Marvel Studios just brought back The Watcher for his fifth Disney+ appearance in its latest animated series, Eyes of Wakanda. The Watchers exist in Marvel as omniscient cosmic beings who observe the Multiverse to collect knowledge but, despite their immense power, must never interfere, even in the most ghastly events. Marvel Studios gave these beings a starring role in its first-ever animated show, What If...?, which unveiled The Batman actor Jeffrey Wright as Uatu the Watcher, who narrated over the anthology series.
The MCU initially debuted The Watchers in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 in a game-changing moment for Stan Lee's long-running cameo trend. A post-credit scene saw the space-suited Marvel creator reporting to a group of Watchers, seemingly affirming a theory that Lee had, in fact, played the same character in all of his cameos and was an informant to the fifth-dimensional overseers.
Right after the opening credits in Eyes of Wakanda Episode 4, "The Last Panther," Marvel Animation treated fans to a surprise cameo from The Watcher, observing Tafari and Kuda from the skies above Wakanda.
The unexpected cameo continues an exciting trend of The Watcher appearing in all of the MCU's animated projects since he debuted in 2021's What If...? Season 1.
Unfortunately, The Watcher's cameo in Eyes of Wakanda is voiceless and, as such, Jeffrey Wright doesn't return to voice the character. That said, other voices who can be heard in "The Last Panther" include Steve Toussaint, Zeke Alton, Anika Noni Rose, Debra Wilson, Gabriel Burrafato, and Kesha Monk.
The Watcher's return in the Black Panther spin-off marks his fifth appearance in an MCU Disney+ series, the rest of which are listed below:
What If...?
Despite an earlier cameo in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, The Watcher's MCU journey truly began in What If...? as fans met Jeffrey Wright's Uatu. The fifth dimension narrated dozens of crazy tales and even got involved at points, assembling the Guardians of the Multiverse to stop Infinity Ultron.
Most recently, What If...?'s third and final season closed out Uatu's story as he was placed on trial by his fellow Watchers for his meddling in the Multiverse, but ultimately came out victorious with the help of Captain Carter and other heroes.
I Am Groot
Everyone's favorite talking tree got two seasons of animated shorts on Disney+ with I Am Groot, and Season 2, Episode 5, "Groot and the Great Prophecy," featured Uatu both on-screen and as a narrator.
The Watcher observed as the Guardians of the Galaxy icon broke into the ancient Drez-Lar temple to fulfil a mythic prophecy, narrating his hilarious hijinks along the way in Jeffrey Wright's only vocal MCU appearance outside What If...?
X-Men '97
X-Men '97 started the trend of The Watcher appearing in all of Marvel Studios' latest animated series in Episode 5 during the Hellfire Gala.
The Watcher served as a harbinger of doom during the mutant party, foreshadowing the Sentinels' brutal attack that killed eight major mutants.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man
As he has with every other offering from Marvel Animation, The Watcher appeared in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man's Season 1 finale, dangling over the skies of New York as Peter Parker and Doctor Strange spoke on a rooftop.
The Watcher brought the popcorn to the finale's Oscorp chaos, where Norman Osborn opened a gateway across space that allowed a symbiotic alien to pass through, requiring some time travel assistance from Doctor Strange to defeat.
