2024 Year in Review: The EYG Stan Lee Movie Cameo Award

The EYG Stan Lee Movie Cameo Award

Previous winners:  Stan Lee (Big Hero 6*, Deadpool, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse* ), John Cena (Daddy’s Home), Chris Evans (Thor: The Dark World, Free Guy), Sigourney Weaver (Cabin in the Woods), Hugh Jackman (X-Men: First Class), Yoda (Star Wars: The Last Jedi), J.K. Simmons (Spider-Man: Far From Home), Harrison Ford (Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker), Rudy Giuliani (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm), Val Kilmer (Top Gun: Maverick), Rhea Perlman (Barbie)

Every year brings us a ton of awesome cameos in movies. In honor of our beloved Stan Lee, we are continuing to honor those actors who show up as a surprise or a short appearance.

Runners-Up: We will touch upon a bunch of these movies. In The Fall Guy, there were three decent cameos. Jason Momoa showed up at the end as a replacement for Aaron Taylor-Johnson character and that was fun. Then we got Lee Majors and Heather Thomas, who, of course, were from the original Fall Guy TV show. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire had the original Ghostbusters again, but the top cameo from this film I think was William Atherton as Walter Peck back, now as the Mayor of New York. Danny DeVito showed up in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, but honestly, my memory of that one was lacking. There was a cool cameo in Wicked as Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenowerth, who were the stars of the Broadway play version, were an awesome inclusion, even though my theater had no idea who they were. Then, Deadpool & Wolverine dominated the cameos this year. I am not sure I would count Westley Snipes, Jennifer Garner, Channing Tatum and Dafne Keen as cameos. They all were really important cast members, almost to the level of supporting actors. However, Henry Cavill is absolutely a cameo as the Cavillrine and it nearly won this award.

However, the winner of this award is…

Chris Evans (Deadpool & Wolverine)

Chris Evans appeared in Deadpool & Wolverine as Johnny Storm from the Fantastic Four instead of Steve Rogers, despite the teasing that he was actually Cap. The theaters exploded when he said “Flame On!” Then he brought some great foul mouthed dialogue. He came a long way from “Language.”

This also ties Chris Evans with Stan Lee himself for three separate wins in this category. Evans won this award for Thor: The Dark World, when he played Loki playing Cap, and Free Guy, playing himself made over the use of Cap’s shield. It is amazing that Chris Evans has now tied Stan in the category that was named after him.

Congrats to Chris Evans!

Deadpool & Wolverine

No Spoilers

I will not spoil anything in the movie. I will say that the trailers were not bad with what they showed, except that last one. That one reveal in the final trailer released just about a week ago really did spoil a major event that would have been better had it not been shown in the trailer. I will continue to keep that reveal a secret in case you did not see that last trailer.

This may come as a surprise to everyone, but I loved this movie. What were the odds?

Okay, so I did go into this movie with the expectations that I was going to love this, but those kind of high expectations can be a problem at times. Have I let my expectations get so out of control that no possible movie could reach them? I am here saying that this movie exceeded my expectations and I think that this is a movie that I will like even more on a second viewing.

Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman are absolutely wonderful together in this movie. Their chemistry was off the charts and every second they were together, whether they were bickering, fighting or working together, was music.

Any worries that this movie would be toned down because this is now a part of Disney should be dismissed immediately. If the trailers did not show enough, there was a ton of violence, with a lot of blood splattering everywhere. There were swear words and sexual references, just like any Deadpool movie prior. The action is awesome throughout the entire run.

The cameos are amazing. I would venture to say that these are more than just cameos. The cameos are more like roles in the film. Every cameo has a specific reason for being and they fit in with the story. There are some jaw dropping cameos here. If you can go in without them being spoiled, these are worth it. This is not like the Illuminati cameos from Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness.

There was more heart to the movie than you would expect. There are some very emotional beats in the story, especially dealing with the character of Deadpool and the character of Wolverine. These two damaged individual’s lives informed the story.

Emma Corrin is the villain of the film, playing Cassandra Nova. I thought she was really great as this lesser known character. Some of the effects of her powers were extremely creepy visually.

This is a hilarious movie. I was laughing all the way through. I will say that there may be some who do not find it as funny because there were a ton of inside/backstage jokes. There are some things that, if you do not know about certain backstage situations, you may not understand the references and it may not be as funny. I know about the backstage stories so I found them all really funny. Deadpool was breaking the 4th wall throughout the film. I loved that, but I am used to that in the Deadpool comics, so I could understand someone claiming that it was too much.

There is a post credit scene so wait all the way through the credits.

The Deadpool and Wolverine film totally honored the 20th Century Fox Marvel movies, ripped on the companies of Fox and Disney, and brought two of the most beloved heroes and the best castings together for a massive good time. There are so many other things I could comment upon, but I can’t if I want to avoid spoiling the film.

As of now, this is my favorite movie of 2024. I know… big surprise, right?

5 stars