Didn't see that one coming.
Are cameos fun? Or are they a sign of a lack of creativity and cheap attempts to get crowds cheering? Well frankly, I think both are possible. Cameos aren't anything new, it's just people acting like they are and then getting unreasonably angry over them because Marvel have been doing it a lot more recently. We've all seen great cameos and terrible cameos, but what makes them what they are? Well, I decided to list some of the best, worst and ugliest ones around to give some general ideas of what I think makes a cameo work and what doesn't. So even if your specific favourite or least favourite isn't here, chances are the reasoning behind them will show up. And let me know some cameos that stand out to you in the comments below!
The Good
Stan Lee
I think one of the biggest reasons we all came to love the Stan Lee cameos was because we knew how much he enjoyed doing them, and the absolute joy he showed off while doing so was infectious. It became a running gag to see Stan Lee show up in a Marvel film, and honestly I think it also became something heart-warming too. It's like seeing an old friend, wondering what crazy antics he's up to now and glad to see he's doing alright, and a reminder of how much we miss the man. (Just fyi, this is the same deal with Bruce Campbell in Sam Raimi movies).
His cameos were always so unpredictable too. One time, he was Willie Lumpkin the Postman, a canon comic character, in the 2005 Fantastic Four film. He gave Peter Parker some advice in Spider-Man 3, finishing it off with one of his catchphrases "Nuff said". He was blissfully unaware of a fight between a different Peter Parker and the Lizard in The Amazing Spider-Man. He read a script for his upcoming Mallrats cameo in Captain Marvel. His final MCU cameo in Avengers Endgame, he posthumously told us to "Make love, not war", which is solid advice we should all listen to. He even appeared in a DC project once, as himself in Teen Titans Go to the Movies! But my two favourites of all of his cameos, which made me laugh and feel at the same time, were his cameos in Into the Spider-Verse and the PS4 Spider-Man video game. Excelsior!
Neil Patrick Harris
Before he was known as the Barney Stinson type, Neil Patrick Harris was the star of a sitcom known as Doogie Howser M.D, in which he played a teenager who became the youngest doctor of the country. I never saw it myself, but I know he was considered the "good boy" of television for the longest time. Then he starred in Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle!
He swears, he wants to get laid, he's high on ecstasy and he robs the protagonists for no real reason except "fuck you, got mine". It was a major shock to people who grew up with his role as the teenage Doogie Howser, and his comedic timing and charisma helped kickstart his career when it was very much needed. Before Barney Stinson, he was Neil Patrick Harris.
The Disney Princesses
I find myself disliking Wreck-it Ralph 2 the more I think back on it, which is one of the reasons I refuse to call it by it's real shittier name, but I can point to a few things I loved regardless, and somehow the best part is the sleepover scene packed with the Disney Princesses, who help Vanellope with her identity crisis. It's a bright fun short scene in a film full of misery and cynical product placement, and I wish Disney would focus on these characters instead of giving us 20 billion nostalgic Star Wars things.
First of all, they all look great. Some are exactly the way they did in their own respective films, while the older ones make a surprisingly faithful leap into the world of 3D. I also love their jammies, especially Mulan's who will forever be Best Girl, but what really makes this scene work is an awareness of the tropes of the past but not an insulting or whitewashing of it. It's funny, it's upbeat, it doesn't ignore how ridiculous some of the past was, and it inspires a hilarious song later on. The way they save Ralph during the finale is also very funny, but my favourite joke is Vanellope's horrified reactions to all the traumatic events they've all been through. "Are you guys okay? Should I call the police?"
Wolverine
One of my all-time favourite cameos is short, funny and unexpected which is a big reason why it works so well. X-Men First Class, one of my favourites of the entire franchise actually, wisely decided to reboot itself and create a new timeline without the worries of the current continuity. Of course, that doesn't mean we can't have Hugh Jackman randomly say "go fuck yourselves" then refuse to stay away from the main plot. If this cameo had been longer, or stolen screentime away from the new characters we wanted to see, this might not have been good. As it is however, I enjoyed it without complaint. Why can't more cameos be this simple?
The Bad
Ghostbusters Afterlife
A lot of people hated the 2016 reboot, beyond the unfortunate response to it's cast and then the response to that response by the director, and I won't defend it as a good film but at least it was trying to be it's own thing... while being a failed SNL sketch show. But I still don't regard it as the worst of the Ghostbusters franchise, because of Afterlife that came out in 2021. Afterlife is unoriginal nostalgia bait, the worst kind that drags the literal old and forces them to smile for an audience too cringed and pain to stop watching. But shockingly, Ghostbusters Afterlife made things worse... they brought the dead back for their cameo.
During the finale, the three living actors from the original Ghostbusters randomly show up as if they walked on the wrong set and look so dazed and confused. Bill Murray himself looks like he's twice the age of the two next to him, and it's honestly just sad... so sad... but then it gets worse when the ghost of Harold Ramis' character Egon Spengler also shows up. If it had just been his hand helping his granddaughter hold the weapon, this might work but he stands there and we're forced to look at him for an uncomfortable long time. Harold Ramis died in 2014! I can't believe it needs to be said, but don't use literal dead people to sell toys and yes, this cameo is actually a toy too! It's gross, it's disgusting, and it's a terrible sign for the future since we know other studios are going to want to try this shit too. You want to see a full remake of Goodfellas staring the recently-departed Ray Liotta as a CGI puppet? Because it could happen if we ever start accepting shit like this.
Stephen King
I like Stephen King a lot. He's straightforward, smart, and managed to grow out of his crazy period. His books are a gloriously mixed bag too, some of them are fantastic classics while others are laughably bad yet both kinds have their reasons to be remembered. But while some may disagree with me here, I really didn't care for his cameo in It Chapter 2. In this, he appears as a shopkeeper who runs into James McAvoy's character, and damn is it... just damn.
