It is not a proper Marvel movie without a cameo by Stan Lee. Even before the creation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the guy appeared in all sorts of Marvel properties -- ranging from X-Men to Daredevil. However, it now looks like he may soon even appear in a non-Marvel comic book movie, as Spawn creator/director Todd MacFarlane recently admitted that he is trying to sneak Lee into the upcoming reboot. MacFarlane said:
I got a good buddy named Stan Lee, and he keeps going, 'When are we going to shoot that cameo, Todd?' So hopefully, I'll get Stan to maybe come in there and do something.
It will be surprising to see Stan Lee in a movie like Spawn because most of his cameos (looking beyond the strip club scene in Tim Miller's Deadpool) have been pretty family-friendly. To build off of the fact that he intends to make his Spawn reboot a gritty, violent, and downright nasty cinematic outing, MacFarlane has described Stan Lee's potential appearance in the movie as an "anti-cameo," in the sense that he will not be the friendly, happy-go-lucky guy that we see in most of his on-screen appearances. Based solely off of that description alone, it seems reasonably clear that Spawn is shaping up to give comic book icon a role that's a far cry from his typical fare.
To date, Stan Lee has appeared in an insane number of Marvel properties -- with characters ranging from a Hugh Hefner-esque figure in Iron Man to a skeptic about superheroes in The Avengers, and several different security guards across different films. Todd MacFarlane continued and explained that he wants to go the "gnarly" route with regards to how he portrays Lee in his low-budget project -- so that already seems to promise something fresh and exciting.
Just make sure not to get too excited about this possibility too early. Despite Todd MacFarlane's comments to Comicbook.com about getting Stan Lee in the Spawn movie, it is worth paying close attention to how he phrased the remarks. Specifically, MacFarlane used the word "maybe," lending the sense that none of this is set in stone yet. The Marvel master apparently wants to appear in Spawn, but we will have to wait and see if it happens.
Of course, at the end of the day, a potential Stan Lee cameo in Spawn is one of many reasons to start getting excited about the upcoming, hard-R comic book romp. The Spawn reboot is expected to debut in theaters on 2019; until then, take a look at our 2017 movie premiere guide and our 2018 movie premiere guide to see what other great projects the next year has in store on the silver screen.
