UPDATE: Read our obituary for the late, great Stan Lee.

Stan Lee is probably the biggest name in comics. The genius co-creator behind the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, the Hulk, Thor and the X-Men (to name but a few), Stan Lee is synonymous with Marvel, comics and all things superhero. His work has made him a household name – an impressive feat for a comic book creator – and he's even hosted his own TV series: Stan Lee’s Superhumans.

He’s also part of a Marvel cinematic tradition that stretches back to the 1980s. Lee has had a cameo in almost every live-action Marvel property movie, regardless of which studio is producing the film. Fans love to see the man himself pop up in the films, and there is even a pretty out-there fan theory that postulates that every one of his cameo characters are connected to one another. This week, he spoke to EW about his appearances, jokingly claiming that they are the reason for the success of so many Marvel films in recent years. With dozens of cameos already under his belt, and more on the way (including Deadpool 2, where he hopes to spend a little more time in an adult entertainment venue), Stan Lee is the ultimate Easter Egg of the Marvel universe.

Here, we break down every single one of those cameos, including Marvel/Disney, Sony and Fox films (as well as a couple extra small screen and off-screen moments). Excelsior!

 1989 - Trial of the Incredible Hulk

This little-known TV movie is a spin-off to the 1970’s Incredible Hulk series starring Lou Ferrigno. The film featured both the Hulk (Ferrigno) and Daredevil (Rex Smith) as they teamed up to try and take down Wilson Fisk, aka Kingpin. When David Banner (Bill Bixby), who is living as David Belson, is wrongfully accused of a crime, Daredevil’s alter ego Matt Murdock is assigned to his case. Stan Lee made his first ever live-action cameo in the film, as the jury foreman at the trial in David’s nightmares.  In his dream, David Hulks out, tearing the courtroom to pieces as Stan and the other jurors flee in terror.

 2000 - X-Men

The film often credited with sparking the current superhero movie renaissance, X-Men brought together the classic of the mutant team to battle Magneto (Ian McKellen) and his followers. Magneto, ever of the opinion that mutants are superior to the rest of mankind, wishes to use a machine to force mutation on the citizens of New York. Early in the film, Senator Kelly (Bruce Davidson) is used to test the mutating machine, and his new "powers" allow him to escape Magneto, fleeing into the ocean. Stan Lee appears when Kelly emerges from the water, shocking beachgoers. Lee, meanwhile, is hanging out at a hot dog stand on the beach as Kelly strides past.

2002 - Spider Man

The first of many Spider-Man movies, this celebrated origin story pits Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire), against the father of his closest friend. Norman Osborne (Willem Dafoe) is putting together a prototype weapon-suit and super-soldier serum for the government, but when he decides to start human trials on himself rather than lose funding, the process drives him mad, turning him into the Green Goblin. When Spider-Man and the Green Goblin face off for the first time, Stan Lee can be spotted in the panicked crowds below. He even has a heroic moment of his own, as he scoops up a little girl and pulls her to safety.

 2003 - Daredevil

One of the most hated superhero movies of the last few years, this 2003 misfire stars future-Batman Ben Affleck as the blind, super powered lawyer, Matt Murdock. Another origin story, Daredevil involved flashbacks where we learned that Matt wasn’t always blind. He lost his sight as a child in a chemical spill after learning that his father had become an enforcer for a local mobster. Stan Lee’s cameo was in one of these flashbacks, as a man reading a newspaper on the street. Already blind and in possession of heightened alternate senses, a young Matt prevented Lee from distractedly stepping off the curb and into the path of an oncoming truck.

 2003 - Hulk

This film marked the first time that Stan Lee got a speaking role in a Marvel cameo. Despite the fact that many fans disliked this adaptation, and star Eric Bana was replaced as the titular character immediately afterwards, it contains one of the best moments for the Marvel legend.  Lee’s wasn’t the only cameo in this adaptation of Bruce Banner’s story, however.

Here, he plays a security guard alongside Lou Ferrigno – an incredible nod to both the classic Hulk TV series, as well as Stan Lee’s first cameo in Trial of the Incredible Hulk, where the duo last worked together. His first line"

 2004 - Spider Man 2

Spider-Man’s second outing sees Peter Parker (played again by Maguire) up against Doc Ock (Alfred Molina), a nuclear scientist working on fusion reactor with a harness of robotic tentacle arms. In a lab accident, the reactor destabilizes, and despite Spider-Man’s best efforts, explodes. Doc Ock’s wife is killed in the explosion and the arms are welded to his spine permanently, tragedies that the villain chooses to blame on Spider-Man. As the two battle it out later in the film, Stan Lee once again appears below the carnage as part of a crowd fleeing the war zone. Again, he saves someone, this time a woman who would have otherwise been hit by falling debris. He's got a great sense of timing.

2005 - Fantastic Four

The first outing of Marvel's First Family saw Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd), Sue Storm (Jessica Alba), Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis), and Johnny Storm (Chris Evans) head into space, gain superpowers, and end up taking on the villainous Victor Von Doom (Julian McMahon). Not a particularly well-regarded outing, the film is as much about becoming a team despite fame, confusion, and anger at the change in their lives as it is about good vs. evil.

This film marks the first time that Lee played a character from the comics. He appeared as postal worker Willie Lumpkin, a recurring mailman in the Fantastic Four comics. In the movie, Lee/Lumpkin delivers mail to Reed Richards in the lobby of the Baxter Building.

 2006 - X-Men: The Last Stand

Stan Lee doesn’t appear in all of the X-Men franchise films. In fact, he has yet to appear in the either of the retconned films (First Class, Days of Future Past) or in the Wolverine solo outings (X-Men Origins: Wolverine, The Wolverine), although he is slated for a very "Apocalypse. After his appearance in X-Men, he skipped X2 before re-appearing in the widely-panned third installment, which combined the Dark Phoenix Saga with a highly-underdeveloped cure for mutation storyline. Lee appears as a neighbor working in the garden as Professor X (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto visit Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) in her childhood home. Comic legend Chris Claremont, the writer behind celebrated arcs like the Phoenix Saga and Days of Future Past, makes an appearance as well. Quite the neighborhood Jean grew up in.

 2007 -Spider Man 3

Tobey Maguire makes his final appearance in Peter Parker in this overcrowded film that packed a new Green Goblin (James Franco), Sandman (Thomas Haden Church) and Venom (Topher Grace) into one movie. Both of Spidey’s principal love interests, Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst) and Gwen Stacy (Bryce Dallas Howard) also make an appearance in a film that, for a time, killed the franchise. To this day, when films are perceived as having an overabundance of characters or plotlines — the fear many Batman v Superman fans currently are grappling with — they're often referred to as suffering from "Spider-Man 3 syndrome."

Stan Lee appears as Peter notices his name up in lights — as a Times Square bulletin declares that Spider Man will be given a key to the city. Once again filling the role of nameless man on the street, Lee walks up as he is staring at the rolling letters and says “I guess one man can make a difference. Nuff said.” Someone get this man an Oscar, already.

 2007 – Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

The Fantastic Four are (unfortunately) back in this 2007 sequel, and Reed and Sue are about to get married. In a quasi-wedding-special version of a superhero movie, the team take on the Silver Surfer, played by both Doug Jones (motion capture) and Laurence Fishburne (voice actor), who combined their talents to completely underwhelm as this fan-favorite character. Reed and Sue finally do get married once they've vanquished the true enemy — an inexplicably cloud-shaped Galactus — and the film begins and ends with their wedding.

In one of the film's few bright spots, Lee appears as himself as a wedding guest at the big bash. At least he would have been, had he not been turned away at the door by the bouncer.