(Note: This post contains spoilers for the story of the video game “Marvel’s Spider-Man.”)
Developer Insomniac Games’ new Spider-Man video game isn’t quite a tie-in with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but that doesn’t stop it from feeling very in line with Marvel Studios’ offerings on film.
“Marvel’s Spider-Man” manages to tell a pretty involved, cinematic story in the medium of a video game. It’s not tied to either “Spider-Man: Homecoming” or its sequel, “Spider-Man: Far From Home,” instead crafting its own original tale based on Spider-Man’s expansive lore. “Marvel’s Spider-Man” does include one all-important element that all the movies of the MCU also have, though: a fun Stan Lee cameo.
The cameo scene comes relatively early in the game, after players are introduced to Peter Parker and his superhero persona, and the circumstances in which he finds himself. The game is set eight years into Spidey’s career as a crime fighter, when he’s fairly well-established as a guy who deals with supervillains. His line of work has cost him, though. By this point in the story, Peter has sacrificed a lot to be Spider-Man, and he’s starting to wonder if he could better serve the world as a guy who doesn’t wear a mask all the time.
In fact, eight years in, Peter’s work as Spider-Man resulted in him losing his relationship with longtime paramour Mary Jane Watson. Apparently, the pair broke up six months before the events of the game and haven’t spoken, but they cross paths again when Mary Jane’s work as an investigative reporter winds up putting her in the middle of a heist that Spider-Man stops.
Afterward, Peter and Mary Jane have dinner at a local restaurant they used to frequent, and talk about the case, as well as their breakup. Peter suggests that he wants to work on their relationship, but Mary Jane is still a little cool on the idea. Still, it’s a step up that the former couple is even talking.
Peter leaves in the middle of the meeting after police cars rip past, leaving Mary Jane to finish up on her own. As she leaves, the restaurant’s short-order cook tells her that he’s glad to see the pair back together, telling them, “You two were always my favorites.”
You can watch the cameo above.
Of course, the cook is none other than the digitized version of Stan Lee. And since Lee helped create Spidey and Mary Jane, along with Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby, and wrote for the comics as well, the moment has Lee directly addressing one of his creations and talking about how much he likes the idea of two fan-favorite characters together.
While there are a lot of fun and funny Stan Lee cameos out there in the Marvel movies, the one in “Marvel’s Spider-Man” ranks among the best. It might not be the most hilarious of the cameos, but the earnestness of Lee talking to, and about, beloved characters he’s created makes it a heartwarming one.
All 37 Stan Lee Marvel Movie Cameos Ranked (Photos)
For decades, Stan Lee was a staple of Marvel movies, making cameo appearances in most of them until his death in 2018. To celebrate his birthday -- he would have been 98 years old today -- let's look back at every one of his Marvel cameos over the years.
Marvel
37. "Deadpool 2" (2018) - The bottom of this list consists of Lee's "blink and you'll miss it" cameos. In "Deadpool 2," he doesn't actually appear in the movie in person -- he pops up as a huge wall mural that's a bit tough to spot, and gone almost immediately.
Fox
36. "Spider-Man 2" (2004) - Another super-quick Lee cameo, but during the first fight between Spidey and Doc Ock, Lee sees enough screen time to pull a women out of harm's way. Watch the clip here.
Sony
35. "Spider-Man" (2002) - Same here. Lee gets a freeze-frame shot during one of the big fight scenes in the Sam Raimi original. This was before Stan Lee cameos became a major part of the Marvel moviegoing experience, explaining why so little thought was put into them. Watch the clip here.
Sony
34. Iron Man 3 (2013) - You can catch Lee for a split second as a beauty pageant judge in this film. Compared to some of the other recent Lee cameos, this one is extremely forgettable. Watch the clip here.
Marvel
33. "X-Men: The Last Stand" (2006) - Lee appears in a flashback scene where Jean Grey demonstrates her powers. Another one of the more forgettable cameos, this one at least gives fans time to register who they're looking at. Watch the clip here.
