Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3's Stan Lee Cameo Would Have Been A Wild MCU First

Even years after his passing, Stan Lee's cameos were a special touch in a Marvel movie that's sorely missed. From delivery guys to stranded spacemen, seeing the mind behind this massive world of heroes and villains drop in was a treat that never got old. Within the pantheon of big-screen stories that wouldn't exist without him, "Avengers: Endgame" homed his final posthumous live-action appearance. Now, director James Gunn shares that his space-based swan song, "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3," originally had a part written specifically for Lee that differed from the ones that came before. It would've been Lee's least demanding cameo and was conceived with the Marvel legend's best interests in mind.

Revealed in the film's director's commentary, Gunn explained that he had a voice role for Lee when putting "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" together. "I originally wrote Lambshank, the character that I played, for Stan Lee because I wrote the movie before Stan passed on. I knew he was also getting much older, and it'd be harder to bring him to Atlanta to shoot." The alien in question is the meaty-looking fellow Mantis (Pom Klementieff) frees at the film's end. While Gunn voicing the little critter certainly made him stand out, the idea of it having Lee's iconic voice would've been a treat.

In addition to the odd-looking little lump sounding like Stan Lee when he came shuffling out of his cage, James Gunn wanted to give Lambshank a computer-generated version of Lee's face. "I did a character that I could just animate and then have him do the voice and have a little Stan Lee-like face on that character," he explained. "Unfortunately, Stan passed, who I really enjoyed working with and directing so many times through these movies."

A similar situation happened during the development of "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2." For the sequel, Gunn aimed for a much-loved musician to appear, who unfortunately died before it could happen. Revealed in a Live Facebook Q&A (via NME), Gunn dropped the shocker that he "did talk to David Bowie's people about him having a cameo." The appearance would've been at the end of the film. As the director explained, "It would have been as one of the Ravagers, along with Michelle Yeoh and Ving Rhames and Sylvester Stallone and Michael Rosenbaum. But, unfortunately, David Bowie passed away." Thankfully, Bowie and Star-Lord's bond remains, given that "Moonage Daydream" made its way onto the "Guardians of the Galaxy" soundtrack.