Top 15 Favorite Stan Lee Film Cameos

Greetings, true believers! Today’s post doesn’t need much of an introduction, and to be perfectly blunt, it’s going to be a refreshingly short one compared to the massive endeavor that was the Annual End of Summer Fan Poll’s Results Post. In honor of what would’ve been his 101^st birthday, today we’re celebrating one of the biggest icons in the world of comics, Stan Lee. Along with other comic legends such as Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, Lee helped co-create some of the most iconic heroes from the Marvel Comics universe, from everyone’s favorite webslinger Spider-Man to the Children of the Atom AKA the X-Men. But in later years, as he transitioned into being more of the public face of Marvel Comics, Lee also became known for his numerous cameos in the various films and TV shows based on his iconic creations, which were a staple of Marvel’s media productions up until his passing on November 12^th, 2018 and a delight to look out for, both for fans of the man himself and the beloved properties that he helped to create. So today, I decided to make a ranked list of my personal favorite Stan Lee cinematic cameos. For today’s post, we’re going to focus solely on his film cameos, meaning that I won’t be covering the likes of his cameo in Insomniac’s 2018 AAA blockbuster video game Spider-Man and the subsequent in-universe tribute to him in its 2020 sequel Spider-Man: Miles Morales or any of his various cameos in Marvel’s numerous animated shows. And in this instance, I decided that a basic Top 10 list simply wasn’t enough for such a legendary figure. Nope, today we’re going to do a TOP 15 LIST to truly honor the legacy of the one and only Stan ‘The Man’ Lee. Excelsior!!

First up, let’s celebrate a few honorable mentions, which we’ll go through in the chronological order of their respective films’ releases. First up, from the 2005 adaptation of Fantastic Four, we have the first instance where Lee played a character that he created, Willie Lumpkin, the friendly mailman of the titular superhero quartet who greets them when they first enter their new base of operations, the Baxter Building.

Moving onto our first Marvel Cinematic Universe release in today’s post, we have his cameo in the first Thor film, where he and a bunch of residents from the town of Puente Antiguo, New Mexico try to lift the mysterious hammer that has landed in a nearby desert. Lee appears as a truck driver whose attempt to pull it out with his truck results in the truck’s cargo bed getting ripped off, resulting in him poking his head out of the window and asking “Did it work?”

Moving onto the other MCU film of 2011, Captain America: The First Avenger, Lee appears as a U.S. Army General attending an award ceremony for Captain America after his successful rescue of the 107^th Infantry Regiment from HYDRA forces. But when the Star-Spangled Man with a Plan doesn’t show up and the Senator in charge of Cap’s promotional tour is informed of this by one of his associates, Lee’s character confuses the associate for Captain America and notes, “I thought he’d be taller!”.

Cut to 2014 and we’ve got the first Walt Disney Animation Studios production based on a Marvel property, Big Hero 6. While he may not have had a hand in this superhero squad’s creation, it would’ve quite frankly been a shock if Lee hadn’t cameoed in this film, where he plays the father of the team’s resident slacker (with a fire-breathing dragon suit for good measure), Fred. After originally just appearing via a photo cameo in Fred’s family mansion, where he implies that his parents are on vacation, Fred’s father finally appears onscreen in the film’s post-credit scene, in which his son comes across a secret lair full of superhero equipment. Lee would then go on to reprise his role in the first two seasons of the follow-up series Big Hero 6 – The Series, where he was revealed to be an in-universe superhero named Boss Awesome.

Going back to live-action, we have his appearance in 2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse. While it’s only a non-vocal cameo, in which he observes the sudden launch of all the world’s nukes as orchestrated by the titular antagonist Apocalypse, it’s notable in a heartwarming sense since it’s the only one where he got to star alongside his wife, Joan Lee. It was her first live-action cameo in a Marvel production after previously having voice roles in various Marvel TV productions from the 90’s… and her last on-screen appearance before her passing on July 6^th, 2017.

Speaking of the X-Men universe, there’s his appearance in the 2017 short No Good Deed, a special teaser to 2018’s Deadpool 2 which gave audiences their first look into how the character was being handled under the direction of David Leitch. Lee only appears in the version of the short that was released online rather than the version seen in theaters in front of that year’s Logan, but it’s still an enjoyable cameo nevertheless as Lee praises Deadpool’s suit before the Merc with a Mouth tells him to zip it… and, of course, given Deadpool’s fourth-wall-breaking habits, he directly refers to Stan by name.

 Finally, let’s go over his final two appearances in an Avengers film. In 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War, he’s the bus driver for Peter Parker and his classmates who pokes fun at his passengers’ stunned reactions to the appearance of Thanos’ herald Ebony Maw’s ship above the skies of New York (“What’s the matter with you kids? You never seen a spaceship before?”).

 And finally, there’s his final cameo in a Marvel film, 2019’s Avengers: Endgame. In this film, Lee appears during the sequence where Iron Man and Captain America travel back in time to 1970 to collect the Tesseract AKA the Space Infinity Stone when their original attempt to do so in 2012 failed. Lee and his female companion (with Lee digitally de-aged to look like he did in 1970 and his companion modeled after his wife Joan) drive by the S.H.I.E.L.D. base at Camp Lehigh, New Jersey, with Lee shouting “Hey man, make love, not war!”. And on his car’s bumper sticker, we see one of his most iconic catchphrases, “Nuff Said!”

15. Chess-Playing New Yorker – The Avengers

As a bunch of news reports cover the Avengers’ successful defeat of Loki and the Chitauri, Lee appears as an interviewee who remarks “Superheroes in New York? Give Me a Break!”. He had a different yet equally delightful cameo that wound up on the cutting room floor where, during a scene where Captain America is at a diner and hit on by a waitress, he tells Cap to “ask for her number, you moron!”.

