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ElevenLabs struck a deal to bring Stan Lee back from the dead, at least as far as his voice is concerned, giving fans the chance to hear the Marvel legend narrate books in his own AI-generated tones.
The Marvel Comics legend died in 2018 at 95. He spent decades showing up in every Marvel film, narrating, cameo-ing, being unmistakably himself. Now, thanks to a licensing deal between ElevenLabs and Stan Lee Universe, a joint venture between Genius Brands International and POW! Entertainment, he will narrate books he never read and pose for comic book panels he never drew.
ElevenLabs licenses Stan Lee’s voice and likeness for AI narration and fan-generated images
The AI audio company added Lee’s voice and likeness to its Iconic Marketplace, a catalog of celebrity personalities that companies can license for commercial use.
ElevenLabs said the voice was trained on professional recordings of Lee. So, starting now, his likeness is available through comic book-inspired visual templates on the platform’s visual generator, though those images and videos are restricted to non-commercial use.
His voice can also narrate books through the Eleven Reader app, with Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island lined up for June. A new public domain title will follow every month, framed as a tribute to Lee’s lifelong love of books.
“Stan always believed in meeting his fans where they were,” said Chaz Rainey, board member for Stan Lee Universe. “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.”
Lee’s voice joins an existing roster on the Iconic Marketplace that includes Michael Caine, Judy Garland, Burt Reynolds, David Hasselhoff, and Albert Einstein. ElevenLabs also tacked on two comic book-inspired filters for its AI music generator: “Superhero Cinematic Swells” and “Retro Hero Fanfare.”
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The deal arrived during a year of momentum for the company, which raised $500 million in a Series D earlier in 2026 at an $11 billion valuation.
The industry has spent years fighting over who owns a voice and what happens to it when the person is gone. Apex Legends voice actors walked out after a contract demanded they surrender all rights to their voices, and David Attenborough called unauthorized AI clones of his voice “disturbing.”
