Stan Lee’s passing was a sad day for all. Over the last 50 years, his groundbreaking comic book work in the 1960s and beyond dominated the genre and went a long way to making Marvel Comics what it is today, which itself spawned the outrageously successful and critically beloved Marvel Cinematic Universe, as well as the X-Men franchise and myriad other standalone features.
And though those films might have spanned multiple planets and eras, there’s been one constant throughout all of them: a cheeky and often humorous cameo by Lee himself. In fact, he became so notorious for popping up that he made an appearance in the PlayStation 4 smash Marvel’s Spider-Man and, even more unexpectedly, in the DC film Teen Titans GO! To The Movies.
Though you’d expect these to finish now, it’s been widely reported that Marvel Studios (presumably conscious of Lee’s age) shoot the cameos in one block for insertion in upcoming films. And in a recent interview with Variety, head honcho Kevin Feige teased that there are more to come, but wouldn’t get into specifics.
“I’m not going to tell you what specifically, but Stan always appreciated a good surprise.”
I think we can assume that they’ve already got a number of cameos in the can. For starters, it’s safe to say that we’ll see Lee in Captain Marvel, Avengers 4 and Spider-Man: Far From Home, but perhaps there’s a chance that even into the 2020s we might see the familiar face of Stan Lee turning up to remind us of the origins of these characters.
But while the MCU might have their bases covered, it seems that Fox isn’t so forward-thinking. Simon Kinberg’s latest X-Men film, Dark Phoenix has confirmed that it won’t feature a Lee cameo because the studio wants to take “a more grounded, gritty approach” to things.
Personally, I just hope we get some advance notice that a movie will contain the final Stan Lee cameo. Eagerly watching a new Marvel Studios release only to realize later than Lee never appeared in it sounds depressing, so please let us know when we’re about to witness his final screen appearance.