14. Fed-Ex Delivery Man – Captain America: Civil War

After the intense conflicts of the third Captain America film, and especially after a scene where Tony tries to help his pal Rhodey deal with the spinal injury that he suffered during the Avengers’ airport skirmish, Stan Lee gets to provide some much-needed levity when he appears as a Fed-Ex driver delivering a package to the Avengers’ compound… the only problem is that the name on the label was misspelled, resulting in him asking for a “Tony Stank”. Rhodey promptly and delightfully revels at this hilarious misnomer.

13. Sakaarian Barber – Thor: Ragnarök

We can thank good ol’ Stan for Thor’s new haircut in Thor: Ragnarök as he’s the Sakaarian barber who trims the God of Thunder’s blond locks before he’s sent off to compete in Sakaar’s Contest of Champions. A lot of great banter here between Lee and Chris Hemsworth (which is fitting since Lee has gone on record stating that Hemsworth was always one of his favorites to work with onscreen) as Thor boldly proclaims that the barber will never cut his hair… but then, after Stan turns on his haircutting device, Thor starts to get desperate and pleads with the “nice old man” not to cut his hair.

12. Graduation Guest – The Amazing Spider-Man 2

Peter Parker barely manages to make it to his high school graduation before his name is called. When he first gets there, he nearly goes onstage wearing his Spider-Man mask before he remembers to take that off… but not before Stan ‘The Man’ spots him and proclaims, “I think I know that guy!”. Lee would end up saying the exact same thing to Tom Holland’s Spider-Man as part of a series of commercials advertising ABC’s coverage of the NBA Finals around the time of Spider-Man: Homecoming’s release.

11. Not on the Guest List – Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

A great example of how a Stan Lee cameo could be done in a manner that feels quite relevant in the context of the comics is in the second 2000’s era Fantastic Four film, 2007’s Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, which saw Lee attending the wedding of Reed Richards and Sue Storm… only to get denied entry because he wasn’t on the guest list.

10. San Francisco Resident ­– Ant-Man and the Wasp

During the climax of Ant-Man and the Wasp, a Pym Particle disc hits a car, which causes it to shrink as the owner remarks “Well, the ’60s were fun, but now I’m paying for it!”. A basic cameo, admittedly, but one that is made even more memorable by the numerous alternate takes that can be seen in the film’s outtakes. For all we know, that man probably stole that car… either that, or he’s lucky that it was only a rental. But wait, did he leave his sandwich and/or coupons in there? Well, if anything, at least he was able to find a parking spot in San Francisco…

9. A Stan Lee Cameo in a DC Movie??? – Teen Titans Go to the Movies

Yes, as crazy as it may seem, Stan Lee made a prominent cameo in a film based on a DC Comics property; the film in question being the animated genre spoofer that was Teen Titans Go to the Movies. As the Teen Titans walk through the Warner Bros. studio lot, Lee, first seen sweeping in the background, shifts the focus over to him and proudly announces that he’s here for his “subtle cameo”. But then someone tells him that he’s in a DC film, promptly resulting in him leaving… before he returns during the climactic chase scene involving the Titans and the forces of their enemy Slade where he jumps on their golf cart and proclaims that he doesn’t mind the fact that he’s in a DC production. He just loves making cameos!

8. Mallrat Stan – Captain Marvel

2019’s Captain Marvel was the first MCU film released after Stan Lee’s death, and sure enough, Marvel Studios went all out to pay tribute to the man, the myth, the legend. In fact, it all starts at the very beginning of the film as the traditional character-filled Marvel Studios logo is replaced with photos and clips of the beloved Marvel icon. And at the end of this whole sequence, a simple yet poignant message appears on-screen; “Thank you Stan”. As for his in-film cameo, we have a moment that directly ties into Lee’s career given that the film is set in 1995. As Captain Marvel pursues a Skrull operative on an LA subway train, she takes note of an old man reading from a film script. When she pulls down his script, he flashes his lovably warm smile which she promptly reciprocates. A nice, sweet cameo all-around, but also a fun one for those in the film fan community since the script that Stan is reading from is Kevin Smith’s Mallrats, where he, of course, made one of his first notable cinematic cameos.

7. Drunk War Vet – Avengers: Age of Ultron

Another fan-favorite cameo of Lee’s sees him attending the Avengers’ party in Avengers Tower, where Thor brings out a flask of an ancient Asgardian ale. While he warns the partygoers that it isn’t meant for mortal men, one World War II vet is willing to give it a try. But sure enough, it leaves the old man flat-out drunk as two guys carry him out; as this happens, the veteran woozily utters a single word, “Excelsior!”

6. Smithsonian Security Guard – Captain America: The Winter Soldier

As the climax for Captain America’s second MCU solo film ramps up, the titular hero steals his original World War II-era uniform from the Smithsonian Museum’s Captain America exhibit before he and his allies begin their attack on the HYDRA-compromised S.H.I.E.L.D. We learn about this as a security guard notices its absence and laments “Oh man! I am so fired!”.

5. “You Look Great, Hef!” – Iron Man

Lee’s first cameo in a Marvel Cinematic Universe production is often cited as one of his best, and it’s easy to see why. It’s a simple yet hilarious cameo in which Tony Stark AKA Iron Man attends a charity event and passes by a man who he thinks is Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, only for the man to turn around and reveal himself to be our favorite Marvel icon. This approach for a Stan Lee cameo would be repeated in the sequel, 2010’s Iron Man 2, where he’s referred to as radio host Larry King by Tony’s chauffeur and bodyguard Happy Hogan as he and Tony travel through the crowd at the Stark Expo and converse with the latter’s fans.

4. Watcher Informant – Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

The second cinematic outing for everyone’s favorite band of intergalactic a-holes gives us a definite answer on the nature of Stan Lee’s cameos in the MCU. As it turns out, he’s an informant for the all-knowing group of sentient cosmic beings known as the Watchers. First appearing in a scene where his conversation with them gets interrupted by Rocket, Baby Groot, Yondu, and Kraglin traveling through a bunch of hyperspace jumps to get to Ego’s planet, Lee’s informant then proceeds to talk about the time that he worked for FedEx. In the film’s final post-credit scene, the disinterested Watchers leave without giving their informant a lift home. Sure, this cameo may have instigated a bit of a continuity error since Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 is set before the events of Captain America: Civil War, but it still presents a delightful way of explaining Lee’s cameos that isn’t far off from what the common fan theory was at the time that suggested that he’d be revealed to be the most famous Watcher, Uatu.

