wrong reasons, but Stan Lee's appearance was one of its few nice touches. In a nod to Daredevil's comic book origin,. a young Matt Murdock keeps a distracted Lee from stepping out in front of a truck, despite, his blindness. Of course, that doesn't explain why they changed,

Daredevil's origin to take out the part where he's blinded because he's saving someone, but hey, at least Stan fares better than one of the movie's other creator cameos. Legendary Daredevil writer/artist Frank Miller. showed up and got stabbed in the head with a pen. Thor: The Dark World The second Thor movie goes with another easy gag, having Lee pop up as a patient in a mental institution for a quick laugh. "Can I have my shoe back?" As for how he got in there, we’ve got a theory. Maybe this version of Stan is the one who remembers all the other movies he's made cameos in that weren't part of the MCU. It's easy to imagine him being dragged off. while ranting about the X-Men and the Fantastic Four, or wondering why nobody in this universe, seems to cuss as much as they did when he was hanging out with Deadpool. Seeing three different Spider-Men in less. than a decade is enough to send anybody to therapy. Spider-Man: Homecoming Homecoming’s scenes of Spider-Man patrolling. Manhattan and helping out average New Yorkers are some of the film’s finest moments. It shows two important parts of Spidey's personality:. he's willing to help everyone with everything, and he's not immune to screwing up on a pretty. regular basis. It's that second part that leads to Lee's appearance, as an entire neighborhood gets together to yell at our wall-crawling hero, for making too much noise in the middle of the day… and also bouncing some poor guy's, head off his own car just for locking his own keys inside. "Don’t make me come down there, you punk!” It’s pretty appropriate to have Stan scolding Spidey, too. When you think about it, he really is kind of Spider-Man's dad. Which, it turns out, is nowhere near as dangerous, as being his uncle. Ant-Man and the Wasp Stan Lee's best cameos work with the pretty simple idea of dropping the comics' lovable grandpa into weird situations, and Ant-Man and the Wasp is no different. "The '60s were fun, but now I'm paying for it." An older fellow in the famous Haight-Ashbury, district would probably have had a very specific kind of fun back then. In our world, however, we know exactly what, Lee was doing in the '60s: inventing weird, increasingly improbable situations involving superheroes who could shrink to the size of ants. Trippy enough, even without the hippie help. Captain America: The First Avenger If you were going to show someone exactly. one Stan Lee cameo to explain what he actually does in these movies, this would be the one. It’s the kind of joke that could’ve been done by anyone, but Lee being there elevates it, and makes it a little more than just an exercise in spotting Lee in a costume. "I thought he’d be taller!” Deadpool As we saw in Guardians of the Galaxy, there seem to be few things that superhero filmmakers enjoy more than casting Stan Lee as a dirty. old man — and he seems to get a kick out of it too. The R-rated Deadpool, unsurprisingly takes that to a whole new level with Stan taking the stage as a DJ. Trial of the Incredible Hulk While it wasn't on the big screen, Stan's. earliest Marvel movie cameo came in 1989's Trial of the Incredible Hulk. A TV movie that aired on NBC, it was not only, a sequel to the Incredible Hulk series, it was also a backdoor pilot for a Daredevil, show that never happened. Stan's appearance this time is as a jury foreman present when Banner Hulks out in the middle of a trial. His main role here is to just look surprised, but he winds up coming off a lot better than some of the other jurors — a guy sitting, behind him in this scene decides that it's a good idea to throw his chair at the Hulk. Dude. What are you doing? Thor If his cameo in The First Avenger is the archetype, Stan's appearance in Thor refines it into something even better. The idea of a bunch of people gathering around a crater to drink beer and have a cookout while they all try to pick up a magic hammer is great all on its own.. Stan showing up as the guy who tears his own, pickup truck apart trying to drag it that hammer out? That's great, and even goes to show that the Odinpower is even stronger than a Chevy Silverado. "Did it work?" Spider-Man 3 After the simplicity of Stan's cameos in the, first two Spider-Man movies, his appearance in the third seems weirdly drawn out. While it was nice to have him in a speaking, role for the first time in the franchise, the long pause in his line feels strange." "You know, I guess one person can make a difference... Nuff said.” There is one little twist, though. Since it's easy to believe that Stan's playing the same character in all three Spider-Man movies, that also means this is a guy who previously saved two people's lives during a supervillain