Sony Picture Imageworks’ Senior Animator Nick Kondo has revealed that Stan Lee appeared not once, but twice in animated flick Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse.
The late Marvel Comics creator is known for his cameo roles in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and fans of Marvel’s latest were quick to notice his first appearance.
After the death of Peter Parker, Miles Morales heads to a comic book store to buy a Spider-Man outfit. The clerk in the store is Stan Lee, who cheekily points to a sign that says no refunds.
However, Kondo has now revealed details of a second appearance by Lee in the movie. While Morales is getting used to his powers, he soars through the Manhattan streets while a train rattles past overhead. One of the passengers in that train is Stan Lee, which you can see in Kondo’s video below.
Have fun framing through the #SpiderVerse Blu-ray starting March 19th! ? pic.twitter.com/7JZXLbFr8y
— Nick Kondo 近藤 (@NickTyson) February 11, 2019
Last month, it was revealed that Australian Spider-Man’s death was cut from the film.
Speaking to Backstory, co-director and co-writer Rodney Rothman said: “I invented a character I called Australian Spider-Man, who was also part of the group of Spiders that appear halfway through. He told everyone he’d been there for a day already because he was 24 hours ahead, and then he glitched to death very gruesomely in front of the others.”
Rothman continued: “They all then look at each other and say, ‘Oh, my gosh, we only have 24 hours to live!’”
He added that he “nearly got fired” for adding the character so late in the production process because it “showed a profound lack of understanding of the process of animation production and where we were in that moment, so that particular idea didn’t even make it to storyboards.” “People just met the next day and looked at me and were like, ‘Go eff yourself’,” he said.