3. Unaware Librarian – The Amazing Spider-Man

Andrew Garfield’s first outing as Spider-Man resulted in one of Stan Lee’s most hilarious cameos during the sequence where Spidey fights Dr. Connors AKA The Lizard in his high school. At one point, they rampage through the library all while the librarian on duty is just going about his business and listening to classical music on headphones, completely unaware of what’s going on behind him even when a table nearly gets thrown at him, which Spidey thankfully catches.

2. Man in Times Square – Spider-Man 3

Stan Lee’s first two cameos in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy were the very definition of a basic cameo; in both instances, he appeared briefly as a citizen who pulls someone out of the way of falling debris during Spidey’s first fights with the Green Goblin and Doc Ock, respectively. But as revealed in the films’ bonus features, there were some alternate ideas as to how he’d appear in them. In the first Spider-Man from 2002, he almost appeared as a street vendor at the World Unity Fair selling sunglasses that, as he put it, were the kind “they wore in the X-Men”. In Spider-Man 2, he almost appears as an onlooker who remarks that Spider-Man stole a kid’s sneakers. Ultimately, his best Raimi trilogy cameo occurred in the final installment of the trilogy, 2007’s Spider-Man 3. After Spidey rescues Gwen Stacy from an incident with a faulty crane, he learns that he’s set to be honored by the city of New York from one of the news tickers in Times Square. A man standing next to him remarks “You know, I guess one person can make a difference. ‘Nuff Said!”. I think most will agree that this is easily one of Lee’s best cameos; in just a single line, the well-spoken Marvel icon makes a poignant observation about the importance of superheroes. And on that note…

1. Costume Shop Owner – Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

We’ve covered plenty of great Stan Lee cameos today, many of them delightfully wacky comedic moments that perfectly matched Lee’s lovable on and offscreen persona. But for the Number 1 pick, I decided to go with the most poignant cameo of them all; the first proper Stan Lee cameo that was released after his death in the Phil Lord and Chris Miller-produced Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. In the film, Lee plays the owner of a costume shop where new Spider-Man Miles Morales buys a Spider-Man costume in the wake of his universe’s Peter Parker’s death. When he brings the costume up to the register, the owner laments that he’s going to miss Spider-Man and notes that he was friends with the web-slinger. When Miles inquires about the possibility of having to return the costume if it doesn’t fit, the owner notes that “it always fits, eventually”, a seemingly sweet gesture… before the camera pans over to the sign behind him that states his no return policy.

I decided to go with this one because I think it perfectly sums up Lee’s legacy, especially since everyone’s favorite webslinger may quite arguably be his most famous creation. This scene between Lee and the new Spidey, Miles, sees the former have some of the most poignant dialogue that he’s ever delivered in a Marvel film before ending with a classic bit of Stan Lee humor. This touching tribute is then extended to the film’s credits, which pays tribute to both him and Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko, who had passed away that past June. The following quote, “That person who helps others simply because it should or must be done, and because it’s the right thing to do, is indeed without a doubt a real superhero”, appears over an image of a pair of familiar-looking glasses. Cut to the following statement, “Thank you, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, for telling us we aren’t the only ones”.

And that concludes my list of my Top 15 personal favorite Stan Lee cinematic cameos. Thanks for following along and be sure to sound off in the comments below with your own personal favorites, including all those shows and video games that I didn’t tackle in today’s post.

Ranking the MCU Post-Credits Scenes

The newest Marvel Cinematic Universe film, Doctor Strange, hits theaters this weekend. With that in mind, I tried to think about a post that I could do that would tie into the MCU in honor of its release. The only thing is… I’ve obviously done many, many posts on the MCU over the years. I’ve done rankings of the films themselves as well as for the villains and the scores. Earlier this year when Captain America: Civil War came out, I did a ‘Story So Far’ post detailing everything that had occurred in the MCU up to that point, which I felt was fitting at the time seeing how that film served as the start of Phase Three of the MCU. So, what can I do this time? Well, I decided to do a rankings list of one of the most notable elements of the Marvel Cinematic Universe; the post-credit stingers. Obviously post-credit sequences in films have been around for years from The Muppet Movie to Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. But ever since the original Iron Man back in 2008, Marvel Studios has turned them into one of their trademarks. And yet interestingly enough, based on my own experiences going to see MCU films, people STILL leave the theater before the credits are over. And let me be clear, this is still occurring even after 13 films into the franchise’s run. I mean I understand if people have other commitments that they need to get to but at this point people should know that it’s pretty much a requirement that you stay till the end of the credits in a MCU film so that you see everything that happens in it. Anyway, there have been 19 MCU post-credit scenes over the span of 13 films and today I’m counting them down from the worst to the best. Whether it’s a humorous little closing tag or a hint at what’s to come next in a future film, MCU fans always look forward to these little nuggets of MCU goodness.

19. THOR RETURNS TO EARTH (THOR: THE DARK WORLD)

Kicking off this list is the post-credit scene for Thor: The Dark World, in which Thor returns to Earth and reunites with his love, Jane Foster. After their reunion, we cut to another part of London where we see that a frost monster (AKA the big troll-like creature that Thor fought in the first Thor film) from Jotunheim is running amok at the abandoned factory where Jane first came across the Aether. It got transported to Earth by accident during the final battle between Thor and Malekith when the two traveled through the various worlds of the Nine Realms. The main reason as to why this scene takes the bottom spot on this list is quite simple; there’s not that much to say about it really. It’s just Thor reuniting with Jane followed by a brief scene of the frost monster running around London. Sure, the shot of the monster jumping over a bunch of shipping containers while chasing after a flock of birds certainly gets a few chuckles but overall it’s a weak way to end an MCU film. In a way, I guess you can say that it fittingly connects with the fact that Thor: The Dark World was a rather uneventful entry in the MCU, especially when compared to films like Winter Soldier or Civil War. An interesting fact about this scene is that when it was filmed, Natalie Portman was unavailable as she was busy working on another film. So instead, the filmmakers had Chris Hemsworth’s wife Elsa Pataky step in to play Jane in this brief scene. As Portman then went on to joke, this explains why the kiss between the two “was so passionate”.

