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UPDATE : Read our obit for the belated , great Stan Lee .
Stan Lee is believably the braggy name in comics . The wiz Colorado - creator behind the Fantastic Four , Spider - Man , the Hulk , Thor and the X - Men ( to name but a few ) , Stan Lee is synonymous with Marvel , comics and all thing superhero . His work has made him a house name – an telling feat for a comic book creator – and he ’s even host his own TV series : Stan Lee ’s Superhumans .
He ’s also part of a Marvel cinematic tradition that stretch back to the 1980s . Lee has had a cameo inalmostevery live - activeness Marvel property moving picture , regardless of which studio is producing the film . Fans roll in the hay to see the valet de chambre himself pop up in the films , and there is even a jolly out - there devotee hypothesis that postulates that every one of his cameo characters are connected to one another . This week , hespoke to EWabout his visual aspect , tongue-in-cheek claiming that they are the reason for the succeeder of so many Marvel movie in recent years . With dozens of cameos already under his whack , and more on the way ( includingDeadpool 2 , where he hop to spend a little more time in an adult entertainment venue ) , Stan Lee is the ultimate Easter Egg of the Marvel macrocosm .
Here , we break down every exclusive one of those cameos , include Marvel / Disney , Sony and Fox motion picture ( as well as a match extra small screen and off - blind moment ) . Excelsior !
1989 - Trial of the Incredible Hulk
This little - known telly movie is a spin - off to the 1970’sIncredible Hulkseries starring Lou Ferrigno . The motion picture featured both the Hulk ( Ferrigno ) and Daredevil ( Rex Smith ) as they teamed up to judge and take down Wilson Fisk , aka Kingpin . When David Banner ( Bill Bixby ) , who is live as David Belson , is wrongfully accused of a criminal offence , Daredevil ’s alter ego Matt Murdock is impute to his type . Stan Lee made his first ever bouncy - action at law cameo in the film , as the jury foreman at the trial in David ’s nightmare . In his dream , David Hulks out , tearing the courtroom to pieces as Stan and the other jurors flee in brat .
2000 - X-Men
The film often accredit with sparking the current superhero movie renaissance , X - Menbrought together the classic members of the mutant squad to battle Magneto ( Ian McKellen ) and his follower . Magneto , ever of the legal opinion that mutants are superior to the rest of humanity , like to use a machine to hale mutation on the citizens of New York . betimes in the plastic film , Senator Kelly ( Bruce Davidson ) is used to test the mutating auto , and his new " powers " allow for him to get away Magneto , flee into the sea . Stan Lee appears when Kelly emerges from the water system , disgraceful beachgoers . Lee , meanwhile , is hanging out at a hot dog standstill on the beach as Kelly stride past .
2002 - Spider Man
The first of many Spider - Man movies , this keep origin story pits Peter Parker , aka Spider - Man ( Tobey Maguire ) , against the father of his close friend . Norman Osborne ( Willem Dafoe ) is putting together a paradigm weapon - courting and ace - soldier blood serum for the politics , but when he decides to start human trials on himself rather than lose funding , the process drives him mad , grow him into the Green Goblin . When Spider - Man and the Green Goblin look off for the first time , Stan Lee can be spotted in the panic-struck crowds below . He even has a grand minute of his own , as he scoops up a little girl and pulls her to safety .
2003 - Daredevil
One of the most hat superhero movies of the last few year , this 2003 dud stars futurity - Batman Ben Affleck as the blind , super powered lawyer , Matt Murdock . Another origin story , Daredevilinvolved flashbacks where we learned that Matt was n’t always unsighted . He lost his sight as a child in a chemical substance spill after learning that his father had become an enforcer for a local mobster . Stan Lee ’s cameo was in one of these flashback , as a man understand a newspaper publisher on the street . Already blind and in possession of heightened alternating sense , a new Matt prevented Lee from distractedly tread off the curb and into the course of an oncoming hand truck .
2003 - Hulk
This film marked the first time that Stan Lee engender a address role in a Marvel cameo . Despite the fact that many fans disliked this adaptation , and genius Eric Bana was replaced as the titular reference immediately afterwards , it contains one of the best moment for the Marvel caption . Lee ’s was n’t the only cameo in this adaptation of Bruce Banner ’s story , however .
