How do Stan Lee's random appearances work in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
Stan Lee's cameo in the Marvel Cinematic Universe are as follows -
In Iron Man (2008) Stan Lee appears with three blonds to resemble Hugh Hefner.
In The Incredible Hulk (2008), Lee is seen drinking a soft drink mixed with Bruce Banner's blood.
In Iron Man 2 (2010), Lee is greeted by Tony Stark as "Larry King".
In Thor (2011), Lee appears among many people at the site where Thor's hammer Mjolnir lands on Earth. He tears the back off his pickup truck in an attempt to pull Mjolnir out of the ground with a chain and causes everyone to laugh by asking, "Did it work?".
In Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), Lee portrayed a general in World War II, who mistakes another man for Captain America/Steve Rogers, commenting, "I thought he'd be taller."
In The Avengers (2012), Lee makes a cameo appearance as a random citizen in the park asked about the Avengers saving Manhattan. Lee's character responds, "Superheroes in New York? Give me a break", and then returns to his game of chess. He also appears in a deleted scene, apparently as the same character: when a waitress flirts with Steve Rogers, he says to him, "Ask for her number, you moron!" (Source: Wikipedia)
So these random appearances conflict with the shared universe, especially for the case of Captain America: The First Avenger.
So how do Stan Lee's random appearances work in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
Best Answer
Stan's appearances are a sort of wink to the screen, an in-joke to those that know who he is. All of the characters that he's appeared as have had no material significance to the universe, they're just there for on-screen fluff. There's no need to try and retcon these characters, they're all different characters played by Stan with no real story purpose.
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Does Stan Lee make a cameo in every Marvel movie?
Lee is no stranger to cameo appearances in movie adaptations of his Marvel comic book characters. Prior to the MCU, Lee had, in fact, popped up every Marvel movie franchise, from X-Men to Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy.What does it mean when Stan Lee shows up in Marvel movies?
Stan Lee portrayed himself as an informant for the Watchers, keeping watch and detailing the events that take place on Earth within the Marvel Cinematic Universe media franchise. Lee appeared in each installment of the franchise from Iron Man (2008) to Avengers: Endgame (2019), prior to his death on November 12, 2018.Is Stan Lee a watcher in MCU?
The Watcher informant is a fictional character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He was played by Stan Lee.How was Stan Lee involved in Marvel?
In 1961 Lee and artist Jack Kirby created The Fantastic Four, about four astronauts who gain superpowers after a cosmic incident. The series made him and Atlas\u2014now known as Marvel\u2014major forces in the comics world.Stan Lee's - How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way (Full Length)
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Answer 2
Because he is a watcher or works for them. Likely Uatu, the watcher that's assigned to watch Earth. Confirmed by Marvel in the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2.
Marvel chief Kevin Feige has endorsed the popular fan theory that Stan Lee is playing the same character in all of his MCU roles. http://screenrant.com/stan-lee-mcu-cameo-theory-marvel-kevin-feige/
“Yes, we always thought it would be fun. Stan Lee clearly exists, you know, above and apart from the reality of all the films. So the notion that he could be sitting there on a cosmic pit stop during the jump gate sequence in Guardians was something very fun – James had that idea and we shot that cameo and loved it so much, you know, you see it a couple of times in the movie. It wasn’t in for a long time and we put it back in towards the end of the process where he references that time he was a Federal Express agent – we thought it would be fun to put that in there because that really says, so wait a minute, he’s this same character who’s popped up in all these films.”
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