KC Frankenburger
With the passing of Stan Lee this week, comic book fans, movie fans, and fans of great storytelling all over the world are in mourning. One of the greatest pleasures over the years was not only seeing his characters come to life but spotting his numerous and always-funny cameos in all kinds of movies, from Marvel to The Princess Diaries 2 (yes, you read that right.)
To honor the man, the myth, the legend, here is a listing of all the movies that Stan Lee has appeared in:
A case of mistaken identity on the red carpet? In the very first Iron Man, Stan plays himself surrounded by a group of gorgeous ladies, and naturally Tony Stark mistakes him for Hugh Hefner.
Here, Stan Lee plays the unfortunate victim of gamma radiation sickness after he ingests a soft drink that is laced with Bruce Banner’s blood.
Another case of mistaken identity in the 2010 follow-up, this time Stan is mistaken for famed radio host Larry King.
Stan appears this time in a comical montage of excavators attempting to pull Thor’s hammer out of the ground.
Here Lee gets to deliver the hilarious line, “I thought he’d be taller,” when he mistakes the wrong man for Steve Rogers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTnREQqylps
“Superheroes in New York? Give me a break!,” is Stan’s only line in the first Avengers movie, as a skeptical member of the public interviewed on TV.
I call this one “over-enthusiastic beauty contest judge.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jp2ry4eh74g
This might be the funniest one of them all.
Here Stan plays an unfortunate security guard who isn’t having the best day.
In the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie, Stan plays an unnamed man that Rocket spies having a conversation with a younger woman.
https://youtu.be/GGkWGOtbe3A
This one… Well, this one you really have to see for yourself.
In Ant-Man, Stan plays a bartender in a flashback scene.
I think this one, in which Lee plays a FedEx delivery man, speaks for itself.
In one of the first cameos that take place during the midst of a full-blown action sequence, Stan plays an oblivious commuter who just happens to be reading The Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley.
In a cameo that’s out of this world, Stan plays a talkative astronaut.
In Spider-Man: Homecoming, he plays a grumpy old man with a noise complaint.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fZpaCTMMDg
In one of his most pivotal cameos, in Thor: Ragnarok, Stan portrays the barber enlisted to cut Thor’s hair.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZZRoTfH1Fc
In Black Panther, he’s a gambler in the casino who claims T’Challa’s unclaimed chips.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JzCyCBVd2s
In the most recent Avengers film, Stan shows up as the driver of the bus that Spider-Man is on when he makes his entrance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMcm9lGmGCM
In another action sequence, Stan plays a pedestrian who takes having his car accidentally shrunk by Wasp pretty well!
Almost 20 years ago, Stan Lee made his first cameo in X-Men as a bystander at the beach.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RVkIY1e9O0
This is a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo, as Stan portrays a neighbor watering the lawn in the background of an early scene.
Fittingly for the Deadpool franchise, Stan plays the MC at a strip club in this comedy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKbkvjZkzkE
In this X-Men film, Stan is seen next to his wife Joan as a witness to a nuclear weapons launch.
Another one you may have missed, Stan Lee is depicted here as a piece of street art.
One of the more poetic of cameos, Stan portrays a librarian blissfully enjoying some classical music as a chase sequence goes on behind him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXHssADhjM4
As an audience member at Peter’s graduation, he gets the line, “I think I know that guy!”
Mallrats is one of Lee’s earliest cameos and he’s told reporters that it’s one of his all-time favorites. This one is more of a true role rather than a cameo. Stan Lee portrays himself and he gives Jason Lee’s character, Brodie, the rousing speech he needs to reconcile with his girlfriend.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARmF-seyVUA
In Venom, Stan Lee portrays a dog-walker with some sage advice.
And All of Stan Lee’s Other Movie Cameos:
Spider-Man (2002)
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Fantastic Four (2005)
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)
The Ambulance (1990)
Daredevil (2003)
Hulk (2003)
The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004)
Man-Thing (2005)
Pizza Man (2011)
Jay & Silent Bob’s Super Groovy Cartoon Movie (2013)
Big Hero 6 (2014)
Teen Titans Go! To the Movies (2018)
Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018)
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
