'Avengers: Endgame' Cast Pays Tribute To Stan Lee Before Premiere

The Avengers: Endgame premiere provided the cast their chance to take in the movie with fans, but [...]

By Matthew Aguilar

The Avengers: Endgame premiere provided the cast their chance to take in the movie with fans, but it also provided an opportunity to share fond memories of their time with Stan Lee, the iconic Marvel creator who passed away late last year. Lee was a fixture of the Marvel Cinematic Universe thanks to his numerous cameos, ones that become a tradition that carried all the way until Endgame. Endgame will likely be the last cameo we see of Lee, but that doesn't mean he will ever be forgotten.

First up was Thor actor Chris Hemsworth, who remembers Lee's enthusiasm for the superheroes that he and the rest of the cast bring to life on the big screen. "I just remember this sort of child-like wonder of that guy and the full sort of love for these stories and how infections that energy was," Hemsworth said.

For Doctor Strange actor Benedict Wong, meeting Lee is instantly memorable, even if he didn't think Lee knew who he was. "I was on the press line for Doctor Strange and that was the first time I ever saw him and I broke the press line and just made a beeline over to him and was sort of fanboying over him. I just said 'Stan you don't know me' and he immediately interrupted and said "you're Wong!'"

Nebula actress Karen Gillan also has a fond memory of Lee from Guardians. "One time he wanted to come and see me in my makeup," Gillan said. "So he came to my trailer to meet me and say hello and he was just like marveling at the makeup job. He was really happy with it and then I told him that I had to go and do a big fight sequence and he just turned right around and was like (raises fist) 'knock em' dead', and I just thought that's the coolest thing that's ever happened to me."

Ant-Man actor Paul Rudd remembers his time fondly with Lee as well. "When we were shooting Ant-Man he came in to shoot a cameo and we spent about 45 minutes just hanging out watching dailies, watching stuff being filmed, and he told me all about how excited he was that Ant-Man was being made into a film because he was finally going to see the scale of it as he always imagined. That was really kind of tough to capture in a comic book, so it was thrilling."

You can check out the official description for Endgame below.

"After the devastating events of Avengers: Infinity War (2018), the universe is in ruins due to the efforts of the Mad Titan, Thanos. With the help of remaining allies, the Avengers must assemble once more in order to undo Thanos' actions and restore order to the universe once and for all, no matter what consequences may be in store."

Avengers: Endgame hits theaters on April 26th.

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