There are few people in the world who have contributed more to the world of superheroes and comic books than the prolific Stan Lee. And since so many of his creations have now starred in big screen adaptations of the comics, Stan Lee has also effectively left his mark on the world of Hollywood forever. And while his characters and work is represented in each of the films based off of Marvel properties, Lee also physically appears in nearly every movie that stars the heroes he worked so hard on. Now the question is, which of Stan Lee's movie cameos is his favorite?
Stan Lee recently appeared at Denver Comic Con where he answered a bevy of questions posed by Marvel fans. At one point in the Q & A, he was asked about which of his on-screen appearances was his favorite, and the results may surprise you.
Gee, that's a hard one. I got a big kick out of Mallrats. But it wasn't a cameo; I really had a role in the movie. Funny thing about that: in the movie, I'm talking to the boy who was the lead, who was very unhappy because he was having trouble with his girlfriend, and I mentioned to him, 'I remember I once had a girlfriend and I lost her but I've never forgotten her, and I think about her all the time,' something like that. Now, I went home, and my wife said to me, 'Now what is this about that girlfriend?' And I learned you have to be very careful about how you explain movies to your wife.
That's right, Stan Lee's favorite acting role isn't even in a Marvel movie. It's from Kevin Smith's 1995 cult classic Mallrats. This revelation is both puzzling and makes a great deal of sense at the same time.
To start, Stan Lee's role in Mallrats is an actual speaking role. While Lee has a rather impressive resume and IMDB page of acting roles, the majority of his on screen appearances are wordless cameos. In Mallrats, which was directed and written by comic book aficionado Kevin Smith, Lee has a few scenes and a respectable amount of dialogue. As Mr. Marvel points out, he gives some sound dating advice to the character Brodie Bruce, played by Jason Lee.
Check out Stan Lee get his acting on in the clip below.
While I love Stan Lee's Marvel cameos, you have to admit that the above scene is far more substantial than anything he's ever done for the likes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or any of the other movies that star the likes of Spider-Man or the X-Men. Although his hilarious cameo in The Amazing Spider-Man might give his Mallrats appearance a run for its money.
You can currently see Stan Lee on the big screen in X-Men: Apocalypse, alongside his wife.
