While Stan Lee didn't appear in every film based on characters he was involved with, the Marvel icon was instantly recognizable for his cameos in various movies. Lee's first superhero movie cameo came in 1989's Trial of the Incredible Hulk, a made-for-TV film that also featured Matt Murdock/Daredevil. However, while Stan Lee's first superhero theatrical cameo came in 2000's X-Men, he was set to appear in 1998's Blade, but the scene was never released.
Here's what we know about Lee's cameo in Blade and the likely reason it wasn't released.
Stan Lee's Cameo in Blade
Lee's cameo, which would have occurred at the start of the film, saw him playing a police officer who arrives at a vampire rave while Blade is fighting there. Lee's cop would have found the vampire Quinn's burning body and drawn attention to it. The scene was brief and ultimately not used in the theatrical cut of blade.
While this appearance would have been minor, it's certainly more substantial than many of Lee's cameos from around this time. His X-Men cameo featured him in the background, while the first two Spider-Man films showed him pulling people out from the path of debris. Comparatively, Lee's Blade cameo was a big moment.
Why Was Stan Lee's Cameo Cut?
It's not totally clear why Lee's cameo was cut from Blade. However, it's possible Lee's cameo was removed during the film's dramatic re-edit following initial test screenings. The original version of Blade was over 140 minutes, which is more than twenty minutes longer than the theatrical cut. A lot was removed from the original version of Blade and some scenes, like its ending, were entirely reshot. While some footage, like an alternate ending teasing the arrival of Morbius, was later made available, a lot of cut material has never been released. Although it hasn't been confirmed, Lee's cameo was probably cut during the film's re-editing.
This raises some question as to where the scene went, as a lot of deleted scenes from Blade have resurfaced over the years. However, there are a ton of cut scenes from Blade. Aside from the multiple reshot endings, there were five seconds shaved off from the theatrical release of Blade that featured, of all things, someone playing Mortal Kombat in Frost's penthouse apartment. That scene hasn't resurfaced either.
There is a lot surrounding Blade's release that we simply do not have. Blade arrived on home media right when deleted scenes were beginning to become a novelty for film audiences. While the alternate endings are featured on the DVD, not every deleted scene, apparently, was given that much priority, and it's likely Lee's cameo wasn't prioritized, thus leaving his first theatrical movie cameo unreleased.