attack. Could that "one person” who made the difference be… Stan Lee himself? Avengers: Age of Ultron Sure, Age of Ultron may be kind of a mess,, but the party scene where we get to see the Avengers just hanging out and having fun is, probably the highlight of the movie—especially since we also get to see Stan show up and. get trashed on thousand year-old Asgardian ale. "Eggshellcior!" Iron Man Forget about Thanos and the Infinity Stones. The biggest payoff in the entire MCU comes, from Stan Lee's interactions with Tony Stark. In their first encounter, Tony mistakes him for Playboy publisher and smoking jacket enthusiast Hugh Hefner, and takes the first step towards. a pretty amazing payoff. Iron Man 2 The second time that Stan meets Tony Stark, he's mistaken for Larry King. And look, no disrespect, but that's actually. pretty insulting to Stan Lee, who has managed to stay spry and wiry well into his 90s. Ant-Man Lee's cameo in Ant-Man comes as part of a. genuinely great scene that gets some great comedy out of Luis and his winding, fast-paced storytelling. As great as this bit is, though, it stings. that we're robbed of hearing Stan Lee actually say his line here… "Yeah, CRAZY stupid fine!” Captain America: The Winter Soldier If there's one word that describes Lee's character in these movies, it's "hapless." There's a sort of instant sympathy you have for this guy after seeing him tear up his pickup truck or get clowned on by Tony Stark,, but in Winter Soldier, you really start to feel bad for him. This poor guy! C'mon, Cap! You couldn't just leave a note to help out the security guards? Doctor Strange In what might be his most high-brow cameo. to date, Lee appears as a bus passenger getting a kick out of a book, completely oblivious. to the mind-bending, reality-altering battle going on around him. The joke? Lee's book is a copy of The Doors of Perception,. a memoir detailing Aldous Huxley’s experience of experimenting with the hallucinogenic chemical, mescaline. It's a strange bit of commentary on the trippy, visuals of the film, but let's be real here: if Huxley had seen New York folding in on. itself and an angular man in a Cloak of Levitation casting magic spells while he was tripping. on peyote , he probably wouldn't have been surprised. Thor: Ragnarok In Thor: Ragnarok, Stan makes an appearance, as the barber who cuts Thor's hair to get him ready for his fight with the Hulk. "Now don't you move, my hands aren't as steady, as they used to be." Not only does he provide a great straight-man. for Chris Hemsworth's hilarious blubbering about his precious golden locks, it also makes

perfect sense for someone looking for game-changing heroes and villains to be part of the Grandmaster’s. gladiatorial games — and it gives Stan his best costume ever. The Incredible Hulk The Incredible Hulk is usually the least-loved. entry in the MCU, but its use of Lee is one of the best. The film’s first major point involves Bruce, Banner's gamma-irradiated blood accidentally getting into a soda while he's working at a bottling plant, temporarily turning anyone who drinks it into a Hulk. And naturally, the one poor hulked-out consumer, that we see is Stan Lee. So basically, this movie gave us the idea. of Stan Lee with Incredible Hulk Powers. The only downside is that we never actually. saw it, which might actually be the biggest oversight in the entire franchise. Avengers: Infinity War Stan’s cameo as Peter Parker's school bus, driver in Infinity War isn’t just good, it’s smart. "What's the matter with you kids? You’ve never seen a spaceship before?" Getting it out of the way early in the film, ensures that audiences would be paying attention to the epic interplanetary battle against Thanos, rather than keeping an eye out for everyone’s favorite comic book grandpa. Not a bad idea, considering how much there, is to keep track of when every major hero in the MCU is slugging it out onscreen at. once. Uh, no offense, Ant-Man and Hawkeye. "Ant man?" "Yeah, you haven't heard of me?" As for what makes it good, it’s absolutely, Stan’s grumpy, way-too-calm evaluation of the Black Order’s invasion of Earth. If anyone’s seen enough spaceships that. it’s not even a big deal anymore, it’s Stan. He’s been dealing with aliens invading New. York since 1961. X-Men: Apocalypse In a sharp contrast to the blurry hot dog. vendor 16 years earlier, X-Men: Apocalypse gave viewers a tight close-up on Stan, using, the reflection of his signature sunglasses to show missiles streaking through the sky. It's a cool look, and it actually uses Stan's physical presence in an interesting visual way, which is more than you can say for most. of his appearances. Behind the scenes, though, this is one of. the most memorable Lee cameos for a much more bittersweet reason. It marks the only time that Stan appeared, in a film alongside Joan, his wife of nearly 60 years. Sadly, she'd pass away just over a year later. Fantastic Four Stan’s cameo in 2005's Fantastic