No amount of real-world controversy can stop Stan Lee from making cameos in Marvel movies, and Avengers: Infinity War is no exception. Lee does indeed have a cameo in this flick, and it comes relatively close to near the start of the movie. His appearances in the MCU have never exactly been obscure, and this one is also easy to spot. Lee makes a joke, which we’ll spoil in a second, but if you really think about what it implies, you’ll come to the conclusion that Stan Lee is an alien.
This post contains details about Stan Lee’s cameo, and “spoils” a part of the movie that is prominently seen in pretty much all of the trailers.
In Infinity War, Lee, who may or may not secretly be an alien Watcher in disguise (as seen in *Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2), takes the role of a school bus driver. When that donut-shaped ship appears over New York City, he’s at the wheel of the bus that Peter Parker riding. Peter and the other kids are, understandably, very excited and interested in the giant space ship hovering over their city.
“What, you kids never seen a spaceship before?” Lee says.
It’s a funny joke, especially if Lee actually is that same alien and has therefore seen a bunch of space ships in his time exploring the galaxy. Otherwise, it doesn’t really make sense.
Infinity War takes place in 2018, it’s probably safe to assume. The MCU timeline more or less lines up with the real-life year the movies came out, with some exceptions (Like Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2). There are also a few concrete benchmarks that help place the films.
We know the Battle of New York, the climatic action scene the ended the first Avengers, happened in 2012. Peter Parker was 15 in Spider-Man: Homecoming, so he was 10 or 11 years old when the Chitauri invaded. Even though the world of the MCU is a crazy-eventful place, there hasn’t been a major alien invasion or similar giant ship in New York City since then. Of course Peter Parker and his friends, who were still just children and not even teenagers the last time something like this happened, would be excited to see a space ship.
Also, given how the Chitauri almost wrecked New York when they invaded, the presence of a space ship over New York City is certainly something to be concerned about! The kids are right to be interested and apprehensive.
The Battle of New York.
All I’m saying that despite Stan Lee’s witty quip about ships being extremely common sights in the MCU, there have only been two that have visited Earth in the movies. The Chitauri ships in The Avengers, and Malekith the dark elf’s big ship that touched down in London during Thor: The Dark World. Other than those two events, big spaceships are actually a rare sight on Earth. Therefore, Lee’s nonchalance lends further credence to the theory that all Stan Lee cameos are the same alien in disguise.
The only other possible option is that we’re overthinking this.
Avengers: Infinity War opens on April 27.
