Blizzard/Insomniac Games Blizzard has added a touching tribute to the late, great Marvel Comics icon Stan “The Man” Lee in World of Warcraft, proving once and for all that he really is the king of cameos.
Load up Blizzard’s popular fantasy MMO now, and you’ll be able to find a brand new NPC roaming the lands rocking Lee’s famous moustache and glasses combo and proclaiming “Excelsior!” for all to hear.
WowHead reports that, as per the 8.1.5 patch in the Public Test Realm, “Stanley”can be found in Stormwind adorned with the colours of the Alliance.
That’s the only version of the character that’s been spotted so far, but the patch notes reveal that there are two other Stanley character models in the game. One is sporting neutral colours and no armour, while the other wears Horde gear.
Blizzard has a nice track record of paying tribute to fans, famous or otherwise. Actor Robin Williams was memorialised in World of Warcraft in a similar fashion to Lee following his passing in 2014.
Another notable tribute was to Hongyu Wu, a 20-year-old student who died after attempting to prevent the theft of a classmate’s motorcycle. Blizzard included a subtle, but sweet reference to Wu in Overwatch following the tragedy.
Stan Lee passed away in late 2018, and an outpouring of heartfelt tributes from actors, writers, artists and fans around the world soon followed from writers like Neil Gaiman and Kevin Smith, the cast of Avengers Assemble, and even DC Comics.
There isn’t really anyone Stan didn’t inspire in some small way. Excelsior.
Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.