Stan Lee's Iron Fist cameo proves he's playing the same character in all of Marvel's Netflix shows

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Marvel’s Iron Fist debuted on Netflix a few days ago, and we already have a big rundown of easter eggs, connections, and references you might have missed. But there’s one that I thought was worth singling out and highlighting on its own, and that’s the cameo of legendary Marvel comics writer Stan Lee. As you’ll see below, Lee’s appearance in Iron Fist indicates that he’s playing the same character across the entire line-up of Marvel’s Netflix shows.

Let’s go in reverse order, shall we? In Iron Fist, Lee shows up in the first season’s final episode at the 7:51 mark. He’s suited up as a police officer on what looks like a recruiting poster for the NYPD that’s labeled “Be Proud”:

Here he is in Luke Cage, suited up in the same pose, but this time, the poster says “See A Crime? Report It.” Want more Luke Cage Easter eggs? Ok!

In Jessica Jones, you can barely make out a plaque with Lee’s photo on it in the back of this screencap:

And finally, he kicked it off in Daredevil - here’s 23 Daredevil season 2 Easter eggs worth knowing about - as that same officer on another plaque in the background:

Lee is currently 94-years-old, so it’s no surprise that he didn’t make live-action appearances in each of these shows. Marvel Studios actually had to schedule all of his live-action cameos for Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Spider-Man: Homecoming, and Thor: Ragnarok to be shot on the same day because of his advanced age. But since we’ve now seen Lee in photos in the background of all of these individual Netflix shows, I’m hoping the production team is able to get him to appear in uniform as this police officer for The Defenders, the upcoming show that will see these New York heroes joining together to battle Sigourney Weaver and the forces of evil. Maybe we'll even learn this mysterious cop's name. Fingers crossed.

Images: Marvel

Ben Pearson
Ben Pearson
Ben is an entertainment journalist who has written about movies online for nearly a decade. He loves the Fast & Furious franchise, prefers Indiana Jones to Star Wars, and will defend the ending of Lost until his dying day. He shook Bill Murray's hand once (so he's got that going for him, which is nice). Ben lives in Los Angeles with his wife.