Why ‘Captain Marvel’s Stan Lee Tribute Came at the Beginning According to Kevin Feige

Captain Marvel is going supernova following its premiere. The female-led superhero flick is a first for Marvel Studios in more than one way. After all, the feature is the first to drop since the passing of Stan Lee, and the head of Marvel Studios is opening up about the film’s special tribute to the writer.

Recently, executive producer Kevin Feige sat down with Entertainment Tonight to talk about Lee’s tribute. In a twist, Captain Marvel begins with a memorial of the beloved comic icon, and Feige said the tribute was done very quickly after Lee passed.

“We were thinking about what to do and how to do it and whether to release something or put something out online. And we figured, as we always have, the way to pay honor to him is the way we’ve been trying to do while he was alive, which is the movies,” Feige said.

“I had always thought in the back of my head, should that day ever come — which as I’ve previously said, I wasn’t sure it would. Like, I envisioned him at 127 — that I would want something sort of touching and rousing up front, as opposed to sort of depressing at the end.”

Continuing, Feige went on to detail how the memorial was meant to celebrate Lee rather than mourn him. The producer admits Lee was too lively to want the tribute any other way, and Marvel Studios worked fast to make sure the memorial made it to the film’s final cut.

“I know that, not specifically but in general, a celebration is what Stan always wanted as opposed to any sort of mournful event. So, it happened very, very quickly soon after we got the unfortunate news.. We put that together and our visual development department, led by Ryan Meinerding, illustrated all those illustrations of him that you see, before we then go into the clips.”

There is no word on whether this tribute will be featured in any Marvel Studios title following Captain Marvel, but the MCU as a whole will have more Lee. During his interview, Feige admitted the studio has a few unused cameos left which Lee shot before his passing, so fans can expect to see the comics legend pop onto the big screen a few more times yet.

So, what did you think of the tribute? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!

Captain Marvel is now playing in theaters. Upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe movies include Avengers: Endgame on April 26th, and Spider-Man: Far From Home on July 5th.

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