With the passing of Stan Lee this week we’re going to have to face the reality that his time for cameos in Marvel films is coming to an end. Marvel Studios and Fox haven’t shared a full list of the movies which he will appear in, but we now know that ‘Dark Phoenix‘ won’t include the Marvel icon. While Lee hasn’t appeared in every X-Men movie, he did appear in the original 2002 release, 2006’s ‘X-Men: The Last Stand,’ and also appeared with his departed wife Joan in the 2016 release of ‘X-Men: Apocalypse.’
The upcoming film is likely the last in the current slate of X-Men movies before Marvel Studios gains the cinematic rights to these characters and most likely reboots them all back into the MCU. It is a shame that Lee wasn’t able to be included in the final send-off to the franchise as he always had a strong message to tell with these characters.
Of the comic franchise, he once said:
“I wanted them to be diverse. The whole underlying principle of the X-Men was to try to be an anti-bigotry story to show there’s good in every person.”
He even more openly stated this when speaking once with the voice of Magneto:
“Your humans slaughter each other because of the color of your skin, or your faith or your politics — or for no reason at all — too many of you hate as easily as you draw breath.”
The idea of the civil rights movement was always a conscious effort to be included by Stan Lee and an attempt to try to add diversity within the comic. Inclusion was a goal, but we know that for as much as the X-Men tried to fight for an equal world it is a fight they still struggle with today just as our society still isn’t an all-inclusive one.
Are you sad to hear that Stan Lee won’t be making a cameo in what will likely be the final installment of the current round of X-Men movies? Share your thoughts in the comments below, True Believers!
Source: Entertainment Weekly
