10 Mind-Blowing Facts You Didn't Know About The DC Animated Universe

Last year's Teen Titans Go! To The Movies featured a knowing cameo from Marvel icon Stan Lee declaring "I don't care if it is a DC movie, I love cameos!" It was not, however, the first time that Stan's animated likeness had appeared in a DC project. No, the DCAU got there first and they brought the Fantastic Four and Nick Fury along for the ride.

They all showed up at the end of the Superman: The Animated Series episode Apokolips...Now! (Part 2), the story in which Superman faces off against, and defeats, Darkseid for the first time.

The episode ends with a funeral for Metropolis cop Dan Turpin, a character originally created by comics legend Jack Kirby and, in the DCAU version, modelled after him. The funeral was designed as a tribute to Kirby, the original creator of this story's villain Darkseid (and the New Gods) who had died in 1994, and featured characters and colleagues from his time working for both Marvel and DC.

As well as Lee and Marvel's First Family, the mourners also included DC characters Mister Miracle, Big Barda, and Orion, alongside the DCAU's Timm and Dini and other writers.

It would be easy to miss this, though, partly because the cameos were nothing more than a quick shot panning by a lot of people in suits, but more because they only appeared in the episode when it first aired in February 1998. Any further re-runs and home media releases have them drawn over with a crowd of extras, although the original can be seen online.

There is no official reason for the change, but it has been suggested that Marvel challenged the cameos on a copyright basis. It's something special, though, for anyone who saw the episode first time around.