The MCU’s first holiday-themed special, The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special has just released on Disney+ and it has blessed us with a fun Christmas adventure involving none other than Kevin Bacon himself. Although rare, especially in a franchise in which aliens, wizards, and robots are commonplace, this is actually not the first time an MCU movie or show has featured a cameo from a celebrity appearing as themselves.
It’s always exciting to put a little spin on things and make the storyline believable by including real celebrities that exist in our world. After all, the MCU has featured many great Star Wars and pop culture music references, so it shouldn’t necessarily be a surprise that our favorite heroes exercise joy and amusement in the same media as we do. It’s directly engaging with the audience, giving the sense of that the reality on screen has somehow mingled with ours. In light of Bacon’s cameo, let’s take a look at seven celebrities who have made a cameo appearance as themselves in the MCU.
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7 Bill Maher — Iron Man 3
Marvel Studios
Talk show host Bill Maher appeared in Iron Man 3 as himself. He appeared as a news anchor who criticizes the U.S. government for creating more superheroes despite Iron Man and War Machine being viewed as terrorists and war criminals by many. This cameo is especially interesting given Maher’s later comments about comic book lovers after Stan Lee’s passing. In his blog post, he said: “America is in deep, deep mourning for a man who inspired millions to, I don’t know, watch a movie, I guess.” He called the MCU movies childish and continued to blame the “social media” generation for the election of Trump. After the immense blacklash, he went on to add in one of his videos (via EW): “You can, if you want, like the exact same things you liked when you were 10, but if you do, you need to grow up. That was the point of my blog. I’m not glad Stan Lee is dead. I’m sad you’re alive.”
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
6 Kevin Bacon — The Guardians of he Galaxy Holiday Special
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special arrived to Disney+ in November 2022, and the light-hearted holiday spirit has surely brought joy to Marvel fans. Kevin Bacon plays a central role in the special by appearing as himself as Mantis and Drax decide to convince him to help them cheer up their friend Star-Lord during Christmas holidays. The trailer with Bacon appearing for the first time took the internet by storm, given how the actor has been a subject of Star-Lord’s adoration for quite a while. Bacon expressed his excitement in joining the MCU family: “I take the work very seriously, but in the case of something like ‘Guardians,’ you have to stop sometimes and go, ‘Oh, s- -t, this is really cool!’ I got a really, really fun gig.” Director James Gunn revealed that he initially wanted to include a villain that would fight Bacon at the end of the movie, but decided to keep it gleeful instead.
5 Elon Musk — Iron Man 2
Billionaire Elon Musk has been the talk of the internet in the recent months due to his new ownership of Twitter — and not in the best of light. The app has been going downhill ever since the world’s richest man bought it for $44 billion. Musk has described himself a “free-spech absolutist,” but is known to block anyone who disagrees with him. Musk’s recent Twitter layoffs has been compared to the infamous Red Wedding scene in Game of Thrones by one of his employees. His short Iron Man 2 cameo has lately resurfaced on the internet, with people joking that the real-life Tony Stark actually met the on-screen Tony. In the cameo, Tony and Musk talk about working together on a new idea for an electric jet.
4 Joan Rivers — Iron Man 3
American actress, comedian, and writer Joan Rivers also made a small cameo appearance in Iron Man 3. We see her host the series Fashion Police, where she dedicates one of her episodes to the new Iron Patriot Armor. This happened right after it was announced that James Rhodes would be the one to find and capture the Mandarin. Rivers pointed out that Rhodes’ armor had been repainted with the American flag colors and mocked the renaming of War Machine to Iron Patriot.
3 Stan Lee — Thor: The Dark World
We can’t go on without mentioning the legend himself: Stan Lee. The original comic book creator of popular characters such as Spider-Man, appeared in every MCU movie since 2008 until his final Captain Marvel cameo in 2019. Although he was known to take on small, funny roles, such as a bartender in Ant-Man or as Larry King in Iron Man 2, Lee has also played himself quite a few times. As an example, in Thor: Dark World, Lee is funnily credited as himself playing a mental ward patient. We’ll forever miss his cameo appearances.
2 David Hasselhoff — Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
It’s true that the MCU indulges its fans in some of the most euphoric Easter Eggs, and David Hasselhoff is definitely one of them. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 focuses on Star-Lord and his newfound relationship with his long-lost father Ego. Sadly, Quill’s dreams are crushed when he finds out that Ego only wanted to use him to rule the whole universe. When Peter starts to fight back, Ego changes appearance in his rage, one of which is Hasselhoff. He explains that he’s tried all these fatherly forms that would appeal to Peter the most. Hasselhoff alludes to Peter’s identity as an All-American Earth kid with a huge obsession with pop culture. What’s even funnier is that the MCU decided to release a whole music video for “Guardians Inferno,” starring Hasselhoff, as part of their VOD push.
1 Sara Haines — The Falcon and The Winter Soldier
Last but not least, television journalist and co-host of The View Sara Haines made a cameo in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier Disney+ series. Haines is appointed to interview the new Captain America John Walker at his old high school that they both attended. She asks him what it feels like to be back, but also how it is being a new Captain America. She then asks him about his tour and lists all of his life-achievements, putting him on a pedestal. This serves as an important moment to introduce the man who’s meant to replace Steve Rogers in his position.