Fox
32. "X-Men" (2000) - This was the first Marvel feature film to include Stan Lee, and as such was purely an easter egg for eagle-eyed fans. Lee can be seen for several seconds as a beach-side hot dog vendor, but he's not the focus of the shot as he is in later films. Watch the clip here.
Fox
31. "Daredevil" (2003) - Here's where the cameos start getting good. Lee gets saved from walking into traffic by a young Matthew Murdock, marking the first time Lee is used as part of a gag in a Marvel film. Watch the clip here.
Fox
30. "Iron Man 2" (2010) - This is another fleeting clip, but it ranks higher for portraying Lee as Larry King, complete with glasses and suspenders. Watch the clip here.
Marvel
29. "Fantastic Four" (2005) - The first film in which Lee talks with one of his creations portrays him this time as a mailman who extends Reed Richards a friendly greeting. Beyond that, there's nothing too special about this appearance, but it demonstrates the pivot toward increased focus on these cameos. Watch the clip here.
Fox
28. "Doctor Strange" (2016) - This quick cameo sees Lee reading Aldus Huxley's "The Doors of Perception" and otherwise remaining completely oblivious to the otherworldly goings-on just outside his bus window. Watch the clip here.
Marvel
27. "X-Men: Apocalypse" (2016) - Lee appears with his wife, Joan Lee, pop up in "Apocalypse" as a couple watching as the world's nuclear weapons are launched -- although luckily, they're being rendered useless in space. It was Joan's final appearance on film before her death in 2017. Watch the clip here.
Fox
26. "Captain America: The First Avenger" (2011) - Some films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe use Lee as the punchline for a gag scene. Here, Lee cameos as a military official at a White House press event that Cap no-shows. Watch the clip here.
Marvel
25. "Thor" (2011) - Here's another gag scene in which Lee uses a truck to try to uproot Thor's hammer, which can only be wielded by someone who's "worthy," from the crater in which it's stuck. Watch the clip here.
Marvel
24. "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" (2014) - Lee plays a security guard at a museum where Cap's suit is on display. Unfortunately for Stan's job security, Steve Rogers needs it back. Watch the clip here.
Marvel
23. "Spider-Man: Homecoming" (2017) - Lee returns to New York to join in the neighborhood lecturing the Web-Slinger about a slightly botched attempt at heroism. Watch the clip here.
Sony
22. "Ant-Man" (2015) - During Luis' madcap story, Lee appears as a bartender. Hearing Michael Pena's voice come out of Lee's mouth is a great surprise gag. Watch the clip here.
Marvel
21. "Iron Man" (2008) - By the time "Iron Man" was released, Marvel knew its fans were on the lookout for the Stan cameo, so they put him in a smoking jacket, flanked him with some beautiful women and had him appear as Hugh Hefner. Watch the clip here.
Marvel
20. "The Avengers" (2012) - This is a bit of a cheat. The actual Lee cameo used was another quick shot that would have ranked low on this list, but the deleted cameo is too funny to exclude. As Cap struggles to adjust to life in the 21st century, Lee shows up to call him out on his obliviousness. Watch the clip here.
Marvel
19. "Avengers: Infinity War" (2018) - Lee's back in New York and completely unimpressed by Thanos and his minions in his "Infinity War" cameo. There's a fair chance he's reprising his role from "Spider-Man: Homecoming" in this one. Watch the clip here.
Marvel
18. "Thor: The Dark World" (2013) - Poor Dr. Selvig. After getting his brain scrambled by the Mind Stone in "The Avengers," he's left in a mental ward where he uses Stan Lee's shoe to deliver a lecture about the convergence theory before an ambivalent audience. Watch the clip here.
Marvel
17. "Guardians of the Galaxy" (2014) - It's already surreal to see Rocket Raccoon in a blockbuster. It's even weirder to hear him voiced by an A-List actor like Bradley Cooper. But nothing is as weird as seeing Rocket ask Stan Lee from afar, "Where's your wife, you old codger?" Watch the clip here.
Marvel
16. "Deadpool" (2016) - The raunchiest Marvel film deserves the raunchiest Stan Lee cameo. If you think it's weird to see him guest star as a strip club DJ, remember that this is the guy who created "Stripperella." Watch the clip here.
