Like Alfred Hitchcock, the late Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee made a game out of sneaking cameo appearances into his films. Lee, whose death at age 95 was announced Monday, played everyone from a beauty pageant judge to a trucker in more than 20 movies.
Smart fans knew to look for Lee, but they’d often get caught up in the plot and forget about the white-haired legend until suddenly, there he was. There’s even a fan theory that Lee always played the same character, Uatu the Watcher, an alien whose job it was to observe what’s going on with Earth. Naturally, there’s another theory that he’s just an ordinary guy.
Every cameo was super-powered in its own way, but here are 7 favorites.
1. A not-so-observant museum guard
In 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Cap needs a uniform. And Lee’s museum guard character, who suddenly faces a naked Cap mannequin who has only his shield to, uh, shield his patriotic parts, is probably “so fired.”
2. Spider-Man fan
In 2007’s Spider-Man 3, Peter Parker finds out he’s been awarded the key to the city, and Stan Lee praises the Webslinger. Then he delivers his famed catchphrase, “‘Nuff said.”
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3. Himself, as a wedding crasher
Security was tight at Susan Storm and Reed Richards’ wedding in 2007’s Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Stan insists he should be on the guest list, and actually gives his real name. Yeah, sure buddy. That’s what they all say.
4. Larry King
A brief one, but marvel at just how much Lee actually resembles talk show host Larry King in 2010’s Iron Man 2. LARRY!
5. A clueless librarian
Lee often got to play an oblivious character who’s hapless as the super-powered events go on around him. In 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man, his librarian role reminds us that wearing headphones is sometimes a really bad idea.
6. A drinker who discovers his limits
In 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, Lee plays a WWII veteran who thinks he can handle Thor’s 1,000-year-old liquor. Spoiler: He can’t. This one features two of Lee’s best-ever cameo lines. When Thor brags that the drink is “not meant for mortal men,” he sneers, “Neither was Omaha Beach, Blondie.” And after the drink has done its job, he’s helped away while slurring, “Egg … shellshior,” a version of his classic “Excelsior!” column signoff from the comics.
7. FedEx driver
Possibly the funniest line Lee got to deliver came in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, when he delivers a package to Tony STANK, not Stark. Never dropping that one, by the way.
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