- "Excelsior!"
- ―Stan Lee[src]
Stan Lee (December 28, 1922 – November 12, 2018), also known as Stan The Man, born Stanley Martin Lieber, was one of the first and most prolific writers/creators of the Marvel Universe. Along with such greats as Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, Lee created Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Black Widow, Hawkeye, the Avengers, Spider-Man, Nick Fury, S.H.I.E.L.D., Daredevil, Groot, and many other well-known characters.
He portrayed the Watcher Informant in Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, The Avengers, Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ant-Man, Captain America: Civil War, Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Thor: Ragnarok, Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Captain Marvel and Avengers: Endgame.
He also portrayed Debonair Gentleman in the ABC series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Man on Bench in the ABC series Agent Carter, Irving Forbush in the Netflix series Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, The Defenders and The Punisher and Limo Driver in the Hulu series Runaways.
He had a cameo appearance in the music video Guardians Inferno.
He served as an executive producer on Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, The Avengers, Iron Man 3, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, Agent Carter, Daredevil, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ant-Man, Jessica Jones, Captain America: Civil War, Luke Cage, Doctor Strange, Iron Fist, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Spider-Man: Homecoming, The Defenders, Thor: Ragnarok, Inhumans, The Punisher, Runaways, Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, Cloak & Dagger, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Captain Marvel and Avengers: Endgame.
He personally wrote the tie-in comic Captain America: Evil Lurks Everywhere.
He portrayed his evil clone Lan Stee in the promotional webcast Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Double Agent.
He was interviewed for the documentaries Marvel 75 Years: From Pulp to Pop and Captain America: 75 Heroic Years.
Cameos
Stan Lee has played small parts in every Marvel Cinematic Universe film and TV series to date. The film cameos were revealed in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 to be the same person, the Watcher Informant, while the Netflix series cameo is Irving Forbush and the remaining TV series cameos are all separate characters.
Films
- Iron Man - Himself, mistaken for Hugh Hefner by Tony Stark.
- The Incredible Hulk - A man poisoned by a drink laced with the Hulk's blood.
- Iron Man 2 - Larry King, mistaken for Larry King by Tony Stark.
- Thor - Man who tries to move Thor's hammer using his truck.
- Captain America: The First Avenger - An elderly general.
- The Avengers - A man being interviewed on television who didn't believe in superheroes. Also, in a deleted scene, he told Steve Rogers to ask the waitress for her number.
- Iron Man 3 - Beauty pageant judge.
- Thor: The Dark World - Mental patient.
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier - Smithsonian security guard.
- Guardians of the Galaxy - Xandarian Ladies' Man. In a deleted scene, that was only shot with a double his original cameo was for him be an exhibit in the Collector's Museum where he gives Groot the middle finger.
- Avengers: Age of Ultron - World War II Veteran.
- Ant-Man - Bartender that was seen during Luis' flashback of Falcon looking for Ant-Man.
- Captain America: Civil War - FedEx Driver, mistaking Tony Stark as "Tony Stank".
- Doctor Strange - Bus Passenger, reading The Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley.
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 - Watcher Informant, talking to the Watchers
- Spider-Man: Homecoming - Gary, chastised Spider-Man for making noise.
- Thor: Ragnarok - Man on Sakaar who cuts Thor's hair.
- Black Panther - Man who takes T'Challa's casino chips.
- Avengers: Infinity War - School Bus driver.
- Ant-Man and the Wasp - Man whose car is shrunken by a Pym Particles Disk.
- Captain Marvel - Himself, as a passenger on a train where he is seen reading the script for the 1995 film Mallrats where he had a prominent cameo as himself.
- Avengers: Endgame - Man driving past Camp Lehigh in 1970. This was the final cameo Lee made in a Marvel film.
Television
- Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode T.R.A.C.K.S. - Debonair Gentleman.
- Agent Carter episode The Blitzkrieg Button - Man on Bench.
- Daredevil episode Daredevil - Captain Irving Forbush, pictured on the wall.
- Jessica Jones episode AKA Top Shelf Perverts - Captain Irving Forbush, pictured on the wall.
- Daredevil episode Dogs to a Gunfight - Captain Irving Forbush, pictured on the wall.
- Luke Cage episode Soliloquy of Chaos - Captain Irving Forbush, pictured on the wall.
- Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Slingshot episode Vendetta - Picture inside Coulson's box.
- Iron Fist episode Dragon Plays with Fire - Captain Irving Forbush, pictured on the wall.
- The Defenders episode Worst Behavior - Captain Irving Forbush, pictured on the wall.
- The Punisher episode Memento Mori - Captain Irving Forbush, pictured on the wall.
- Runaways episode Metamorphosis - Limo Driver.
- Jessica Jones episode AKA Shark in the Bathtub, Monster in the Bed - Captain Irving Forbush, pictured on the back of a bus.
- Luke Cage episode Can't Front on Me - Captain Irving Forbush, pictured on the wall.
- Cloak & Dagger episode Back Breaker - Warholesque art featuring Lee instead of Marilyn Monroe.
Trivia
- Stan Lee was honored in an epitaph at the end of the Runaways episode Split Up, The Punisher episode The Whirlwind and the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode Missing Pieces, Jessica Jones episode AKA Everything, as well as in the opening credits of Captain Marvel.
- Stan Lee was one of the actors who has portrayed multiple characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe throughout the franchise.
- Stan Lee was one of the actors to portray characters for both Marvel Studios and DC Entertainment. He voiced himself in Teen Titans Go! To the Movies.
- Stan Lee also had cameos in several non-Marvel Cinematic Universe films based on Marvel properties. He portrayed Willie Lumpkin and voiced J. Jonah Jameson, actual characters in the comics, in the 2005 film Fantastic Four film, and the 2018 animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, respectively.
- Stan Lee was the first actor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe who portrayed characters based on real-life people.
- The character of Stanley Lieber in The Incredible Hulk is inspired by Stan Lee.
- In the Luke Cage episode Take It Personal, it is mentioned that Willis Stryker attended Lieber Academy in his youth.
- Stan Lee's appearance as a World War II veteran in Avengers: Age of Ultron is a reference to his actual military career during the events of the war.
- Stan Lee is the only actor to appear in all Marvel Cinematic Universe movies (in this case, during his lifetime) although all his appearances are cameos.
- With the exception of Inhumans, he has also appeared in all MCU TV shows, although some of his appearances are in pictures (most notably all of his cameos in Netflix shows), rather than physical like all of his film cameos.
- He has also appeared in other non-canon MCU media, like the web series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Double Agent.
- In Stan Lee's cameo in Avengers: Age of Ultron, after getting drunk, Stan Lee says "Excelsior", the same phrase with which he ended his weekly "Stan's Soapbox," which appeared in every Marvel comic book.
- In Stan Lee's Guardians of the Galaxy cameo, when Rocket profiles him, "Excelsior!" can be seen written in the Skrull letters.
- Stan Lee filmed his cameos in Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Spider-Man: Homecoming and Thor: Ragnarok on the same day due to his advanced age. James Gunn, the director of the Guardians of the Galaxy films, helped direct the cameos.[2]
- In Cloak & Dagger, a car has the license plate "STANMAN", a reference to his moniker "Stan 'The Man' Lee".
