Avengers: Endgame meant it was the last time we would see some of our favorite heroes (at least for a while), but it sadly also marked the end of an era for the Stan Lee cameos that have become a highlight in every MCU film. Lee passed away late in 2018, leaving behind an incredible legacy of characters and stories that are still entertaining fans to this day.
Lee has made cameos in most Marvel films, but the MCU has proven to have a great knack to finding fun and inventive ways to have him pop up in those films. Hopefully, the MCU will find a way to honor Lee in future films in the franchise, but for now, we have plenty of great appearances to enjoy. Here are the best Stan Lee cameos in the MCU.
Avengers: Endgame
It's hard not to look fondly on this cameo, even if it wasn't particularly memorable as it relates to the movie. When Tony and Steve travel back to the 1970s in their scavenger hunt for the Infinity Stones, Lee shows up as a younger hippie by the S.H.I.E.L.D. military base and shouts, "Hey, man! Make love, not war!"
The hippie joke seems a bit obvious and it feels more forced than some of Lee's better cameos, however, there's something special about knowing that was the last time we would see the man in the MCU. It made for a bittersweet moment.
Black Panther
Lee's cameos were always the most entertaining when they would sneak up on you. Black Panther has one of the best of these kinds of cameos as Lee showed up in the middle of the famous Busan casino scene. T'Challa and his team are there to capture Klaue, only to find that Everett Ross and the CIA have the same idea. As the tension of the situation mounts, Lee pops up as a greedy man who steals the King of Wakanda's poker chips.
Lee shows some of his best comedic delivery and one of his longest lines, as he explains to Ross in a very sincere way that he is going to hang on to the chips for safe keeping. It's a great little moment in a fantastic scene.
Ant-Man & The Wasp
The MCU has always used humor to great effect, especially when it comes to Lee's cameos. So, with his cameos in the Ant-Man films (which are pretty much comedies themselves), they really let Lee have some fun. In Ant-Man & the Wasp, Lee plays a man who is about the get in his car when a shrinking device makes it disappear. He simply says matter-of-factly, "Well, the sixties were fun, but now I'm paying for it!"
The joke is pretty 'adult' for one of the MCU's more family-friendly movies, but it is one of the biggest laughs in the film. It is another great example of Lee's comedic delivery, which was used so well in these films.
Captain Marvel
Following Lee's death, Captain Marvel had the sad job of being the next MCU film to hit theaters. It handled the difficult situation beautifully, with a touching tribute in the opening studio logo as well as this fun cameo. As Carol boards a trolley and searches for a Skrull in disguise, Lee appears as a passenger reading through a script for Mallrats.
The moment is another fun joke about its 1990s setting, as Lee had a role in that 1995 Kevin Smith film. The knowing smile Brie Larson gives to Lee is just icing on the cake. Of course, no-one appreciated it more than Kevin Smith himself.
Thor
Lee's cameos do not always have to be that intricate to still be funny. Sometimes it works just as well to insert him in the right scene and give him a funny line. Such is the case in Thor when Lee pops up as one of the townspeople who are trying to lift Mjolnir. After hooking a truck up to the hammer, the driver guns it, only for the back of the truck to be completely ripped out. Lee is then revealed to be the unlucky driver.
This is the perfect scene for Lee to fit into. The light and comedic tone gets the audience laughing and then there's the added bit of excitement when his iconic face pops up.
Ant-Man
One of the best and most memorable aspects of Ant-Man is Luis (Michael Pena) telling his long-winded and complicated stories. The fun scenes of Luis' manic narration over the images of his versions of what happens provide some of the biggest laughs in the movie. Wisely, they chose to throw Lee into one of these montages for his hilarious cameo.
Like Thor, Lee's part comes in an already funny moment and just makes it better. Though we don't get to hear his famous voice, we get the thrill of seeing him mouth along to Pena's perfect delivery as he says "crazy stupid fine".
Captain America: Civil War
Lee's cameo in Civil War comes so late in the movie that you might almost think they'd have forgotten it. But as the movie is wrapping up, Tony and Rhodes have a heart-to-heart talk about the sacrifices they've needed to make. Then the moment is broken with a knock at the door and a delivery man, played by Lee, asking for "Tony Stank".
There seems to be a recurring them in several of Lee's cameos that he inadvertently ridicules some of his famous heroes. Yes, it's a childish joke but that certainly doesn't stop it from being a funny one.
Avengers: Age Of Ultron
Age of Ultron might not be everyone's favorite MCU film, but there are some great moments to be found. One of the best sequences finds the heroes out of costume and having a party at Tony's building. Watching the iconic characters interacting in a more casual way is great fun. In this scene, Lee plays a World War II veteran at the party who tries some of Thor's extra potent Asgardian liquor. He's later seen being dragged away and drunkenly muttering "Excelsior".
Seeing a drunk Stan Lee at a party with Captain America and Thor is something even the biggest comic book fans couldn't have dreamed up. Extra points are given for the brilliant use of Lee's catchphrase.
Iron Man
This is the cameo that started it all. 2008's Iron Man kicked off the MCU in big way and started the trend of Lee becoming one of the highlights of each of these films. The cameo is simple and he doesn't say anything, but it is also hilarious. As Tony Stark arrives at a high-profile event, he greets who he thinks is Hugh Hefner, who turns out to be Lee.
Is Lee supposed to be playing Hefner in the MCU? Is it a joke at how Lee, surrounded by beautiful women, could be mistaken for Hefner? We don't know and we don't care. It's a fun idea and remains one of Lee's highlights in the MCU.
Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2
With the interconnected nature of the MCU, the fact that Lee appears in every one of these movies as they expand across the galaxy was just a plot hole everyone was happy to ignore. Leave it to James Gunn to fill that plot hole in a inventive and fun way which draws from the comics.
In a quick cutaway scene, Lee is seen talking to a group of Watchers, beings who study the goings-on of the universe. Lee is telling them about all his stories he had throughout the universe, suggesting he has played the same person in each of his cameos. It's a great legacy for Lee in the MCU and he gets to pop up in a post-credits scene as well, poignantly saying he has so many more stories to share.