Marvel Comics has long brought back iconic characters for new adventures. Now ElevenLabs is doing something similar for Marvel’s most famous creator, Stan Lee – though he died in 2018.
The AI audio company announced it struck a deal with Stan Lee Universe to add the late Marvel Comics writer’s voice and likeness to its Iconic Marketplace. This is ElevenLabs’ collection of celebrity voices and likenesses that companies can license for commercial use.
The partnership represents a growing trend of celebrity estates experimenting with AI licensing deals. Other personalities available through ElevenLabs include Michael Caine, Judy Garland, Burt Reynolds, and Albert Einstein. Val Kilmer’s estate recently allowed an upcoming film to use AI to create a version of him for a leading role.
Users can now access Lee’s AI voice in several ways:
- Through the Eleven Reader app to narrate any book
- Generate his likeness using comic book-inspired visual templates (for non-commercial use only)
- Listen to a new monthly series called “Stan Lee Book Club of the Month”
“Stan always believed in meeting his fans where they were: in the pages of a comic, at a convention, or in a quick on-screen cameo,” said Chaz Rainey, a lawyer and board member for Stan Lee Universe. “This partnership is a way of continuing that.”
The voice was trained on professional recordings of Lee. In a promotional video, the AI version says: “You know what they never tell you about legends? They outlive the page.”
ElevenLabs is also launching “Stan Lee Book Club of the Month” through Eleven Reader. June’s selection is Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Treasure Island.” The company plans to add a new public domain title each month to honor Lee’s love for books.
This deal comes during a strong year for ElevenLabs, which raised $500 million in Series D funding at an $11 billion valuation. That’s up from a $6.6 billion valuation just five months earlier. The company, launched in 2022, has been expanding beyond voice cloning into music generation and visual content.
The partnership raises questions about consent and posthumous digital rights that the entertainment industry is still working through. As producer Lori McCreary noted: “Technology companies and the entertainment industry need to work together to create AI systems that respect consent, protect name, image, and likeness rights, and preserve the value of human creativity.”
Marvel had already licensed Lee’s name, voice, and likeness in 2022 for use in films, TV shows, and Disney theme parks. Lee died in 2018 at age 95, but his distinctive voice and personality made him almost as recognizable as the superheroes he created.
“His voice, his image, his love of storytelling… ElevenLabs gives us a way to keep that alive and in fans’ hands in a way that’s true to who he was,” Rainey explained.
The company is also adding two comic book-themed music filters to its AI music generator: “Superhero Cinematic Swells” and “Retro Hero Fanfare.” True to form, the AI Lee ends the promotional video with his catchphrase: “Excelsior!”
