Sadly, it turns out that ‘Avengers: Endgame’ will be the end of an era in another way. Not only does it cap off the first decade+ of Marvel Studios films, but it will also contain Stan Lee’s last film cameo. It was already known that Lee, who passed away last year, at the age of 95, had recorded some additional cameos, in a worst-case scenario. We’ve already seen one of those, in ‘Captain Marvel’, as well as another in animation form (with Lee providing the voice) in ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’.
Now, according to co-director Joe Russo, his cameo will be his last.
“It’s his last one committed to film.”
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‘Into the Spider-Verse’ contained a mid-credits tribute to Lee as well as Spider-Man’s co-creator artist Steve Ditko who also passed away last year. For ‘Captain Marvel’, Marvel Studios modified its iconic “page flip” into an all-Stan homage, showing off several of his previous cameos. (He also had a regular cameo, during the commuter train sequence.)
Lee made a cameo in every Marvel Studios movie, even ones that featured characters he had no hand in creating like ‘Captain America’ and ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’. (No, Lee didn’t create Captain America! Weird, huh?) But his first on-screen Marvel cameo came a loooooong time ago, in the 1989 made-for-TV movie ‘Trial of the Incredible Hulk’, in which he appeared as a juror. He filmed a cameo for one of the earliest Marvel-based movies, New Line Cinema’s ‘Blade’, but it was cut. That means his first big-screen cameo was in Fox’s 2000 ‘X-Men’, in which he popped up as a hot dog vendor on the beach.
Last year, he even made a cameo in a DC film, the animated ‘Teen Titans GO! To the Movies’, as well as in Disney’s ‘Ralph Breaks the Internet’.
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Originally, the Lee cameos were Easter Eggs for die-hard comic fans, as the general public didn’t know who he was, or realize why he was appearing. But as the Marvel films have increased in popularity, the knowledge of Lee and his importance became common knowledge to the effect that his cameos elicited loud cheers and chuckles, every time.
This might be the last in-person cameo by Lee, but here’s hoping that directors going forward find new ways to sneak in Lee Easter Eggs in the future.
So keep your eyes peeled, True Believers! This is your last chance to catch a Lee cameo on the big screen!
Source: Cinema Blend
