The following story is going to get into spoilers for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. So if you haven’t yet seen the movie, and want to go in as pure as possible, back out now and go read one of our other stories on the site.
It was the first moment in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse that I started to cry. Marvel legend Stan Lee appeared in the original film as a person working behind the counter of a costume shop. He’s the one who hands Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) his store-bought Spider-Man costume, reminding the young hero that it always fits, eventually. It’s a big part of the reason why Into the Spider-Verse ranks so high on our list of every Spider-Man movie, ranked. But it wasn’t just that shot. The animators working on that film all wanted to work Lee into the film, so they snuck the creator into countless scenes, including the moment when Miles says “Thanks, New York!” Pause it, and you can see Stan Lee walking over the hero.
