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Marvel icon Stan Lee once tried to get a cameo in DC's Batman Returns movie, according to DC's former publisher

Stan Lee is known for his movie cameos - but DC's Batman?!

Stan Lee with a Spider-Man and Batman cosplayer
Image credit: Marvel Comics

Marvel Comics' figurative father figure Stan Lee appeared in 38 Marvel movies and TV series in his time, but back in the '80s he made an attampt to get one in the original Batman movie.

As revealed recently by DC's one-time president/publisher Paul Levitz, he witnessed Lee ask Batman co-creator Bob Kane about getting a cameo in 1992's Batman Returns - while as a guest of Kane at the 1989 premire of the first movie, Batman.

"That never happened but he got his share of movie glory, didn’t he?" Levitz said, and he couldn't be more true.

In addition to cameos in 38 Marvel mvoies & TV series over the years, Lee did eventually get his DC movie cameo - voicing himself in 2018's Teen Titans GO! to the Movies.

Kane and Lee had a strong friendship; not while the two were active writers at DC and Marvel respectively, but decades later after Lee and his family moved to Los Angeles where Kane himself was residing at the time. The duo (and their wives) even shared a limo ride to that 1989 Batman world premiere.

Kane had a cameo in the 1943 Batman movie serial, but never in a proper movie. He was referenced by name in the 1989 Batman movie, but it was his wife Elizabeth Sanders who had cameos as different characters in Batman Returns, Batman Forever, and Batman and Robin.

While Lee never did get that Batman cameo he wanted, he did appear in a documentary about the 1989 Batman movie included in some DVD editions of the film - fittingly credited as 'Stan Lee, the Man.'


He is vengeance, he is the night, he is... one of Popverse's favorite subjects. Learn how to do a Dark Knight movie marathon right with our Batman movie guide, and for the true World's Greatest Detectives out there, dive deep into the heart of Gotham City by getting to know Batman with Popverse.

Chris Arrant

Chris Arrant: Chris Arrant is the Popverse's Editor-in-Chief. He has written about pop culture for USA Today, Life, Entertainment Weekly, Publisher's Weekly, Marvel, Newsarama, CBR, and more. He has acted as a judge for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, the Harvey Awards, and the Stan Lee Awards. (He/him)

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