Stan Lee is the king of cameos, having starred in numerous Marvel films since the beginning of the X-Men franchise. He also made a cameo appearance in the first Blade film, though it was removed from the final cut. Once the Marvel Cinematic Universe began, before Avengers: Endgame, he came out in every movie.
In The Avengers of 2012, Lee’s cameo is when he is interviewed by a reporter, and he asks, “Superheroes in the Big Apple? Please, give me a break “before going back to his chess games His first cameo was cut from the film, but this isn’t his only appearance. The cameo would have been during the outdoor cafe scene when the waitress, Beth, was approached by Captain America.
This scene begins with Steve Rogers obviously out of place in the modern world, seeing things in his original time span that were just fantasies and not understanding how to behave. He takes a stroll through New York City and ends up on a restaurant patio, where he gazes up at Stark Towers and sketches a sketch of the structure in his notebook.
Beth, the waitress, shows up and says that she’ll be there to get a glimpse of Iron Man. She tells Steve there’s no hurry when he feels it’s a sign to go, and he could stay as long as he wanted. Lee, who’s next to Cap at a table, turns around and says, “Ask for her number, you moron.”
This is Lee’s funny moment, and it plays into Steve’s feelings of being a man out of time, especially when he saw that in this clip, the love of his life, Peggy Carter, was still alive and retired earlier. Regrettably, he learned that all of his World War II friends and allies had died. Even with Lee’s best efforts, Steve is a man out of time, but he soon discovers that Captain America has a part to play in this world.
It was also supposed to broaden the reach of Beth’s involvement in The Avengers, particularly in relation to Steve. Beth runs through the destruction in a deleted scene during the Chitauri attack, displaying the extent of damage from the viewpoint of a civilian. Before being taken hostage, she also sees a policeman being killed by aliens. Captain America later saves her and the others from the alien threat, giving more context about how she was captured by the Chitauri.
She sees Captain America standing in the streets, looking pained at the devastation, and recognises him as the man from the restaurant as authorities transport her to safety. She will also be interviewed about the attacks later, and this is when Lee’s canon cameo is used in the film during this footage.
