From the very first edition of the Spider-Man comic book to the Avengers: Infinity War, one of the top five grossing movies of all time, Stan Lee had a presence in the lives of so many superhero and movie fans worldwide. As of November 12, 2018, Stan Lee passed away, but I know that he will never be forgotten.

I got into the Marvel fandom pretty late in the game, maybe not even a year ago, but as soon as I began to watch Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) movies religiously, I understood the greatness of Stan Lee and what he means to this world. Getting prepared to watch Infinity War in April meant spending hours and hours trying to watch every movie leading up to the Thanos battle. Before watching, I knew that every Stan Lee cameo was important, but when I spent days at a time doing nothing but school work and watching superhero movies (yes, this really happened), I looked forward to every chance to spot Stan Lee in a window or on a bus. He truly became a friendly face that fueled my obsession.

By the end of Infinity War, I was left to contemplate how the rest of the MCU was going to play out, and with so many options for the Russo Brothers, directors of Infinity War and other MCU movies as well, to choose from, I knew only one thing to come in Avengers 4, Stan Lee would be there and I could look forward to that. But that feeling is now gone.

The coolest thing about his cameos were when he really got to play a part of the story, compared to when he was just a  featured extra. The best example of this is in the not-so-perfect movie The Incredible Hulk (2008), the second movie in the MCU. Stan Lee played “Milwaukee man drinking from bottle” according to IMDB, and was uncredited in the end of the movie, but he was on screen for over 4 seconds, and was alone in his scene. While most don’t see this little bit of action as an influential part of the movie, Marvel fans like me know how cool it is to see the man that brought this to the screen on the screen with all of the characters he thought up.

When I remember Stan Lee, I will always remember how Marvel and superhero movies have become a way to bond with friends, have fun things to do with family, and just be the escape into a world that, to most is filled with disaster and pain but to me, it’s irresistible.