Anyone who regularly watches Marvel movies is undoubtedly accustomed to the regular Stan Lee cameo. The comic book legend has made an appearance in almost every Marvel movie ever made. Lee's cameos have always been written off as merely nods to the Marvel man, as there's not really any canonical way to describe how Lee could appear in so many different places at so many different times. Or is there?

As fans pointed out, there is actually one way Lee could legitimately fit into all those films. For it to work, Lee must be one of The Watchers—a race of aliens who observe and compile information on everything the universe has to offer, while strictly refraining from interfering. But, of course, this would be absurd, and Lee himself even denied it.

Well, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 director James Gunn decided to have a little fun and make it legit. In the 2017 film, Gunn added scenes where Lee is regaling The Watchers with stories of his adventures. The director then confirmed to RadioTimes that said scenes were related to the fan theory.

"I mean, you know there's a lot of cool stuff that the fans come up with. A lot of stuff I don't agree with, you know people have ideas about what they think should happen in the MCU. But I find the idea that Stan Lee is a Watcher, or that he works for the Watchers, is just a fun little nod to the fans."

Furthermore, Lee is even credited as "Watcher Informant." As far as everyone's concerned, it's canon now.