It starts with him making a joke at the expense of the character's stutter, which I suppose we're meant to pretend is funny for him to be doing, and it ends with him making a joke about how he "didn't like the ending" of McAvoy's book, an obvious wink to how Stephen King often struggled with endings of his own works. Except this film that ends the It storyline sucks, so it ends up being a warning to the audience instead of a joke, and the obviousness of it is as loud as the subtlety. You can practically feel the wink-wink-nudge-nudge of the ones who thought they were sooo clever for writing this. And King, stop clowning around.
Wolverine
That's right, he appears again! After his amazing cameo in First Class, Hugh Jackman's Wolverine became the star of the next instalment, Days of Future Past and that ended with him being found by Mystique disguised as William Stryker. Okay cool. However, he then shows up in X-Men Apocalypse as Weapon X, slaughtering people and going berserk until he's calmed down and leaves to find clothes.
What makes this scene so bad is not just how little sense it makes for him to be in this situation in the first place (did Mystique abandon him or sell him or something?), but how it comes across as a lazy attempt to push Wolverine in a story that really doesn't need him. We're meant to be learning about these new iterations of famous characters like Cyclops and Nightcrawler, so adding this cameo feels forced and cowardly. We can see the executives working the strings behind this cameo, trying to play it safe and pander, and it just comes across as tiresome. The X-Men franchise has long neglected it's amazing characters in favour of focusing solely on Wolverine, and this scene was a big fat reminder of that. Thank God we got Logan after this to wash the taste out and let the character leave gracefully before Dark Phoenix.
Elon Musk, Donald Trump and other m/billionaires
Rich people paying themselves into a cameo will always be obvious and pathetic. We are fully aware you paid to get into these films, we can tell you aren't an actor or a natural part of this story and setting, and we know you are forcing this to happen because you want people to like you despite... well, everything. All this does is snap us out of the story, and remind us of the controversies and nonsense you make us put up with every time your name pops up in the headlines. Find a better use of your time and money, like buying Twi... oh.
M. Night Shyamalan
Putting yourself in your own movie? I actually understand it. I'd probably do it too. Making yourself an actual character? Again, I get it. Jon Favreau did it, and his role as Happy Hogan makes me smile whenever he shows up. If he's Happy, I'm happy. But to not only put yourself in every movie you make, but have yourself be purposefully portrayed as an amazing wise man of vision and perfection that the world should listen to? That's the kind of egotistical crap that deserves to be mocked forever.
Director M Night Shyamalan has done this a few times, like when he played the accidental killer of Mel Gibson's wife in Signs and babbled nonsense that was supposed to be cryptic and wise but instead came across as... well, babbling nonsense... but for me, the very worst of the worst is his time in Lady in the Water. A mystical character called Story, yes that's actually her name, arrives to the human world to get Paul Giamatti's help to find the amazing artist and writer that will defy all the evil critics, and write a masterpiece so fantastic that it will inspire the future president of the United States to change the world for the better, but what he writes will be so controversial that he will also be killed by enemies, so he decides to take up the noble sacrifice and write this for the good of the world and the arts... Wow. Imagine what a dickhead you have to be to write that for yourself without any irony or self-awareness whatsoever.
Ed Sheeran
Game of Thrones was once one of the biggest shows of all time, but even before the infamous season 8, the series was not without it's big mistakes. Take the time it decided to have a cameo by famous musician Ed Sheeran, for example. He shows up out of nowhere for one scene, sings a song, and that's the end of it.
The scene is unnecessary and uninteresting on it's own, but in a world of magic, dragons and gritty shagging, having someone like Ed Sheeran ruins all the immersion and is one step away from a fourth wall break. Sheeran is also clearly not an actor either, so he's unable to sink into the role and become one with the world and story. An obvious attempt to get people talking, but mostly forgotten by everyone by the next season.
The Ugly
Ugly Sonic
WHAT?! Ugly Sonic?! That's amazing. It's awful but it's also amazing, so I can't put it in either category. Ugly Sonic deserves to be killed and forgotten, a stupid attempt by stupid executives to appeal to an audience they were completely out of touch with, and the animators forced to make it deserve every penny/cent/credit of the executives' salaries for putting up with it.
But then again, seeing it fully realised and acknowledged by others that he's a total disgrace is cathartic and hilarious. The Chip n' Dale film is a good time overall, but Ugly Sonic is such an enigma of both good and bad taste that I can't decide which category this cameo belongs in. Is it great? Is it terrible? The only answer I can think of is... Yes. And also never again.
The Illuminati
I wasn't going to talk about these guys, but it is what sparked off the article so it's only fair to do so. In Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, we get to see the Illuminati, a group of multiverse guardians who act all pompous and don't trust the protagonist enough to heed his warning, so he can say "I told you so" when the inevitable massacre happens. You know, that classic chestnut we've seen many times before.
On the one hand, almost all these cameos are fantastic. The live-action Captain Carter, love her. Monica Rambeau as Captain Marvel, great. Black Bolt in something other than the Inhumans tv show and probably hinting at an upcoming reboot of the characters, sweet. Mister Fantastic and Professor X?! Okay, yeah that's fun and super cool. But then... well, they all get massacred in horrific and ugly ways for no real reason except to make us regret wanting to see them again. I'm almost certain this is actually a dark commentary on forced cameos and being careful what you wish for, but I'm not sure. I'm also very upset at the idea that this is how Patrick Stewart's long and brilliant time as Professor X ends, and that's not just fun. So yeah, some of this was great and some of it was not, and that's why I'm putting it here.
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