If there's one thing that unites an otherwise very divisive audience, it's a good old fashioned movie cameo. For the more geeky film fans, this includes Stan Lee's cameos in nearly every Marvel-based film ever made. But now it turns out that another Marvel figure nearly had a cameo in the superhero film that started it all: Bryan Singer's 2000 hit X-Men.
Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige recently was kind enough to record an episode of Nerdist's Matlin on Movies podcast. During his conversation with hosts Jessie and Leonard, Feige revealed that he was actually supposed to have a cameo role in X-Men. He said,
The only reason I did it is because I was completely covered. I was a Weapon X tech pulling Wolverine's claws out of the oven. But I had a hood and mask... gloves. Every inch of me was covered.
Classy move, Kev.
It looks like then newcomer Kevin Feige nearly got his own cameo. But since he wasn't exactly a household name, it's not like Bryan Singer and company wanted to feature his likeness in X-Men. Instead, he was going to be covered up from head to toe, so the cameo would be for insiders only. This seems like a great way for Feige to have a special part of the film that started his career, while not taking away from the movie itself.
In 2000 Kevin Feige was hired as an associate producer for X-Men, mostly due to his knowledge of Marvel comics. He quickly moved up in the rankings, and was Marvel Studio's second in command by the end of the year. Since then, he's had his hand in the honeypot of every installment in the MCU, as well as earlier films like the Blade, Spider-Man and Daredevil franchises of the early 2000's.
But while Kevin Feige was been working on the majority of popular superhero films in the past few decades, he's yet to make an on screen appearance in any of the projects. This is in stark juxtaposition to Marvel creator Stan Lee, who has had a cameo in nearly every Marvel-based movie, regardless of film studio. Marvel fans spend their time in theaters waiting for Lee's eventual cameo, and with the right director and writer it can lead to some truly exciting payoffs. Just check out his grade A appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man.
I mean, come on.
Alas, it looks like Kevin Feige might not end up appearing in one of his movies just yet. And considering his first attempt was only going to be done while he was completely covered up, we probably wouldn't even know if he changed his mind.
The next installment in the MCU is Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, which hits theaters on May 5, 2017.
