Which Marvel hero has appeared in more movies than any of the Avengers or the X-Men? That’s right, it’s the one and only Stan Lee, who’s been a fixture of every Marvel production for the past two decades. Be it made by Disney, Fox or Sony, Lee is always welcome to turn up for a cameo in the latest film based on the comics franchise that he helped build, and each and every time he appears it’s a real treat.
Once known primarily as the founding father of Spider-Man, Hulk, Doctor Strange, the Fantastic Four and so many other great Marvel characters, Lee is now considered the undisputed king of cameos. From Captain America: Civil War and The Defenders to last year’s Thor: Ragnarok, not a Marvel project goes by without some cute nod to the all-around industry legend – be it in the form of a well-placed poster or actual appearance. And of course, Black Panther is no different.
Admittedly, it’s far from his best or most clever cameo, but seeing Stan on screen is always a pleasure and fans will surely get a kick out of his minor role here. It comes about halfway into the movie, while T’Challa, Okoye and Nakia are on a mission in South Korea to intercept Ulysses Klaue, who’s attempting to sell Vibranium to a buyer that unbeknownst to him is actually Everett Ross.
The scene takes place in a casino and while playing craps with Martin Freeman’s CIA agent, T’Challa wins a big hand. He’s not interested in the money though, as he’s there to stop Klaue. As such, he soon gets distracted and walks away from his chips. It’s at this point that Lee swings by, completely out of nowhere and grabs them. Bringing them over to his corner of the table, he assures Ross that he’ll keep them safe, and Everett flashes him a weird look before we’re thrown back into the action.
So, it’s over almost as suddenly as it began, then, and just like that, we’ve got another Stan Lee cameo in the books. Despite not being his best one, it’ll surely still put a smile on many faces and actually feels quite appropriate given that Black Panther is very much its own movie, free of almost any and all ties to the wider MCU. True, there are some – obviously – but compared to most other films in the franchise, Ryan Coogler’s spinoff feels pretty disconnected from the rest of the cinematic universe and is all the better for it.
