Does Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse Have A Stan Lee Cameo?

Contains mild spoilers for "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse"

For years, a Marvel movie just didn't feel complete without a cameo appearance from Stan Lee, a comic book writer who helped create some of the most iconic characters in Marvel Comics, including the Hulk, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, and, of course, Spider-Man. Even after retiring from Marvel in the 1990s, he remained a public figurehead for the company, often appearing in films based on his work. Sadly, Lee died on November 12, 2018, but he had already done a few cameos for some upcoming projects, including a bittersweet role in "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse," which came out a month after his passing. 

Lee plays the guy who sells Miles Morales a Spider-Man costume, telling him, "I'm going to miss him." He's referring to Peter Parker dying in the movie, but for audiences, it felt like a surrogate reaction to missing Stan Lee himself. The film's even dedicated to Lee's (as well as Steve Ditko's) memory. While Lee can no longer appear in Marvel movies, it only makes sense to wonder if the team behind "Across the Spider-Verse" would've included Lee in some capacity. Rest assured, there's no Stan Lee cameo in "Across the Spider-Verse," and it's for a pretty good reason.

In an interview with the ReelBlend Podcast, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, writers and producers for "Across the Spider-Verse," are asked whether they considered including Stan Lee in some way in the movie even though he couldn't provide a direct voiceover. It sounds like there was never a plan to try to incorporate Lee in some manner, with Lord stating, "You know, we made a choice that it felt a bit macabre and exploitative to like put someone in a movie when they could no longer offer permission."

Ultimately, it sounds like the right decision. There's no shortage of AI tools these days to replicate someone's voice, but that's iffy moral territory. Even having a character that looks like Lee but voiced by someone else would be questionable, so leaving Lee out entirely was probably the right call to make. 

However, just because Lee doesn't have a cameo doesn't mean his presence can't be felt in the film. Lee's responsible for co-creating Spider-Man as well as many of his foes. He's directly responsible for the Spider-Verse and all the variants of Peter Parker who have emerged over the years. Lord went on to say, "He is all over the movie in many ways. The thing that's extraordinary is that what he and Steve Ditko came up with is so salient and resonant that it has replicated itself. It's such a powerful idea." No one could ever replace Stan Lee, and even if his cameos are no more, his legacy lives on. 

"Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" is now playing in theaters.