18. THE AVENGERS TEASE (CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER)

There is no doubt that this post-credit scene from Captain America: The First Avenger was quite a big deal when it first came out. After all, it gave us audiences our first look at the epic superhero adventure that was to come the following May. It opens with a scene that would later be shown in Avengers of Cap as he’s hammering away at a punching bag alone in a small gym. After he knocks the bag off its tether (a moment that is even more epic when it’s shown in the actual film as the result of it being intercut with flashbacks of First Avenger), Nick Fury enters the room, telling Cap that he’s here to give him a mission of the ‘saving the world’ variety. We then cut to a series of clips from The Avengers which is basically just a rundown of all the major characters. Sure, there’s no major action sequences that are shown off here (keep in mind that this was in the summer of 2011 before we even got a full trailer for the film) but it certainly must have gotten audiences pumped in regards to what was coming. So why then is this near the bottom of the list, you ask? Simple… because The Avengers has been out for almost five years now. We’ve all seen it so now this post-credit scene is nothing more than just a simple teaser. I mean I still have positive feelings about this scene, mainly from a nostalgic perspective, but as much as I hate to say it, this is one instance of an MCU post-credit scene that you can honestly skip at this point because you won’t miss anything… and that’s because you’re literally going to see everything that happens in it in the next film.

17. HOWARD THE DUCK (GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY)

Even after two years since Guardians of the Galaxy first came out, sometimes I still marvel (pun not intended) at the fact that the film got away with, let’s be honest, a completely superfluous post-credit stinger featuring an unexpected cameo from a character who, believe it or not, is from a Marvel comic. I’m of course referring to Howard the Duck, who appears as part of the Collector’s archive on Knowhere. The stinger opens as the Collector sits in his destroyed archive following the incident earlier in the film in which his mistreated assistant Carina touches the Power Stone, which causes an explosion that almost completely decimates the entire archive. As he begins to have a drink, one of his specimens, a Soviet cosmonaut dog named Cosmo (who’s a member of the Guardians in the comics) comes up to him and starts to lick his face. As the Collector lets the dog do so, a voice is heard asking the Collector why he’s letting the dog lick him like that. We then cut to the infamous duck as he sits in his destroyed cage as he too has a drink. I mean… yeah talk about one of the most random post-credit scenes of all-time and not just in terms of the MCU. It’s so random that when I went to see it with some of my friends on opening night, one of them audibly shouted ‘Oh my god!’ when Howard (voiced by, believe it or not, Seth Green) appeared on-screen. Obviously, the fact that it’s a pointless stinger puts it near the bottom of this list but the randomness of it all at least gives it a one-up over the previous two entries. Plus, even though it’s clearly not saying much, this is easily Howard’s best film appearance following the infamous 1986 film Howard the Duck produced by George Lucas. Going back to the Collector for a moment…

16. THE COLLECTOR (THOR: THE DARK WORLD)

Now I’ll admit that when I first saw this mid-credit sequence from Thor: The Dark World, I wasn’t too big on it. In fact, it made me quite hesitant about the then-upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy which, for the record, we hadn’t seen any real footage of yet at the time. The scene consists of Lady Sif and Volstagg entering the Collector’s archive to give him the Aether, as they note that it’d be unwise to have two Infinity Stones in one place as they already have the Tesseract on Asgard. As they leave, the Collector remarks to his assistant, Carina, “one down, five to go”. So yeah, at first I wasn’t too big on this scene to the point where I started to have some doubts over Guardians of the Galaxy. The bright and colorful backgrounds of the Collector’s archive came off as being rather tacky to the point where it did not gel well at all with the more grounded color scheme and set design of the film prior. It’s easy to see why director Alan Taylor wasn’t too keen on this scene, directed by Guardians director James Gunn, being included in the film. But of course, since then Guardians has come out and proved to be another excellent installment in the MCU. Thus, I have warmed up to this scene in recent years. It’s still not one of my favorites by any means, namely due to the clashing of different set designs, but I do appreciate it more as a fan of Guardians.

15. PETER PARKER RETURNS HOME (CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR)

Civil War saw the long-awaited debut of Spider-Man in the MCU and the Russo brothers gave us a fun little closing tag to end the film on that was based around him. It opens with Peter Parker as he returns home from the big airport battle in Germany. Having sustained some minor injuries during the fight (i.e. a black eye), Aunt May asks him who it was that hit him, to which Peter tells her that it was some guy named Steve from Brooklyn (I’m sure you all know who that guy is). After managing to shoo her away, Peter tests out some of the new equipment that Tony Stark gave him, namely a beam of light that emits an image of his Spider-Man mask on his bedroom ceiling. This is the ‘Spider Signal’, a piece of equipment that Spidey frequently used in the comics. It is used primarily to intimidate criminals, very similar in use to the Bat-Signal for Batman over in DC Comics. Ultimately this scene is another example of how this new film iteration of Spider-Man, played by Tom Holland, is very much staying true to the comics. I mean, we saw that right out of the gate when Spidey first appeared in the second trailer for Civil War as his costume closely resembled his original costume from the comics right down to the ‘shutter eyes’. And thanks to this scene, I think it’s safe to say that we’re going to be seeing even more of ‘old-school Spider-Man’ in the upcoming Spider-Man: Homecoming.

