Anyone who has ever seen a Marvel movie probably knows Stan Lee. He appeared in pretty much every movie for years, including the Spider-Man animated movie. But you probably didn’t always spot him unless you paused at the right moment.
What is Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse? The film was released in 2018 and was Spider-Man’s first major animated film. This time, however, the protagonist was not Peter Parker, but Miles Morales, who has to learn to be a superhero with his new abilities.
The film was not only financially successful, but also with viewers. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 97% among critics and 94% among users. As is typical for films based on Marvel comics, there is again a cameo by Stan Lee. In addition to the obvious ones, there are also hidden cameos.
The sequel to the film was also a huge success: you can watch one of the best superhero films of recent years on Netflix next week.
You can find a trailer for the film here:
Colorful action in the trailer for Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse
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Stan Lee is everywhere in the film
Where is Stan Lee hiding? The obvious cameo in the film is in a costume shop. Stan Lee is the salesman there. But Stan Lee doesn’t just appear there, he appears several times in the film. To see him, you have to pause at the perfect moments.
As the lead animator of the films on X shows, it’s worth looking through the individual frames in the film. In his clip, he shows that if you pause at the right moment during a train scene, you can see Stan Lee on the train, making Spider-Man’s iconic hand gesture.
You can see the clip here:
User @chrizmillr shows that this isn’t the only hidden cameo and Stan Lee can be spotted multiple times throughout the film, thanks to the detailed animation process.
How was the film made? As the New York Times reports, Stan Lee’s philosophy was important to the creators. Screenwriter Phil Lord explained:
Storytelling in sequential art is all about the key pose and going from pose to pose and frame to frame. Stan Lee laid this out in How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way.
Phil Lord on the working philosophy behind Spider-Man: A New Universe. (Source: New York Time)
So the makers were not only interested in a film structure, but also in a comic philosophy. Even apart from the cameos, the film is a declaration of love to Stan Lee, who died shortly before the film’s release.
The film is a mix of 3D and 2D and was incredibly complicated to make. They combined hand-drawn 2D drawings with 3D elements. To make the comic look stand out even more, they also used elements such as sound words.
This is how the unique look and the great animations came about. Such detailed work makes it possible to hide little Easter eggs. If you are interested in good animations, you should take a look at this episode of One Piece: One Piece: The current arc has one of the best fights of all time – but only in the anime