Fox
15. "Venom" (2018) - At the very end of the movie, after Eddie has one last heartfelt conversation with Annie, Stan Lee pops up to encourage Eddie in a very knowing way: "Don't give up on her -- either of you."
Sony
14. "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" (2007) - In a rare cameo as himself, Stan Lee tries and fails to get into a wedding guarded by a skeptical bouncer. Watch the clip here.
Fox
13. "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" (2014) - During Gwen and Peter's graduation, Lee spots Peter swapping his Spider-Man costume for a cap and gown. "I think I know that guy," he exclaims. Watch the clip here.
Sony
12. "Black Panther" (2018) - Lee is often seen as a blue collar guy just trying to make a living in his movie cameos, and in "Black Panther," he seizes an opportunity, disapproving glare of Everett Ross be damned. Watch the clip here.
Marvel
11. "Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) - Lee is back to being oblivious in his "Ant-Man and the Wasp" cameo, when his car is shrunk by some collateral Ant-Man mayhem right before he can get inside. "Well, the '60s were fun, but now I'm payin' for 'em," Lee remarks, still holding his car keys.
Marvel
10. "Avengers: Endgame" (2019) -
Lee pops up here when Captain America and Iron Man travel back to the past to steal the Tesseract from a SHIELD base in the 1970s. Lee plays an old hippy who yells "Make love, not war" as he drives by the base. Watch the clip here.
Marvel
9. "Captain America: Civil War" (2016) - The movie's greatest strength is its balance of comedy and drama. At the film's close, Tony and Rhodey have an emotional moment together when Lee arrives to lighten the mood as a mailman looking for "Tony Stank." Watch the clip here.
Marvel
8. "The Incredible Hulk" (2008) - Quentin Tarantino has been known to subject himself to some gruesome fates in his own films. Here Stan Lee gets a tough break as a poor sucker who accidentally gets gamma radiation poisoning from a contaminated soda. Watch the clip here.
Universal
7. "The Amazing Spider-Man" (2012) - While the first two "Spider-Man" films saw Lee scrambling to get out of danger, the Andrew Garfield reboot made him completely oblivious to it. Watch the clip here.
Sony
6. "Captain Marvel" (2019) -
Lee can be seen in this film on a bus reading the screenplay for the Kevin Smith movie "Mallrats," which Lee appeared in. It's one of the many nods to '90s pop culture in "Captain Marvel." Watch the clip here.
Marvel
5. "Thor: Ragnarok" (2017) - Stan Lee follows his post "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" cosmic cameo and shows up as a barber on the planet Sakaar, looking to cut Thor's hair. Lee says, "And don't you move, my hands aren't as steady as they used to be!" Watch the clip here.
Marvel
4. "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" (2017) - Seemingly confirming something Marvel fans have suspected for some time, Stan appears with the Watchers, the group of all-seeing cosmic beings who observe intelligent life in the universe. Fans have figured Lee shows up in every movie because he's a Watcher himself. Watch the clip here.
Marvel
3. "Hulk" (2003) - This cameo isn't a gag, but it is the best easter egg in any Marvel movie. The fellow security guard to whom Lee is talking is none other than original TV Hulk Lou Ferrigno. Watch the clip here.
Universal
2. "Avengers: Age of Ultron" (2015) - Stan the Man's cameos may never get funnier than this. As Lee demonstrates, Asgardian ale packs more punch than Thor's hammer. Watch the clip here.
Marvel
1. "Spider-Man 3" (2007) - Our list began with a "Spider-man" film, so it's fitting that it ends with one. "Spider-man 3" may have polarized Marvel fans, but this Stan Lee cameo in which he smiles at Peter Parker is a heartwarming meeting between a comic book icon and his creator. Watch the clip here.
Sony
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On what would have been the comics legend’s 98th birthday, The Wrap looks back at his sometimes forgettable — other times hilarious — onscreen appearances
For decades, Stan Lee was a staple of Marvel movies, making cameo appearances in most of them until his death in 2018. To celebrate his birthday -- he would have been 98 years old today -- let's look back at every one of his Marvel cameos over the years.
Marvel
Fox
