This article contains Spider-Man: No Way Home spoilers.

There is no Stan Lee cameo in Spider-Man: No Way Home, but the film still pays homage to the comic book legend. In Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), Peter Parker (Tom Holland) makes the ultimate sacrifice. Early in the movie, Parker turns to Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) to make the world forget his secret identity as Spider-Man. Unfortunately, the spell doesn't work, and villains from other Spider-Man universes break into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The villains are coming into the MCU because they know Peter Parker is Spider-Man, so Tom Holland's character finally has Doctor Strange perform a new spell to make everyone forget he's Peter Parker. The spell works, and the villains return to their respective universes, but Parker's loved ones also forget him.

Before Spider-Man: No Way Home, comic book legend and Spider-Man creator Stan Lee made appearances in all the MCU films. Throughout the movies, the cameos evolved. Marvel initially credits Stan Lee as himself in Iron Man (2008), but then Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) appears to connect Stan Lee to the Watchers, somewhat linking all his cameos across the films. Though Lee died in 2018, he still makes a posthumous appearance in Avengers: Endgame (2019).

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No Way Home pays homage to Stan Lee without putting in a genuine cameo. After Doctor Strange's spell makes the world forget Peter Parker in No Way Home, Parker visits the donut shop where MJ (Zendaya) works to remind her of their past together. He ultimately decides to let MJ live a normal life, and he leaves without telling her about their history. However, during the scene, an elderly customer appears in the shop as well. The script reveals that this person is a Stan Lee lookalike. However, the actor, whose name is Ed Force, doesn't look much like Stan Lee at all.

Including a genuine Stan Lee cameo in the film wouldn't be right. With Stan Lee appearing in more than 20 MCU films, Marvel has plenty of footage to digitally recreate Lee's image or use a deepfake of his face on another actor's body. However, using those methods would feel cheap and tasteless depending on the final result. No Way Home director Jon Watts previously said in an interview (via CinemaBlend) that it "felt right" for Endgame to be Stan Lee's last cameo. So excluding a Stan Lee cameo makes sense for No Way Home.

The film still pays homage to Stan Lee. Since actor Ed Force only vaguely resembles the comic book legend, there is no true Stan Lee lookalike in the movie, and Avengers: Endgame remains Stan Lee's last MCU cameo. However, the Spider-Man: No Way Home script clarifies that the moment was a Stan Lee reference. By having an actor that vaguely looks like Lee, Marvel gives a respectful nod to the Spider-Man co-creator without tasteless CGI. The scene also shows that Marvel knows Stan Lee can never truly be replaced.

More: Spider-Man: No Way Home Subtly Teased How MJ And Peter Can Reunite

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