When you go see a film set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you expect to see a cameo from Stan "The Man" Lee, creator of iconic Marvel superheroes like Spider-Man and the X-Men. Marvel's summer hit "Guardians of the Galaxy" is no different, but the cameo moviegoers saw in theaters wasn't what was originally planned by director James Gunn.
Talking during a panel at the Dragon Con convention in Atlanta, Gunn spilled a number of details about the creation of the film, including the process of working with Disney. While Disney surprised him by allowing some ideas (such as allowing Peter Quill's Jackson Pollock line that made it into the final film) the company was more difficult when it came to others.
One of Gunn's losing battles with Disney revolved around Stan Lee's original cameo in the film.
In the early moments of the theatrical film, Rocket Raccoon and Groot can be seen scouting out a part of Xandar, only to catch a man (played by Stan Lee) flirting with a much younger alien woman, resulting in a snide remark from the gun-toting raccoon.
Originally, James Gunn had a different idea entirely for Lee's cameo. The Marvel legend would instead have appeared in the Collector's exhibit of alien creatures later in the film. As the Guardians step inside Groot would have "looked at the exhibit aghast," to which Stan Lee in response would have flicked the tree creature off.
Why did Disney say no to the idea? There could be a couple of reasons. Even though the film's star Chris Pratt flicks a number of the NOVA Corps off (and was even featured prominently in trailers for the film) Disney may have been uncomfortable with allowing Lee's lighthearted cameo to come off as mean-spirited against the lovable Groot.
Another reason may have revolved around the film's end of credits stinger. As the Collector climbs out from under a pile of rubble, none other than Howard the Duck makes an appearance to mock him. Perhaps Disney thought that having two cameos come from basically the same place (the Collector's Exhibit) wasn't ideal or that the two appearances were too similar.
Either way, the cameo that made it into the final film did its job well, even if it wasn't what Gunn originally wanted. Lee will always have another chance to surprise the crowd when "Guardians of the Galaxy 2" rolls out in 2017.
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