As the news of Stan Lee shuffling off the mortal coil shook the fans last week, it set the fans reeling with a rather lachrymose prospect of not being able to see his cameo appearances again which he took great delight in.
Lee was an undisputed legend in the comics world. The icon’s comic career started back in 1939, before Marvel existed. He’s responsible for popular characters like Spider-Man, Iron Man, Thor and Black Panther.
The cameos were a way for movie studios to honour Lee’s contribution to the work by sharing him with a massive, mainstream audience who might not be familiar with every issue of Lee’s work. However, they come away from these big-ticket movies and revered cameos with a sense that Lee was an important, enduring figure in creating these fantasies.
So how many more times might we get to glimpse Stan the Man?
Venom director Ruben had told The Washington Post that it was a true thrill to shoot a Stan cameo, so viewers get to see Lee, playing a San Francisco pedestrian, tell Venom (Tom Hardy) neither the reporter nor his symbiote should give up on their love interest, Anne (Michelle Williams).
Earlier this year, the Russo Brothers’ Avengers: Infinity War teased that more Lee cameos might be in the pipeline, as they aimed to shoot multiple such pop-ups all together. It’s safe to anticipate Lee’s appearance in next year’s Avengers movie, the fourth in the series.
Another cameo that dials up the depth quotient is featured in Disney’s sequel Ralph Breaks the Internet where Vanellope Von Schweetz (voiced by Sarah Silverman) nearly collides with Lee, the longtime Marvel mastermind.
There is also a high likelihood that Lee’s presence will crop up in next month’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Captain Marvel.