Four marks. a huge departure from his usual roles. For the first time, Stan was playing a Marvel. character that he actually co-created: Willie Lumpkin, the Fantastic Four's mailman. That might not seem like a big deal, but believe. it or not, Willie has been around for some of the FF's most pivotal moments, and even, dated Aunt May. As a cheerful regular guy with a connection. to the entire Marvel Universe, it's the perfect role for Stan. Big Hero 6 It's almost easy to forget that Big Hero 6. is a Marvel movie — at least until Stan Lee shows up at the end. It's a weird cameo, though, since Lee has virtually no connection to these characters. Big Hero 6 was created in 1998, when Stan, was actually briefly out of his Marvel contract. At the same time, in a movie where the characters. struggle with older brothers and various other surrogate father figures, it's nice to know that at least one of them has a father that we already like. Captain America: Civil War And here’s the big Iron man payoff. After getting snubbed twice by a man who keeps, mistaking him for others, Stan rolls up to the Avengers compound and delivers his own tiny vengeance on Tony Stark. "Are you Tony Stank?" Since Tony Stark is unquestionably the most, famous person in the entire world, there's no way stan wouldn't be able to recognize, him. "Tony Stank" is revenge, served cold by a man who's tired of being mistaken for Hugh Hefner and Larry King. Black Panther Black Panther boasts one of the most memorable. cameos Stan has ever done. It happens in the secret casino in South Korea, an incredibly tense moment where T’Challa is at way-past-Bond levels of cool, and three different groups are getting ready to collide in a massive fight scene. And then... here comes Stan, casually pocketing the Panther’s casino winnings. Not like he needs ‘em, right? "You know what… I think I'll just take these, and bring them, over here. And hold on for safe-keeping." Amazing Spider-Man Having a wacky action going on in the background. while characters are blissfully unaware of it is a well-worn gag, but when Stan shows, up as an oblivious librarian during one of Amazing Spider-Man’s biggest fights, it's, done perfectly. What makes it even better is that after a dozen years of cameos, this one puts Stan front and center for moviegoers. Teen Titans Go! To the Movies Stan's appearance in Teen Titans Go! To the Movies might be the single wildest cameo he's ever made. This is, after all, a movie about superhero movies, and Stan's appearance is based on the idea that the audience is familiar enough, with the tropes of big-screen capes and cowls to catch all the rapid-fire references. It's funny enough when Stan shows up as a. janitor in the Warner Bros. back lot. It's downright hilarious when he charges the camera under a neon sign claiming that it's time for another one of his "subtle cameos." The punchline of his horrorstruck face when. he realizes he's accidentally showing up in a DC movie is just the icing on the cake. Except that it's not really the punchline. That comes later, when he crashes back into the movie and assures us all that he doesn't care what movie he's in. "I'm back! I don’t care if it’s a DC movie. I love Cameos! Not now Stan Lee! "Excelsior!" Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer For a movie that isn't remembered all that, fondly, 2007's Fantastic Four sequel managed to include one of the best Stan Lee cameos. It happens during the wedding of Reed Richards and Sue Storm. "Invitation sir." "I should be on that list." "Name?" "Stan Lee." "Yeah, Nice try buddy." No NO! Really" Not only is this the one Marvel movie in which. Stan smashes through the fourth wall by actually identifying himself, it's a callback to a similar scene one of his greatest comics of all time, Fantastic Four Annual #3… where. he's rejected from attending Reed Richards and Sue Storm's wedding. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Throughout the entirety of the Marvel Cinematic, Universe, there's been a question about whether this was a world that just happened to be, populated by a bunch of people who look exactly like Stan Lee, or if his cameos meant something…, more. In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, we finally found out, and it was everything that a fan-theorist could've wanted. While Rocket, Groot, Yondu, and Kraglin are. careening through the galaxy on a series of warps, we find Stan, in the depths of space, having a conversation with three of the Watchers, the mysterious beings tasked with chronicling. the history of a universe without ever interfering themselves. "Anyway… before I was so rudely interrupted, That time I was a Federal Express man." It becomes clear that all of these cameos. really are supposed to be the same guy. In the MCU, Stan Lee might not be a Watcher himself, but he is their most reliable informant. Which explains why he's always around for. the universe's most important events..