Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse - 28 Easter Eggs & References Explained

17. Stan Lee's AMAZING Cameo

Stan Lee Spider Man
Marvel Comics

Of all the ways Stan Lee could've featured in Spider-Verse, this may have been the most heartfelt - and the most fitting.

The famous Marvel writer, who passed away last month at the age of 95, championed Spider-Man for years, and specifically the idea that it could be anyone underneath the mask. So, when he appeared in Into the Spider-Verse, and his first lines are "I'm really gonna miss him", it was pretty emotional.

Add to that his little monologue on the meaning of Spider-Man, together with a classic joke about there being 'no refunds' regarding his comment on Miles "growing into the costume" to balance the scene's pathos with some humour, and everything about it was just pure Stan.

You'll never find a better cameo, and with the film also having paid tribute to both him and Steve Ditko after the credits, you can tell that everything about Spider-Verse is just this wonderful love-letter to Marvel, Spider-Man, and his creators.

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WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.