The Infinity Saga of the MCU introduced the world to the Marvel Universe and the infinite possibilities that could come from it. From Iron Man to Avengers: Endgame, a fun Easter egg fans would come to expect from these movies was the appearance of Marvel comic book legend Stan Lee. He would stop in for a quick funny line, sometimes directly interacting with his comic creations, and pop out. Stan Lee has also made similar cameos in non-MCU movies, such as the Spider-Man trilogy from Sam Raimi, the X-Men movies, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and an epic cameo in a strip club courtesy of Deadpool. Stan Lee’s last cameo in the MCU was his posthumous feature in Endgame, where he was also digitally de-aged. With his death in 2018, these cameos were presumed to die out with him, but this may not be the last fans have seen of Stan Lee.

It was announced that Disney has bought the rights to use the name and likeness of Stan Lee for the next 20 years. This means Disney has been given the green light to use his name, voice, likeness, signature, and archival footage/audio in their upcoming movies and TV projects; not to mention, included in the deal is exclusive usage of Stan Lee in their parks and in-parks merchandise. In short, Disney has the full access it needs to bring back Stan Lee and his cameos.

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While the idea of seeing a return of the Stan Lee cameos seems harmless, it would be a heavy reminder that he’s no longer with us and a dark reality about our inability to move forward. Stan Lee’s signature catchphrase “Excelsior!” means upward and onward to greater glory; he lived his life this way. He kept moving forward because nothing lasts forever, nothing is meant to last forever. The acquisition of his likeness looks like a studio doing their best Weekend at Bernie’s impression, taking advantage of a dead man’s success in order to keep the good times rolling. It continues to buy into the false belief of solely relying on franchise IP in order to be successful. This deal turns Stan Lee into a product, not the person he was. What’s meant to be honoring his life keeps audiences stuck living in the past, something Stan Lee never stood for.

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This wouldn’t be the first time Disney has brought an actor back to life. In the words of Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac), somehow Peter Cushing returned. In 2018, Lucasfilm created a CGI Peter Cushing to reprise his role as Grand Moff Tarkin in Rogue One; the legendary actor died in 1994. Instead of recasting the actor, Lucasfilm opted to reanimate him to bridge the gap between the events of Rogue One and A New Hope, which does have more narrative function. However, since this was the first time Disney had done this, it was jarring to see Cushing’s face back on screen; more often than not, the CGI face makes Tarkin look less human than the man he’s supposed to be in the movie. The technology has come a long way, but the effects still can’t replace having a living, breathing person there.

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Image via Lucasfilm

Speaking of Poe’s exasperated line about Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid), in the same movie, The Rise of Skywalker, Carrie Fisher is also brought back to life similarly in order to close out General Leia Organa’s storyline in the new trilogy. This was after her untimely death in 2016. While Lucasfilm was able to utilize unused footage of the galactic princess, there were scenes that used a completely digital character. This meant that her part is significantly small. Since some of her dialogue was left over from The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, scenes featuring Leia feel out of place and, therefore, pull audiences out of the movie. Instead of focusing on her role in the movie, it’s easy to drift off and imagine what could’ve been if Carrie Fisher were still with us. The filmmakers were working with what they had in order to tie up her storyline in the Skywalker Saga, but the argument could be made that she would’ve served the same narrative function if she had died offscreen during a mission to meet with allies across the galaxy. It doesn’t help that General Organa does die after reaching out to her son, Ben (Adam Driver) through the Force.

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Image via Lucasfilm

Unlike the recent Star Wars examples, bringing back Stan Lee in some type of cameo role in future Marvel projects serves no narrative function. Phase 4 of Marvel has been well underway since the premiere of WandaVision in January 2021. Five movies and six series without a Stan Lee cameo, to start adding them in again now would feel random and frankly, off-putting. Not to mention, his cameos don’t make or break a plot nor financial success. So then we’re left to ask why would it be necessary to use this technology for Stan Lee? His cameos are lighthearted and played for comedy; bringing back his cameos in this way would be as hollow and lifeless as the CGI creation itself. While fans miss Stan Lee being in the world, we wouldn’t really be getting him back.

Marvel Studios owes its success to Stan Lee. Without his imagination, the world would never have known these characters that are now household names. He made the world a little brighter from the new worlds and stories he created. Stan Lee lived a long life and now deserves to rest in peace, instead of his likeness being resurrected in order to sell products in a theme park or gain applause from a cheap cameo. Nuff said.