Today is serving as a day of reflection and remembrance for Marvel icon Stan Lee, who passed away in 2018 at age 95. Holding a spot as one of the most prominent figures in Marvel Comics for nearly eight decades, Lee always brought smiles to the faces of Marvel fans and stars alike. Not only did he help create many of the iconic characters that make the Marvel Cinematic Universe the most successful big screen franchise of the 21st century, his cameos in nearly every Marvel movie were always the most fun Easter Eggs to look out for.
The first MCU movie to release in theaters after Lee's passing was 2019's Captain Marve l, for which company CCO Kevin Feige and his team created a new version of the Marvel logo introduction squarely centered around Stan Lee's life. This came as a surprise to fans seeing the movie for the first time, bringing cheers and applause worldwide as the MCU paid tribute to one of its most important contributors.
One of the men who helped bring this logo introduction together was concept artist Andy Park, who recently shared his contributions to the Captain Marvel opening.
NEWS
In a recent release on Twitter , Marvel concept artist Andy Park shared pictures of the three images he created for the Stan Lee opening credits tribute in 2019's Captain Marvel . The images show Lee's cameos from the first two Guardians of the Galaxy movies, as well as his appearance in 2017's Thor: Ragnarok on what would have been Lee's 98th birthday.
The first image is of Stan Lee from Thor: Ragnarok , before he gives a haircut to Thor.
The second image depicts Stan the Man from Guardians of the Galaxy , as he gets scanned by Rocket on Xandar.
The final image displays the grand reveal from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 that Stan Lee was a Watcher Informant all along.
The full Tweet can be seen below:
Happy Birthday Stan Lee!! We miss you... but we’ll always be thankful for what you’ve created alongside legends like Jack Kirby & Steve Ditko (will miss your cameos too :) #Excelsior #nuffsaid #stanlee pic.twitter.com/NYg7K7SVix
In every Marvel Cinematic Universe film from 2008's Iron Man to 2019's Avengers: Endgame , Marvel fans kept their eyes open for where Stan Lee would pop up, usually for just a few seconds in each movie. He suited up for 23 cameos as characters such as the real world's Hugh Hefner and Larry King ( Iron Man , Iron Man 2 ), a Smithsonian Museum night guard ( Captain America: The Winter Soldier ), a bus driver ( Avengers: Infinity War ), and even a FedEx delivery driver ( Captain America: Civil War ).
These three images which Park shared center on Lee's galactic cameos, all of which brought laughs and chuckles in theaters worldwide. In Guardians of the Galaxy , he was seen through Rocket Raccoon's binoculars chatting with a pretty Xandarian while Rocket called him "a class-A prevert." Thor: Ragnarok put him in the role of an intergalactic barber as he used a terrifying array of spinning knives attached to his hand to rid the God of Thunder of his luscious locks on Sakaar.
While Lee's cameos usually didn't affect the story very much in each individual film, his appearance in Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 is still noted as one of his most important to the MCU. He is seen in a spacesuit talking to the Watchers as he describes his time as "a Federal Express man," likely confirming that he is, in fact, the same exact person in every MCU film keeping an eye on what's happening throughout the galaxy.
Stan Lee's cameos were always a joy to see in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and they will live on for as long as the franchise continues even after his passing. Andy Park's post helps to keep that memory alive, especially as the MCU is so close to making its grand return with Phase 4 in January .
