|
Neubauer Artists LLC Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... |
Legendary Marvel Comics creator Stan Lee is “returning” via artificial intelligence, nearly eight years after his death.
Artificial intelligence company ElevenLabs announced that it has signed an agreement with “Stan Lee Universe,” a joint venture between Genius Brands International and POW! Entertainment, to acquire the rights to use Stan Lee ‘s voice and image .
The partnership will allow ElevenLabs to add Stan Lee to the “Iconic Marketplace,” a platform that features voices and digital depictions of famous personalities for commercial use.
Stan Lee will return.
— Variety (@Variety) May 27, 2026
ElevenLabs has struck an expansive deal with Stan Lee Universe to add the late Marvel Comics writer’s voice and likeness to its Iconic Marketplace, a collection of celebrity personality voices and likenesses that companies can license for commercial use.… pic.twitter.com/TSaincHQzf
Stan Lee: The first video with AI
In a video released by the company, an AI version of Stan Lee is heard saying: “You know what they never tell you about legends? That they outlive the pages (meaning the comics).”
Starting today, users can create images of the creator of Spider-Man and Iron Man through comic-style image templates, while his voice can be used through the Eleven Reader app to narrate books.
According to the company, the model was trained on professional recordings of Stan Lee .
ElevenLabs also announced a new series called “Stan Lee Book Club of the Month,” where each month Stan Lee ’s AI voice will narrate a different public domain book. The first book will be Treasure Island.
The deal comes at a time when more and more celebrities, or their families, are giving permission for their image and voice to be used through AI technologies. Among the names already available to ElevenLabs are Michael Caine, Judy Garland, David Hasselhoff and Albert Einstein.
Stan Lee died in 2018 at the age of 95, but his name and image continue to be an important commercial brand for Marvel and the entertainment industry.
“His voice, his image and his love of storytelling. ElevenLabs gives us a way to keep them alive,” said Stan Lee Universe attorney and board member Chaz Rainey.