14. THANOS (THE AVENGERS)

The Avengers was the first MCU film to have not one but two post-credit scenes, the first of which being a mid-credit scene. And boy was this one a doozy as it introduced us to the character who will no doubt be a major threat in Infinity War; Thanos. All throughout the film we’ve seen scenes set in space in which Loki converses with a figure known as ‘The Other’. As this mid-credit scene begins, ‘The Other’ meets with his master, a mysterious purple-skinned figure, and warns him about the humans, who at first they thought wouldn’t pose any threat but were proven wrong after the Avengers took down their army of Chitauri. As ‘The Other’ remarks that ‘to challenge them is to court death’, Thanos turns to the camera and smugly grins. Now sure, if you’re not that big of a comic book reader, you probably had no idea who this character was the first time around. But at this point, I think it’s safe to say that most people know who it is now, especially now that he’s appeared in Guardians of the Galaxy and Age of Ultron. The thing is, though… in those films he’s played by a different actor. In the first Avengers, Thanos was played by Damion Poitier and I’m guessing that he was only brought in for that one scene. Ever since, Josh Brolin has been playing the part and will do so again in Infinity War. Now I’m not saying that they should pull a ‘Star Wars Special Edition’ by reshooting this scene with Brolin but now that he’s in the role, it’s kind of weird going back to this scene nowadays and seeing the pre-Guardians Thanos. Hence why his next post-credit appearance takes the next spot…

13. THANOS DONS THE GAUNTLET (AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON)

Age of Ultron notably only had one post-credit scene whereas nowadays there are always two major post-credit scenes in an MCU film. I wonder how many people stuck around till the end of the credits only to find that there wasn’t anything there? Anyway, it was only fitting that Thanos appears in the post-credit scene for the second Avengers film and while he only grinned to the camera in the first film, he does a little bit more in this film… you know, more than he’s done while sitting on that throne that he sat in during his scene in Guardians of the Galaxy. Anyway, we open on a vault containing an Infinity Gauntlet. Thanos dons it and remarks ‘Fine! I’ll do it myself!’ meaning that he’s ready to finally start his quest to collect the Infinity Stones, which is a good idea because he technically doesn’t have any at this point. The Tesseract’s on Asgard, The Aether is with the Collector (presumably… Who knows after that archive explosion?), the Power Stone is with the Nova Corps, and the Mind Stone is in Vision’s forehead. Yes, he picked up an empty Infinity Gauntlet. On an interesting note, we previously saw an Infinity Gauntlet during a brief shot of Odin’s Treasure Room in the first Thor film. It’s safe to say that this must be a different Gauntlet. Anyway, it’s unclear when we’ll see Thanos next but this scene does set the stage for what will surely be an epic battle in Infinity War. And like I said before, the key reason as to why this scene gets ranked higher than the Thanos scene from the first Avengers film is the fact that now he’s played by Josh Brolin. Simply put, better continuity.

12. TONY MEETS WITH GENERAL ROSS (THE INCREDIBLE HULK)

Okay technically speaking this isn’t a ‘post-credit’ scene. In fact, it happens BEFORE the credits even start. Still, I think it’s necessary to include this one because boy was it a big deal when it first happened. Tony Stark appearing outside of the Iron Man films? Mind blown! Obviously nowadays this isn’t that big of a deal given all the cameos and crossovers that have occurred since then but I think that this one is still notable on its own merits. After the whole incident with the Hulk in Harlem (I wonder how Luke Cage and co. responded to that one), we see General Ross as he’s drinking his woes away in a bar. Then we cut to a figure entering the bar; it’s Tony Stark. After bantering for a bit, Tony mentions that a team is being put together. Again, obviously nowadays this isn’t anything major given the countless other times that Tony and other characters have cameoed in other MCU films. But in the context of mid-summer 2008, after Robert Downey Jr. and Marvel Studios made it big with the original Iron Man film just one month earlier, this was big. And let’s be honest, part of me wonders if there were people out there who didn’t see the post-credit scene from Iron Man beforehand. I’ll admit that I didn’t stick around till the end when I saw Iron Man in theaters so when I went to go see Incredible Hulk in theaters, basically this was the first time that I learned about the plans for an Avengers film. This scene was even incorporated into one of Marvel Studios’ ‘One-Shot’ short films, The Consultant. So, to put it simply, I’d say that this is still a very noteworthy entry in Marvel Studios’ line of post-credit stingers. 

11. BABY GROOT DANCING (GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY)

What more can be said about this one? This one’s super adorable and it quite frankly perfectly exemplifies the good feelings that one gets while watching Guardians of the Galaxy. During the climax of the film, the tree-like creature Groot sacrifices himself to save his friends as the Dark Aster crashes down into the city of Xandar. I dare you not to get teary-eyed when Groot comforts a distressed Rocket and says “We are Groot!” But following the final battle with Ronan, it’s revealed that Groot is still alive thanks to his regenerative abilities and is currently in miniature form. And as soon as the credits start, we get a hilariously charming scene of Groot dancing to the Jackson 5’s ‘I Want You Back’ all while a completely unaware Drax is seated directly nearby polishing his knife. At one point Drax turns around and Groot freezes in place as if not to give anything away. Drax returns to polishing his knife and Groot continues to dance. I mean, there’s not much else I can say about this one. It’s just a super charming way to end the film and I do look forward to seeing a ‘younger’ Groot in the upcoming sequel, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Fun fact; Groot’s smooth dance moves were provided via mo-cap by none other than the director of Guardians of the Galaxy himself, James Gunn, who has stated that ‘I Want You Back’ is his favorite song.

