Stan Lee’s Next Four Marvel Cameos Directed By James Gunn

Stan Lee is just as passionate about comics and superheroes as he was when he created icons like Spider-Man and The Incredible Hulk. It’s easy to forget the man is 93, but for his latest set of Marvel film cameos, the studio and director James Gunn sought to make things little easier on him.

Instead of having him travel to the set of each film independently, Marvel Studios packed four cameos into one single afternoon session, with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 director James Gunn at the helm. Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson, who’s film will include one of those cameos, recently described the process to EW.

“It’s a big deal for a 93-year-old man to go to a movie set and spend a day shooting. James shot four cameos with Stan in one day,” Derrickson said. He noted that Gunn would check in with him from time to time to make sure things matched up. “James was texting me the frame. Does this look right? Does this look good?”

Derrickson finally got to meet him at the premiere, but the two spoke beforehand about Doctor Strange. Lee might not have been sold before the phone call, but he was definitely sold by the end of it.

“I talked to him on the phone, and he grilled me pretty well,” Derrickson said. “By the end of the conversation, he was very happy.”

As for Lee, the cameos he shot that day were for Derrickson’s Doctor Strange, Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and Jon Watt’s Spider-Man: Homecoming. As for that last one, it will most likely turn up in Avengers: Infinity War. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige had nothing but great things to say about Lee’s time on set.

“He was unbelievable,” Feige said. “He was on fire. He came in, he sat here, he stood there, he stood in this window, and then he went home.”

From Marvel Studios comes Doctor Strange, the story of world-famous neurosurgeon Dr. Stephen Strange whose life changes forever after a horrific car accident robs him of the use of his hands. When traditional medicine fails him, he is forced to look for healing, and hope, in an unlikely place – a mysterious enclave known as Kamar-Taj. He quickly learns that this is not just a center for healing but also the front line of a battle against unseen dark forces bent on destroying our reality. Before long, Strange – armed with newly acquired magical powers – is forced to choose whether to return to his life of fortune and status or leave it all behind to defend the world as the most powerful sorcerer in existence.

Doctor Strange stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rachel McAdams, Benedict Wong, Michael Stuhlbarg, Benjamin Bratt, and Scott Adkins, with Mads Mikkelsen and Tilda Swinton. Scott Derrickson is directing with Kevin Feige producing. Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Stephen Broussard, Charles Newirth and Stan Lee serve as executive producers. Jon Spaihts and Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill wrote the screenplay.

Doctor Strange hits theaters on November 4, followed by Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 on May 5, 2017. Next up is Spider-Man: Homecoming on July 7, 2017, with Thor: Ragnarok landing on November 3, 2017. Black Panther debuts on February 16, 2018, followed by the eagerly anticipated Avengers: Infinity War on May 4, 2018. Ant-Man and the Wasp hits on July 6, 2018, with Captain Marvel finally hitting theaters on March 8, 2019.