Warning. Minor spoilers for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 follow…
Stan Lee made his return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe this weekend with his latest – and undoubtedly most out there – cameo to date, as the Marvel legend sits chatting to the Watchers during a brief sequence (and post-credit scene) in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
His appearance alongside the Watchers delivers a nod to the long-standing fan theory that, given his multitude of cameos in the MCU (and other non-Marvel Studios produced movies), he’s actually the cosmic being Uatu. And while it seems that isn’t exactly the case, Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige has now confirmed that Lee is indeed portraying the same character in each of his appearances, traversing space and time as he observes the goings on of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
“Stan Lee clearly exists, you know, above and apart from the reality of all the films,” Feige told Screen Rant. “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.”
Lee has already shot his cameos for Spider-Man: Homecoming, Thor: Ragnarok and Avengers: Infinity War, while Bryan Singer has recently revealed he’ll also appear in the X-Men TV pilot Gifted.
SEE ALSO: There are two fun cameos in the credits of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 to keep an eye out for
Set to the backdrop of ‘Awesome Mixtape #2,’ Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 continues the team’s adventures as they traverse the outer reaches of the cosmos. The Guardians must fight to keep their newfound family together as they unravel the mysteries of Peter Quill’s true parentage. Old foes become new allies and fan-favorite characters from the classic comics will come to our heroes’ aid as the Marvel cinematic universe continues to expand.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is scheduled for release on April 28th 2017 in the UK and on May 5th in the States, with director James Gunn reuniting with returning cast members Chris Pratt (Star-Lord), Zoe Saldana (Gamora), Dave Bautista (Drax), Bradley Cooper (Rocket), Vin Diesel (Groot), Karen Gillan (Nebula), Michael Rooker (Yondu), Glenn Close (Nova Prime), Sean Gunn (Kraglin) and Laura Haddock (Meredith Quill) alongside new additions Pom Klementieff (Oldboy) as Mantis, Elizabeth Debicki (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.) as Ayesha, Kurt Russell (The Hateful Eight) as Ego the Living Planet, Chris Sullivan (The Drop) as Taserface, Tommy Flanagan (Sons of Anarchy) as Tullk and Sylvester Stallone (Creed) as Stakar.