10. BUCKY VISITS THE MUSEUM (CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER)

We got a great pair of post-credit scenes in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The second one is a simple scene but it’s also an effective way to showcase a change in the character it focuses on. One of the major plot points of the film revolves around its titular character, the Winter Soldier, who is revealed to be Steve Rogers’ best friend Bucky Barnes, who is revealed to be alive after his supposed death in First Avenger but is now a brainwashed soldier of HYDRA. Now, Cap is forced to try and knock some sense into his friend, which he does with one simple line. Said line is one that Bucky said to him back in the 40’s; “I’m with you till the end of the line.” That stops Bucky right in his tracks and effectively started his journey to remember who he is. As the film’s second post-credit scene begins, we start off in the Smithsonian Exhibit in Washington D.C. honoring Captain America, which was complete with narration from Gary Sinise and was where Cap ‘stole’ his original World War II uniform to wear during the final battle with HYDRA. We then see Bucky as he walks up to the one part of the exhibit that focuses on him, “the only Howling Commando to give his life in service of his country”. Like I said, the key to this scene is that it ends the film on a cliffhanger by showing Bucky’s initial efforts to regain his memory following his fight with Cap. Also, the pulsating music by Henry Jackman that increases in volume as the camera pans over to Bucky is a nice touch. Speaking of good ol’ Bucky…

9. BUCKY GOES INTO CRYOSLEEP IN WAKANDA (CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR)

Captain America: Civil War also had a nice pair of post-credit scenes, with the first, the mid-credit scene, giving us a good tease of the world of Black Panther. All throughout the film, Black Panther AKA Prince T’Challa of Wakanda had been hunting Bucky believing that he was the one who bombed the UN conference in Vienna and killed his father, King T’Chaka. Thankfully, he eventually realizes that Bucky was completely innocent and that Helmut Zemo was the one who was responsible for the death of his father. After the big Cap-Iron Man fight in Siberia, Cap and Bucky flee to Wakanda where Bucky voluntarily decides to go back into cryo-sleep. As he sees it, he can’t trust his own mind so it’s better for everybody if he goes under until they find a cure for his brainwashing. And so, he goes back into cryo with his best friend Steve by his side. Cap then goes to talk with T’Challa who tells him that he’s ready to help Bucky find peace after he and his father both became victims of Zemo’s plot. When Cap notes that those who are after Bucky will no doubt come for him in time, T’Challa remarks “Let them try,” as the camera pans out to reveal the jungles of Wakanda complete with a massive stone statue of a panther. In short, Civil War was a great introduction to the character of Black Panther, played phenomenally by Chadwick Boseman, and the mid-credit scene gave us our first look at his home nation which will no doubt take center stage for some epic superhero action in his upcoming solo film which will be hitting theaters on February 16^th, 2018.

8. HOPE IS GIVEN THE WASP SUIT (ANT-MAN)

While Hope van Dyne didn’t get much to do action-wise in Ant-Man, she was still a valuable member of the team and Evangeline Lilly certainly did a great job in the role. One of the best aspects about her role in the film was that there was a legit reason as to why her father, Hank Pym, didn’t just let her put on the Ant-Man suit as part of their plan to steal the Yellowjacket technology developed by his former protégé, Darren Cross. In an emotional flashback scene, he reveals that during a mission to disable a Soviet missile, her mother Janet AKA ‘The Wasp’ sacrificed herself by shrinking down to the sub-atomic level and was never seen again. However, after Scott Lang manages to return from this ‘quantum realm’ during the final battle with Yellowjacket, Hank begins to wonder if Janet is still alive. And as the mid-credit scene begins, it’s clear that he’s finally warmed up to the idea of letting Hope utilize his shrinking technology as he shows her a new Wasp prototype suit, basically confirming that she will be taking on her mother’s mantle in future MCU films. She didn’t appear in the next immediate MCU film, Civil War, unlike Ant-Man, because writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely noted that it would basically be nothing more than just a quick cameo. Sure, it’s a bit disappointing that she wasn’t brought back immediately after that big mid-credit scene but at the same time it’s understandable considering how packed Civil War was already in terms of characters. Thankfully she will be back to officially take on the mantle of ‘The Wasp’ in 2018’s Ant-Man and the Wasp. To quote her line in this scene, “It’s about damn time…”

7. CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR TEASE (ANT-MAN)

This is another one of those MCU stingers that directly teases the studio’s next film. In this case, Ant-Man’s post-credit scene was directly helmed by the Russo brothers and features a setting straight from Civil War. It’s the scene where Cap and Falcon have found Bucky and are restraining him following the incident at the Berlin facility where Bucky was being held captive but was let out by Zemo, who reinitiated his HYDRA brainwashing with those infamous trigger words (“Longing, Rusted, Seventeen, Daybreak, Furnace, Nine, Benign, Homecoming, One, Freight car”). Falcon remarks that “this would’ve been a lot easier a week ago”. They both realize that they’re unable to contact Tony Stark because of ‘the Accords’ and Cap remarks that this basically means that they’re on their own. To which Falcon responds ‘not quite’ and that ‘he knows a guy’. This scene accomplishes two things. First off, obviously, is the fact that it sets up Civil War. It introduces the Sokovia Accords, without ever going into detail over them, as well as continuing from Winter Soldier, which ended with Cap and Falcon planning to go after Bucky. The other great thing about this scene is that it also serves as a nice bit of closure for Ant-Man. Of course, Falcon made a highly memorable cameo in the film during a scene in which Ant-Man had to infiltrate the Avengers’ facility in New York to acquire a specific piece of equipment for the film’s big heist. It just goes to show that the MCU truly is a connected universe.

