This article does not have any spoilers about Captain America: Civil War…except that Stan Lee has a cameo, but you probably already guessed that.
If there’s any staple in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that is more precious than the after credits scene, it’s the Stan Lee cameo. These cameos are almost as anticipated as much as the actual movie, with fans wondering how Stan "The Man" Lee will show up this time. He’s been everything from a bumbling security guard to a bumbling pickup truck driver (he’s usually confused in one way or another). It only seems right that in the biggest Marvel movie, wherein Avengers fight Avengers with the highest stakes yet, that Stan Lee has an equally important cameo.
Joe and Anthony Russo agree too! The directors of Captain America: Civil War had a lot of balancing to do when it came to characters and Stan Lee hasn’t been overlooked. Speaking in an interview with Australian radio music station Nova 96.9, Joel Russo was asked about how the Stan Lee cameo and if they had any challenges keeping it fresh
You’re always looking to keep it different with him and you want to surprise the audience because they get a kick out of it, but you also want to make it relevant in some way, so he delivers a key piece of information in the movie.
What this key piece of information is about is anyone’s guess, but it looks like Stan Lee’s cameo will be more than just a two-second gag. It’s a smart move to think about how to make the cameos fresh after 12 feature films. Of course, Stan Lee hasn’t been limited to appearing in only films made by Marvel Studios. The influential comics writer has made cameos in all of the Spider-Man films, the 2005 Fantastic Four and he even popped up in Deadpool, a character he had nothing to with.
If you'd like to watch the whole interview with Joe Russo, then check out the video below. He doesn't start talking about Stan Lee until around the 1:30 mark.
It’s tough to say of all these cameos, which one my favorite is, but I’ve always been partial to Avengers: Age of Ultron, where he played an old WWII veteran who thought he could take a shot of Asgardian liquor and not get a wicked hangover. His drunken "excelsior" catchphrase is icing on the cake. His worst might be Amazing Spider-Man 2, where he sees Spider-Man change into Peter Parker…and that’s the joke.
What’s your favorite or least favorite Stan Lee cameo? Let us know in the comments section. You can see Stan Lee and some characters he created in the sixties appear in Captain America: Civil War, which hits theaters May 6, 2016.
