Original MCU Avengers Pay Tribute to Stan Lee in New Ad

The stars of the Marvel Cinematic Universe continue to show love and tribute to Stan Lee following the Marvel Comics creator’s death earlier this week. In addition to Marvel stars posting their own tributes on social media, we now have the original MCU Avengers (Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner and Mark Ruffalo) assembling to offer this eye-catching tribute for all the world to see.

The following is a pretty classy way for the original cast of Marvel’s The Avengers to thank Stan Lee for the opportunities that have advanced each and every one of their respective careers. An of that size occupying space in a major trade like The Hollywood Reporter can’t come cheap, making this more than just a lip-service tribute: this is putting real money where your mouth is.

In general, Marvel fans have been comforted by these tributes from various Marvel actors, comic book creators, and executives, in the wake of Lee’s passing. However, there has also been some controversy over how some of these Stan Lee tributes have taken shape.

Actor Armie Hammer became a particularly big lightning rod for fan backlash after the Man From U.N.C.L.E. star criticized other celebrities for the amount of photos the were posting of themselves alongside Lee, saying it was an approach that reeked of narcissism. Well, a lot of Marvel fans happened to disagree with that assessment, posting photos of themselves with Lee in tribute to the geek icon’s warm custom of showing appreciation for his fans. The biggest smackdown on Hammer came from Walking Dead’s Negan himself, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who advocated that expressions of grief over Stan Lee’s death could take many forms and probably shouldn’t be cause for ridicule.

Well, if you happened to side with Hammer’s view of the situation, this latest tribute from The Avengers cast should pass your standards test. They kept it so humble that they didn’t even use their full names!

Avengers: Infinity War and Ant-Man and the Wasp are now available as a digital download as well as on Blu-ray and DVD. Upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe movies include Captain Marvel on March 8, 2019, Avengers 4 on May 3, 2019, and Spider-Man: Far From Home on July 5, 2019.