15 best Stan Lee cameos from the Marvel movies

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15. X-Men (2000)

We’ll kick this list of cameos from the Marvel movies off with his very first Marvel cameo appearance. It took place way back in 2000 in the very first X-Men movie.

After all, it only seems fitting to start where it all began for him. It certainly wasn’t one of his best cameo appearances, not by a long shot. But I ask you to ask yourself the following question: If this cameo appearance in X-Men never took place, would the others have ever followed? We will obviously never know the answer to this, but it’s food for thought.

As I said, this is where it all began for Lee with his cameo appearance in Marvel movies, but it’s not where it all began for him when it comes to cameo appearances in general. His first ever cameo for a movie was in the 1990 movie, Ambulance. He also appeared in TV show cameos, comic books and comic books stories before that as well. So, come to the 2000 X-Men movie, he was already well-versed in how to pull off a good cameo, which is probably why we fell in love with the cameo almost instantly.

Appearing as a hot dog vendor on the beach, Lee witnessed Senator Kelly emerging from the sea as a mutant in this cameo appearance. The scene, while certainly small, is what I believe started the tradition. Without it, none of the others would have followed.