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

EYG Favorite Comic Covers of the Week

Week of April 22

Normal week this week. Still a bunch of books.

My #1 this week is a variant cover that I picked up off the stands. I had the cover A already, but I really liked the cover C and it gets the gold medal this week.

But first…

Bronze Medalist

Wolverine: Madripoor Knights #3

Cover art by Phillip Tan & Sebastian Cheng

Wolverine, Captain America and Black Widow are in Madripoor and there is some cool action. I love the way the heroes are layered on the cover, especially the giant Wolverine in the background.

Silver Medalist

Universal Monsters: Creature from the Black Lagoon Lives #1

Cover art by Matthew Roberts & Dave Stewart

This was not even my favorite of the covers of this book as I have now ordered the cover by Joshua Middleton. That does not take away from this beautiful cover with its pink highlights and the iconic Universal Monsters character. This was a fun issue too.

Gold Medalist

Scarlet Witch & Quicksilver #3

Cover art by Romy Jones

Nothing better than seeing Wanda relaxing on her bed, perusing some of the comics from Marvel Comics, including that oddball Roxxon Thor book. This variant cover is so cool, especially with those weird soles of Wanda’s shoes. It is “Approved by the Witch Code Authority“. What more can you want?

EYG Comic Cavalcade #81

February 10, 2024

Welcome back to the EYG Comic Cavalcade. It was another solid week of comics this week and I am excited about sharing my thoughts on them.

I have received some Groo the Wanderer issues from the Marvel/Epic run during the 1980s this week from eBay. I go issues #61-70, #25 (which I was surprised was not among the books I already owned) and the final Marvel/Epic issue, #125. When I re-bagged and reboarded my Groo the Wanderers, I did not have as many of these issues as I thought I did. I thought I had a complete set of Marvel/Epic Groo the Wanderer issues, but I was actually missing quite a few. This is probably my next search to fill these issues because I do love Groo.

Since I am currently working on re-bagging. re-boarding and re-boxing all my comics (and inventorying them on CLZ), I wonder if it is going to turn out that I am missing more comics than I thought. I may have, in my head, thought that I had certain issues that I do not actually own. It is an interesting job.

New comics this week: 

Ultimate Black Panther #1. Written by Bryan Hill with art by Stefano Caselli. The next series from Marvel’s new Ultimate universe has arrived, with Black Panther taking center stage. This was a really strong introduction for the character and I loved the design of Killmonger. The Ultimate Universe feels as if it is off to a hot start.

The Sensational She-Hulk #5. Written by Rainbow Rowell and drawn by Ig Guara. Jen Bartel did the cover art (which was in the top six of the covers of the week race). This was a lot of fun as She-Hulk, Captain Marvel and my girl Patsy Walker aka Hellcat battled some demons at Patsy’s favorite bar and Damian Hellstrom, the Son of Satan showed up. I am not sure where my unreasonable love of Hellcat has come from, but I love that character so much.

Pine & Merrimac #2.  Written by Kyle Starks and illustrated by Fran Galán. Linnea and Parker find their investigation leading them to as island that has a dark and dirty secret and the couple are there to bring it down.

Captain America #6. Written by J. Michael Straczynski and penciled by Lan Medina. Taurin Clarke did the cover art. The story arc with the present day and past day Steve Rogers wrapped up in this issue as we see the ever heroic Steve Rogers save the day twice. I loved this dual story and I will miss it as the past time frame clearly led up to the recruitment of Rogers for the Super Soldier program.

Doctor Strange #12. ”Ghost Story“. Written by Jed MacKay and art by guest artist Danilo S. Beyruth. Alex Ross continued with his awesome Dr. Strange covers here. This story focused on Bats the ghost dog as he could smell the evil that was inside the Sanctum Santorum. That evil was Victor Strange, the ghost from the recent Crypt of Shadows #1. I was worried for Bats the entire issue. 

Daredevil: Gang War #3. Written by Erica Schultz and penciled by Sergio Davila. Elektra is out on the streets of Hell’s Kitchen doing what she can to protect the people from the Gang War ravaging the neighborhood. She winds up battling the new villain Bellona. IS she a Wolverine clone? Sounds that way.

Avengers #10. ”Twilight Dreaming” Part Four. Written by Jed MacKay and art by C.F. Villa. Stuart Immonen did the cover art. Myrddin confronts Kang the Conqueror, who is now awake and blaming the Avengers for not protecting him better. Meanwhile, Thor and Wanda are speaking with Nightmare. Lots of stuff going on here.

X-Men #31. ”The Passenger“ Written by Gerry Duggan and drawn by Phil Noto. Joshua Cassara and Marte Gracia did the cover art. X-Men members Shadowcat, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Ms. Marvel, and Psylocke, along with Spider-Man, fight Nimrod as the mutants prepare to invade the earth.

Fantastic Four #17. ”Salvaged from the Wreck of Ages.” Written by Ryan North and art by Carlos Gomez. Cover art was done by Alex Ross. A quick FYI, Indiana Jones does not appear inside this issue, despite making a cameo on the cover. This is a fun time travel story that allowed the FF to find the bones of one of their members who apparently died in prehistoric Arizona. I have loved these single issue stand alone stories Ryan North has tossed in during his run on Fantastic Four. It shows that every comic does not have to be multiple issue story arcs to be successful.

Wolverine: Madripoor Knights #1. ”Blindsides Galore! (or the Set-Up)” Written by Chris Claremont and art by Edgar Salazar. Philip Tan & Sebastian Cheng did the cover art. Another short series set in the Marvel Universe past, this included a team up from Logan (as Patch) with Captain America and Black Widow. Psylocke and Jubilee were here too, but the big three were the featured trio.

The Cull #5. Written by Kelly Thompson and art by Mattia De Iulis. This brought this series to an end. It is extremely different now than when the series started off. I am not sure I loved how it went. The art is beautiful though. It also pulled off a Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse ending leaving a surprising END? to the series.

Other books this week: Antarctica #8, Star Wars: Mace Windu #1, Ghostlore #8, Love Everlasting #12, and Thanos #3.