6. LOKI IS ALIVE (THOR)

The climax of the first Thor ended with the implication that Thor’s treacherous brother Loki fell into the abyss following the destruction of the Bifrost bridge. However, as this post-credit scene reveals, Loki isn’t quite dead yet. Like pretty much all the Phase 1 post-credit scenes (save for The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man 2, the latter of which he instead had a more substantial role in), it features Samuel L. Jackson returning once again as Nick Fury. In this instance, he converses with Thor’s friend Dr. Erik Selvig by bringing him to a secret SHIELD facility and showing him a mysterious glowing blue cube. We then see Loki reflected in a nearby mirror as it’s revealed that he’s somehow in control of Selvig, coercing him into saying to Fury that “it’s worth a look”. Like the Ant-Man post-credit scene, there are two things to take from this. First, it introduces the object known as the Tesseract, which served as the McGuffin of both Captain America: The First Avenger and The Avengers and would later be revealed to be an Infinity Stone. Secondly, as noted earlier, it establishes that Loki did survive that big fall and that he will be the primary villain of the first Avengers film. In fact, this scene was directed by Joss Whedon, who would do the same thing again for another ‘Avengers build-up’ post-credit scene that will be coming up in a little bit. It’s also interesting to note how Selvig is apparently under Loki’s control at this point as this is before he was officially made into one of his henchmen in The Avengers. Ultimately, though, this is another classic post-credit stinger that ends on a major cliffhanger. On that note…

5. THOR’S HAMMER (IRON MAN 2)

To me this was an excellent set-up for what was to be the next MCU film at the time, Thor. At one point in Iron Man 2, Tony briefly found himself in a state of ‘house arrest’ being watched closely by Agent Phil Coulson, who warned him that ‘he will taze him and watch Supernanny while he drooled on the carpet’ if he tried to escape. But Coulson ends up leaving eventually to head on down to New Mexico for a different assignment. As the post-credit scene, directed by Thor director Kenneth Branagh, begins, we open on the New Mexico desert. A lone vehicle begins driving through it and stops in front of a small cliff. As Agent Coulson gets out, we cut to a reveal of what he’s looking at; a massive crater surrounded by a bunch of truckers. Coulson gets on the phone, presumably with Fury, and tells him “Sir. We found it,” before we cut to a shot of the mysterious object located right in the middle of the hole; Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir. And as the screen goes to black, we hear a bolt of lightning, perfectly matching Thor’s title as the ‘God of Thunder’. Without ever showing Chris Hemsworth as Thor, this scene perfectly builds up the character’s then-upcoming solo film while also confirming that Clark Gregg would be returning as everyone’s favorite SHIELD agent as well. And keep in mind that this was back when many people were unsure about a Thor film so there was a lot of pressure to get this right. Thankfully, the film did turn out good and continued Marvel Studios’ winning streak that is still going strong today.

4. TONY MEETS WITH BRUCE (IRON MAN 3)

I’ll admit that this one is rather polarizing, just like the film that it came from, but I personally love this one. The film opens with narration from Tony as he begins to go over the events of Iron Man 3, beginning with the incident with Aldrich Killian in Bern, Switzerland in 1999 that effectively led to his conflict with Killian’s organization AIM years later. This goes all the way to the end of the film as the post-credit scene reveals that he’s been telling the story to someone this whole time. That someone is Bruce Banner but when we first see him, he’s asleep in his chair and admits to Tony that he fell asleep after the ‘Switzerland’ part. After he tells Tony that ‘he’s not that kind of doctor’, Tony then begins to go into a different story about this old wound from 1983 and questions the fact that he still had a nanny back then at the age of 14 (“that was weird…”). Even though this is basically just a funny little anecdote instead of having some form of set-up for a future MCU film, I love this scene… for various reasons. The first is that, being the first ‘post-Avengers’ MCU post-credit scene, it’s a nice touch to have Tony in a scene with Bruce following the friendship that formed between them in the last film (Science Bros FTW!). Second, it certainly feels like a scene that director Shane Black would put in his films and it does match up with a lot of the humor in Iron Man 3. In fact, he and Robert Downey Jr. did this exact same kind of thing in their 2005 film Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Really, the only odd thing about this is that, apparently between Avengers films, Bruce got a haircut and grew a beard.

3. THE TWINS (CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER)

This is arguably the biggest MCU post-credit scene in terms of what it introduces for future films. Fittingly enough, it was directed by Joss Whedon to help set up Avengers: Age of Ultron. It opens in a HYDRA facility as a man named Dr. List meets with HYDRA leader Baron Wolfgang von Strucker (Thomas Kretschmann). He tells Strucker that Nick Fury has released the secrets of HYDRA’s takeover of SHIELD to the public but Strucker responds by saying that he only leaked “everything he knows about” as we see two secret projects that HYDRA is currently working on. The first is revealed to be the mind-controlling scepter that Loki used in the first Avengers film. As we would later learn in Age of Ultron, this scepter contains the Mind Stone, which is eventually used to bring Vision to life. But then, as Strucker tells List that it’s “not a world of spies and heroes anymore” but instead “the age of miracles”, we see two of the organization’s human test subjects; a man who is a speedster and a woman who possesses telekinetic powers. They are ‘the Twins’, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, and the rather sinister feel of this whole scene, right down to the latter abruptly smashing the two cubes that she’s manipulating together to close out the scene, foreshadows the fact that the two start out as ‘enemies’ of the Avengers in Age of Ultron before they join forces at the end. In conclusion, if it wasn’t for these next two classic scenes, this might have been my favorite MCU post-credit scene to date. But on that note…

2. THE ‘AVENGER INITIATIVE’ (IRON MAN)

Even after nearly a whole decade since the release of the original Iron Man, there’s no denying that the original MCU post-credit scene is still one of the franchise’s best. However, as I alluded to earlier in this list, part of me wonders how many people did stick around through the credits to watch this scene in theaters. Because keep in mind, this was the first MCU film ever made so this was before any of us knew that we had to do this on a regular basis. So, in that sense, it’d be totally understandable if some people weren’t aware of this scene the first time they saw the film. As I also noted before, I was one of those people to the point where it wasn’t until The Incredible Hulk that I’d realized that they were preparing for an Avengers film. But at the end of the day, this is still one of the most iconic moments in the entire MCU. It opens as Tony Stark returns home after revealing to the world that he is Iron Man. As he enters the darkened house, he notices a figure out on his balcony. This man then proceeds to tell him the following; “"I am Iron Man". You think you're the only superhero in the world? Mr. Stark, you've become part of a bigger universe. You just don't know it yet.” As the man steps into the light, we see that it’s Samuel L. Jackson as the head of S.H.I.E.L.D, Nick Fury, who states that “I’m here to talk to you about the Avenger Initiative’. And just like that, a Cinematic Universe was born. Seriously, I’d argue that this was the moment that officially kicked off the franchise. The first Iron Man was a pretty self-contained superhero story but in this moment, that all changed. Just imagine for a second how big this was when it first happened; a time before any of us thought that a Marvel Cinematic Universe could happen or that it was even possible. And we all know how that turned out…

