Earlier than the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Stan Lee was referred to as a Marvel Comics author and editorial director. He was instrumental in creating among the firm’s most distinguished characters and oversaw your complete comedian guide universe’s route. Lee went from the voice of Marvel to its cameo king over the course of his illustrious profession, and even followers who weren’t acquainted with him earlier than quickly acquired to know the man, due to Lee’s frequent MCU appearances. Nonetheless, he was stealthily beginning his cameo profession effectively earlier than the MCU, and unbeknownst to many, his résumé features a really offbeat look in Disney’s “The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement.”
On this 2004 romantic comedy that depicts the additional adventures of Princess of Genovia Mia Thermopolis (Anne Hathaway), Lee has a quick however enjoyable flip as a international wedding ceremony visitor who does his finest to greet Queen Clarisse (Julie Andrews) with language expertise that, sadly, come straight from “The Three Stooges.”
Lee’s “The Princess Diaries 2” look got here effectively earlier than Marvel and Disney formally grew to become bosom buddies. “Iron Man” jump-started the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2008, and in 2009, Disney famously purchased Marvel for a cool $4 billion. This explicit cameo would not seem to have been an early signal of issues to come back. As a substitute, Lee merely occurred to be associates with the film’s director, Garry Marshall, who provided the cameo alternative to the Marvel bigwig.
Stan Lee had a stunning variety of cameos exterior the MCU
The looks in “The Princess Diaries 2” was removed from the primary cameo in Lee’s surprisingly illustrious performing profession. He already narrated Marvel cartoons within the early Eighties, and was recognized to have voice cameos as himself in numerous animated reveals for years earlier than the MCU made him an compulsory presence in movie initiatives below its huge umbrella.
Lee’s live-action cameos additionally began earlier than “The Princess Bride 2.” He made his first Marvel-adjacent on-screen look as a jury foreman in 1989’s “The Trial of the Unbelievable Hulk,” and appeared in lots of different non-MCU Marvel movies. You may spot him in Bryan Singer’s 2000 film “X-Males,” Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man” from 2002, and each Ang Lee’s “Hulk” and Mark Steven Johnson’s “Daredevil” from 2003, to call however a couple of. Outdoors Marvel, Lee has appeared in movies that vary from the 1990 horror comedy “The Ambulance” to Kevin Smith’s seminal 1995 slacker comedy “Mallrats.”
Whereas Lee’s MCU cameos are little doubt his most enduring on-screen legacy, his grand complete of 134 display and voice performing credit imply {that a} devoted Lee-spotter could need to take a couple of days off to actually dig into his sizable cameo catalog. In truth, completionists could have their work reduce out for them because the MCU has continued to pay homage to Lee even after he handed away in 2018, which signifies that respectful nods to the Marvel legend proceed to seem in films like “Deadpool and Wolverine.”
