‘The Man’ responsible for creating much of the Marvel Universe has crafted something of a second career as an actor, popping up in most Marvel film adaptations.  Most, not all.  Earlier in the year, Stan Lee stated that he would not make an appearance in the upcoming ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ as he had nothing to do with creating those characters:

“No, I’m afraid not. This the one group I didn’t create. I didn’t write ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’. I’m not even sure who they all are! I can’t wait to see the movie.”

However, something changed between then and now, as Lee has filmed a cameo for inclusion in that film.  At the C2E2 convention, he was asked about filming a scene for the movie and he replied:

“I did already. I can’t tell you what it is, but I can tell you I do not understand what it was or why I did it. It has me with a girl — a very pretty girl — that’s all I can tell you.”

Lee is shaping up to be the Hugh Hefner of comic movies… heck he even appeared in a Hefner-like role in ‘Iron Man’ and served as the judge of a beauty pageant in ‘Iron Man 2’.

Up to now, however, Lee has only made cameo appearances in the movies based on characters he had a hand in creating.  This is why he doesn’t appear in ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine‘ or ‘The Wolverine‘.  He did make cameos in the two ‘Captain America‘ movies, despite not conceiving the character, but he did revive him in the 1960s and was the first writer to depict Cap slinging his famous shield, so in a way he did have a hand in shaping the Star Spangled Avenger.

Presumably director James Gunn was able to convince Lee to make an appearance in the forthcoming space odyssey, despite Lee’s lack of knowledge of the core characters.  While not even Lee’s fertile imagination could create Rocket Raccoon, he did create Groot (as a giant monster, not the space-faring creature from the movie), The Collector and Ronan The Accuser, all characters that factor heavily in ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’.

So I guess all is right with the world as far as comic book movies are concerned.  Are you glad that Stan ‘The Man’ is making a requisite appearance in ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’?

‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ starring Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldana, Lee Pace, Glenn Close, John C. Reilly, Karen Gillan, Benicio Del Toro, and Michael Rooker… and Stan Lee blasts off on August 1st, 2014.

Source: Variety