1. SHAWARMA (THE AVENGERS)

So, what can possibly top the iconic moment where Nick Fury came to Tony Stark to talk about the Avenger Initiative, some of you might ask? Well, taking the top spot on this list is a post-credit stinger that doesn’t set up anything but is instead just a humorous ending tag. It’s the post-credit scene from The Avengers which consists solely of the titular group having lunch at a shawarma restaurant, during which they don’t say a single word. They just eat their lunch and, let’s be honest, after the long day that they just had, can you blame them? This scene is so simplistic that it’s brilliant. In fact, this scene was shot just shortly before the film was released in theaters. Yeah, when the film had its world premiere on April 11^th, 2012, originally it only had the Thanos mid-credit scene attached to it. But just one day later, Joss Whedon filmed a second post-credit scene to tie into a seemingly random line from the film. This scene also reflected a real-life incident that occurred during production of his show Angel in which he and stars Amy Acker and Alexis Denisof went to go get drinks after filming a major scene but then ended up just sitting around quietly because they were exhausted after the shoot. Anyway, going back to The Avengers, after Tony Stark crashes back down on Earth after sending the missile into space to destroy the Chitauri, he asks this to the team, “Ever tried shawarma? There’s a shawarma joint about two blocks from here. I don’t know what it is, but I want to try it,” And you want to know one of the telltale signs of this being shot long after filming was done? During this entire scene, Cap is covering his face while he’s eating and this is hide the fact that Chris Evans had recently grown a beard. Regardless, this scene speaks for itself and even though it’s basically pointless compared to some of the other MCU post-credit scenes, it’s just awesome. Hence why it’s my favorite MCU post-credit scene to date.

And that’s the end of my rankings of all 19 MCU post-credit scenes that have been released up to this point. Thanks for following along and be sure to sound off in the comments below in regards your personal favorite MCU post-credit scenes.

…

“You’re still here? It’s over. Go home… What are you expecting, Sam Jackson show up with an eyepatch and a saucy little leather number? Go, go… Chicka-chickahhhh…”

(P.S. Yes I know that quote was from a non-MCU film.)

Ranking the MCU Films: April 2015 Edition

This is going to be a short post because I’ve already talked about these movies a lot in the past. With that said, here’s how I currently rank the 10 films (pre-release of ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron) of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I guess you can say this is a ‘Top 10’ list because, in my opinion, there’s yet to be a ‘bad’ MCU film. Sure, there have been some ‘mediocre’ entries in the franchise but none that were ‘stinkers’.

10. IRON MAN 2

While it’s nowhere near as ‘bad’ as some say it is, the writing is still a bit of a mess, ultimately resulting in a case of ‘sequel-itis’; a film that tried to do a bit too much.

9. THE INCREDIBLE HULK

I do still prefer this film over the 2003 ‘Hulk’ and I like the film’s effective (maybe a little over-done) use of emotional moments. But, with the recasting of Edward Norton with Mark Ruffalo in the role of Hulk, this film ultimately is the least connected of the MCU nowadays. Not as messy of a story as ‘Iron Man 2’, though.

8. THOR: THE DARK WORLD

‘Thor: The Dark World’ does some things better than its predecessor, namely smoother action sequences and polished visuals. But in the end it suffers from having the weakest of the MCU villains, mostly because the film gave more screen-time to Loki due to his increasing popularity, and for playing things a little more safe, especially compared to the other Phase 2 films. It’s still a lot of fun to watch, which if you ask me is what really matters.

7. THOR

What could’ve been a disastrous entry in the MCU lineup due to it potentially coming off as being cheesy ends up not falling victim to that at all, being the first to truly expand the MCU beyond Earth and benefitting from solid direction from Kenneth Branagh, a brilliant lead performance by Chris Hemsworth, and above all else a nice balance in tone as it shifts between Earth and Asgard.

6. IRON MAN

It may seem shocking to some of you that I rank the first ‘Iron Man’ film so low, but ultimately this just goes to show how far the MCU has come since its early days. That’s nothing against ‘Iron Man’ though as it’s a well-directed, well-written, and well-acted superhero flick with an excellently set-up origin story for arguably the MCU’s most popular hero.

5. IRON MAN 3

Easily the most underrated MCU film to date, mostly because it gets a lot of unfair flak, mostly due to the Mandarin twist, WHICH ACTUALLY WORKED!!!

4. CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER

Chris Evans’ earnest and charismatic performance as the Cap makes this a fun, old-school summer blockbuster and one with one of the greatest non-Avengers ensemble casts in the entire MCU.

3. CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER

But suffice it to say, ‘Winter Soldier’ took Captain America, and the MCU, one step further. The bold routes taken in this film made a huge impact on the MCU as a whole but ‘Winter Soldier’ is also a well-constructed homage to the spy thrillers of the 70’s with excellent direction by the Russo Brothers and a great ensemble cast.

2. THE AVENGERS

All of the great build-up of the MCU’s Phase 1 led to this… a truly epic team-up of the MCU’s well-established heroes under the great direction of Joss Whedon. What’s not to love?

1. GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY

So why do I like this film more than either ‘Avengers’ or ‘Winter Soldier’? Because while I was initially hesitant about this film due to it focusing on a much more obscure superhero team in the Marvel Universe, I was thankfully proven wrong as ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ had much to love about it; great direction from James Gunn, a phenomenal ensemble cast, and, as I noted yesterday, a highly underrated villain, first of all. But then you factor in the fact that this film is the funniest of the MCU films while also effectively balancing the humor with genuinely heartfelt emotional moments. And that’s why ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ is my favorite MCU film to date.