Stan Lee on Marvel, Cameos, and His Biggest Regret

Stan Lee is considered the architect of Marvel’s unstoppable universe, having created or co-created characters like Spider-Man, Thor, The Fantastic Four, Iron Man, the X-Men, and so many more.

In 2016 we spoke candidly with the legend when he launched the Hands of Respect pin at Marvel’s Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N. in Las Vegas.

“I’ve done so much in my life, but the one thing that bothers me, that I don’t seem to have been able to make much of an impact, is the relationship between people; between blacks and whites mainly.”

The pin serves as a visual reminder that we should all assemble around our common decency, remembering that we have more in common than we have apart.

“If people could learn to have respect for each other, could remember that we were all made by the same — whoever made us. He made us this color and this color. We ought to get along well, and we out to respect each other.”

Of course, this all occurred shortly before Black Panther, another of Stan Lee’s creations, premiered to near-unanimous acclaim and box office records.

With a cast of primarily African characters, the blockbuster movie opened doors for diversity in Hollywood like never before.

Naturally, we can’t speak with Stan Lee without addressing his iconic cameos across almost all Marvel movies.

“My favorite one was when Thor was drinking something and I asked him to let me have a drink, and the next scene — they’re carrying me away.”

The reason it’s his favorite?

“It’s my only cameo with two scenes.”

Out of the entire universe of Stan Lee creations, we were curious which stands as his favorite.

“If I had to really get down to it — probably Spider-Man.”

Lee had an inarguable reason for his choice.

“Spider-Man has become like Mickey Mouse and the Coca-Cola bottle. You can go anywhere in the world and they recognize Spider-Man.”

After his passing Lee made his final Spider-Man movie cameo with Sony’s animated ‘Into the Spider-Verse’ feature film. Since then, he has also appeared in Captain Marvel and is confirmed to make a cameo in Avengers: Infinity War.

Now and forever, Stan Lee’s impact on pop culture and entertainment will continue to touch us all.