In brief
- ElevenLabs licensed Stan Lee’s voice and likeness for AI-generated narration and comic-inspired visuals.
- The company also launched AI music filters and a “Stan Lee Book of the Month Club” using his AI-generated voice.
- The deal follows other celebrity AI licensing agreements involving actors, including Matthew McConaughey and Michael Caine.
Marvel icon Stan Lee has been “revived” as an AI creation—and it’s not the first time.
On Wednesday, AI startup ElevenLabs announced on X a deal with Stan Lee Universe—the joint venture managing Lee’s name, likeness, and intellectual property—to add the late Marvel creator’s voice and likeness to its ElevenCreative AI platform.
“The voice of a legend is now available on the Iconic Marketplace and in ElevenReader,” ElevenLabs wrote on X. “Crafted from professional recordings, Stan’s wit and warmth comes through exactly as you remember it.”
ElevenLabs is also launching a “Stan Lee Book of the Month Club” inside its ElevenReader narration app, plus visual templates and Stan Lee-inspired AI music filters for consumers. Beyond fan experiences, the deal also brings Lee’s voice to ElevenLabs’ “Iconic Marketplace,” where companies and creators can license AI-generated celebrity voices and likenesses for commercial use.
The Stan Lee deal is the latest likeness agreement ElevenLabs has signed. In November, actor Matthew McConaughey partnered with the company to create a Spanish-language AI version of his “Lyrics of Livin’” newsletter, while fellow actor Michael Caine licensed his voice for ElevenLabs’ marketplace.
Launched in 2023, ElevenLabs recently expanded into image and video tools in late 2025. In addition to McConaughey and Caine, ElevenLabs also hosts AI-generated voice replicas of Judy Garland, John Wayne, Babe Ruth, Alan Turing, and Melania Trump.
The company’s Stan Lee announcement isn’t the first attempt to use AI to create an interactive likeness of the co-creator of Spider-Man, the X-Men, Iron Man, and other Marvel titans.
Last September, Los Angeles Comic Con introduced an interactive, AI-powered Stan Lee avatar that answered fan questions during the event. Organizers said the goal was to recreate the experience of meeting Lee at conventions and keep his storytelling legacy alive.
“This avatar, to us, is an entry point into the world of storytelling that he created,” Chris DeMoulin, CEO and GM of L.A. Comic Con parent Comikaze Entertainment Inc., told The Los Angeles Times. “We wanted to create something which can be part of maintaining and expanding on that legacy so that Stan’s role in creating a lot of this is acknowledged.”
At the same time, AI-generated celebrity replicas remain controversial in Hollywood.
While some performers and estates have signed licensing deals to monetize archived voices and likenesses, critics warn that the technology could threaten jobs and weaken protections for actors, writers, and voice performers.
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