Both Kevin Smith and His Daughter Bawled at Stan Lee Cameo in ‘Captain Marvel’

It looks like Stan Lee’s cameo in Captain Marvel is really resonating with audiences — including those who were close to the comics icon.

Mild spoilers for Captain Marvel below! Only look if you want to know!

Kevin Smith recently shared a photo of himself and his daughter Harley Quinn Smith, after they had attended the Marvel Studios film together. As Smith reveals, both he and Harley had “bawled in the same exact way” to the movie’s tributes to Lee.

As fans who have seen the film know, Captain Marvel opens with a unique version of the Marvel Studios logo, with Lee’s various cameo appearances getting the spotlight. Within the film itself, Lee could briefly be seen on a train when Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) tries to locate a runaway Skrull. Lee, who can be seen rehearsing his line for his cameo in Smith’s Mallrats, briefly looks up and smiles at Carol, signifying that he’s not the Skrull in question.

Smith was pretty excited about the cameo when he first saw the film, so it’s pretty easy to see why he and Harley both had this response. And as it turns out, the film’s creative team worked to elicit that response from the audience as a whole, especially since it was Lee’s first MCU cameo following his passing last year.

“Instead of just the pure laugh we had, we had a little bit of a smile from Captain Marvel in response to it, and she kind of breaks character for a moment,” Captain Marvel co-director Anna Boden explained in a recent interview. “I think it reflects a little bit of what the audience is feeling, and we allowed that to happen.”

“It’s sad. I mean it feels like one of the first red carpets without him, this being the first Marvel Studios film released without him, you know,” Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige echoed at the film’s London premiere. “Frankly, we feel like all the films we’ve made are a tribute to his work and we’re always trying to do our best and do right by he and all his co-creators. This one, though, is particularly important since it’s the first one. So, yes his cameo and this film sort of begins as a celebration to Stan and his legacy.”

Captain Marvel is in theaters now. It will be followed by Avengers: Endgame on April 26th, and Spider-Man: Far From Home on July 5th.