Stan Lee’s Voice and Likeness Are Being Brought Back With AI Through New ElevenLabs Deal

The entertainment industry’s ongoing obsession with digitally reviving deceased celebrities just added another major name to the list. This time, it’s Marvel icon Stan Lee.

The legendary comic book writer, editor, and publisher, who passed away in 2018 at the age of 95, is officially getting the AI treatment thanks to a new partnership between ElevenLabs and Stan Lee Universe.

According to Variety, the deal gives the AI audio company access to Lee’s voice and likeness for commercial licensing and content creation.

That means users will be able to generate new audio featuring a digital version of Lee’s voice using recordings pulled from decades of interviews, appearances, narrations, and other professional material from throughout his career. The technology can reportedly be used for both editorial and commercial projects.

ElevenLabs has already made deals involving several famous names, including Michael Caine, Judy Garland, Burt Reynolds, David Hasselhoff, and even Albert Einstein. Stan Lee now joins that growing lineup of digital celebrity recreations that companies can license and use.

Chaz Rainey, lawyer and board member for Stan Lee Universe, explained why they felt this move made sense for Lee’s legacy:

“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. This partnership is a way of continuing that. Fans have always told us that when they read his comics, they hear the words in Stan’s voice, and now, thanks to ElevenLabs, we can make that a reality.”

What he won’t say is that they will all continue to make even more money off of Stan Lee even though he’s dead.

As you might imagine, the announcement immediately sparked backlash online. The use of AI in entertainment already has fans and creators on edge, especially when it involves recreating people who are no longer alive to approve how their image or voice is used. Bringing Stan Lee into that conversation was always going to stir up reactions.

Lori McCreary, co-founder of Revelations alongside Morgan Freeman, addressed the broader concerns surrounding AI and entertainment while discussing the partnership:

“As producers, we are used to bringing very different people to the same table to solve hard problems, and that is exactly what this moment requires.”

Freeman added: “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. If we do that well, we won’t just keep up with technology, we will help shape it.”

Whether fans accept this kind of digital resurrection is another story entirely. At the same time, another project connected to Lee’s legacy is finally moving forward.

The documentary Stan Lee: The Final Chapter has reportedly landed at Osmosis Global. The film was directed by Lee’s former assistant Jon Bolerjack and was assembled from hundreds of hours of footage captured during the final years of Lee’s life.

Those years were surrounded by controversy and troubling allegations involving elder abuse, manipulation, and disputes over Lee’s care and estate.

Bolerjack opened up about why he felt compelled to finish the documentary after spending a decade working on it:

“Witnessing the treatment that Stan endured during those final years, especially at his age, really changes you. The people around him believed they were untouchable, and I felt a responsibility to document what was happening. It took ten years to finish this film, but sharing the truth about those years is something I owed to Stan and to his fans.”

Between the AI resurrection and a documentary digging into the darker side of Lee’s final years, it looks like the conversation around Stan Lee’s legacy is about to get a lot more complicated.