Here’s the story with Deadpool 2's Stan Lee cameo

As we continue our quest to suss out every single cameo from the newest superhero movie (this time it’s Deadpool 2), we turn to the people best equipped to explain the situation aside from the director: the screenwriters.

Thanks to an interview by The Hollywood Reporter with co-writers Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese, more and more of the script has come to light as well as plenty of secrets from the film. Stan Lee’s appearance in the film is one of those.

SPOILER WARNING: This story contains plot details for Deadpool 2 and cameo details from the Marvel comic legend. If you want to experience it fresh, wait until you’ve seen the movie to read ahead.

Some viewers were skeptical if Marvel honcho and cameo extraordinaire Lee even made it into the Deadpool sequel, but apparently he just had some extra-quick scenes that weren’t even in-person. When asked about Lee’s absence, Wernick explained, per The Hollywood Reporter, that he thinks “there's a painting of Stan in the [X-]Mansion.” Reese chimed in, saying that there’s a bust of Lee in Professor X’s home that’s a quick reference to the comic kingpin.

“I don't know if you can make it out... He had just had cameo'd for [us] in the short that we did where Deadpool is in a telephone booth... So Stan did cameo for us in that,” Reese said. “I’m not sure why it didn't work out this time. But we did try to at least make a nod to him. I know his face is in there somewhere.”

According to Uproxx, that face makes another appearance when Domino takes the protagonistic action sequence reins midway through the movie.

Domino’s after a convoy, chasing it with a parachute. When she swings down toward the city, you get a glimpse of a psychedelic mural with Stan Lee’s face rendered on it. This is more in line with his appearances in the Netflix Marvel TV shows, in which his face appears on various police posters rather than the man himself showing up in person. That’s in stark contrast to his other big-screen cameos, especially considering that he was a strip-club DJ in the first Deadpool.

But Lee has been facing plenty of personal drama without hauling his 95-year-old self up against a green screen for yet another superhero movie. A few faces here and there will have to suffice for fans... at least for now.