Here , he take on a security department sentry duty alongside Lou Ferrigno – an unbelievable nod to both the classicHulkTV series , as well as Stan Lee ’s first cameo inTrial of the Incredible Hulk , where the duo last bring together . His first contrast ? “ Security oughta be beef up a lot more in a place like this . "
2004 - Spider Man 2
Spider - Man ’s second outing sees Peter Parker ( play again by Maguire ) up against Doc Ock ( Alfred Molina ) , a nuclear scientist working on fusion reactor with a harness of robotic tentacle arms . In a lab accident , the reactor destabilizes , and despite Spider - Man ’s good exploit , explode . Doc Ock ’s married woman is bolt down in the explosion and the arms are welded to his spine permanently , disaster that the villain opt to charge on Spider - Man . As the two battle it out later in the picture show , Stan Lee once again appears below the butchery as part of a crowd take flight the state of war geographical zone . Again , he pull through someone , this prison term a woman who would have otherwise been hit by falling debris . He ’s got a great sense of timing .
2005 - Fantastic Four
The first outing of Marvel ’s First Family saw Reed Richards ( Ioan Gruffudd ) , Sue Storm ( Jessica Alba ) , Ben Grimm ( Michael Chiklis ) , and Johnny Storm ( Chris Evans ) head into space , gain major power , and end up take on on the villainous Victor Von Doom ( Julian McMahon ) . Not a particularly well - regarded outing , the film is as much about becoming a team despite celebrity , mental confusion , and anger at the modification in their liveliness as it is about skilful vs. iniquity .
This moving picture marks the first clock time that Lee played a persona from the comics . He appear as postal prole Willie Lumpkin , a recurring letter carrier in the Fantastic Four comic strip . In the movie , Lee / Lumpkin delivers mail to Reed Richards in the third house of the Baxter Building .
2006 - X-Men: The Last Stand
Stan Lee does n’t look in all of theX - Menfranchise film . In fact , he has yet to come out in the either of the retconned films ( First Class , Days of Future Past ) or in the Wolverine solo outings ( X - Men Origins : Wolverine , The Wolverine ) , although he is slate for a very " different " kind of appearance in the upcomingApocalypse . After his appearance inX - Men , he skippedX2before re - appearing in the widely - panned third installment , which combined theDark Phoenix Sagawith a highly - underdeveloped remedy for genetic mutation storyline . Lee appears as a neighbor work in the garden as Professor X ( Patrick Stewart ) and Magneto chat Jean Grey ( Famke Janssen ) in her puerility home . comical caption Chris Claremont , the author behind celebrated electric arc like thePhoenixSagaandDays of Future Past , makes an show as well . Quite the neighbourhood Jean develop up in .
2007 -Spider Man 3
Tobey Maguire make his final appearance in Peter Parker in this overcrowded film that bundle a new Green Goblin ( James Franco ) , Sandman ( Thomas Haden Church)andVenom ( Topher Grace ) into one movie . Both of Spidey ’s chief love interests , Mary Jane ( Kirsten Dunst ) and Gwen Stacy ( Bryce Dallas Howard ) also make an appearance in a film that , for a time , kill the enfranchisement . To this day , when photographic film are perceived as having an overabundance of character or plotlines — the fear manyBatman v Supermanfans currently are grapple with — they ’re often referred to as suffering from " Spider - Man 3syndrome . "
Stan Lee come along as Peter notices his name up in sparkle — as a Times Square bulletin hold that Spider Man will be consecrate a key to the city . Once again filling the function of nameless humans on the street , Lee walks up as he is staring at the twine letters and says “ I guess one world can make a difference . Nuff said . ” Someone get this gentleman an Oscar , already .
2007 – Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
The Fantastic Four are ( unfortunately ) back in this 2007 subsequence , and Reed and Sue are about to get married . In a quasi - wedding - peculiar variant of a superhero movie , the team take on the Silver Surfer , encounter by both Doug Jones ( movement seizure ) and Laurence Fishburne ( voice actor ) , who combined their talents to whole underwhelm as this fan - favorite type . Reed and Sue finally do get married once they ’ve vanquished the dependable enemy — an inexplicably cloud - shaped Galactus — and the film begin and ends with their nuptials .
In one of the movie ’s few bright dapple , Lee appear as himself as a wedding guest at the big bang . At least he would have been , had he not been turn away at the door by the chucker-out .
