Stan Lee may be gone, but artificial intelligence is now giving Marvel’s legendary creator a strange second life. AI audio company ElevenLabs announced a major partnership with Stan Lee Universe that will allow businesses and fans to use digitally recreated versions of Lee’s voice and likeness through the company’s growing AI marketplace. The move instantly sparked curiosity online, especially among Marvel fans who still associate Lee’s voice with comic book nostalgia, movie cameos, and his larger-than-life personality. At the same time, the announcement is also reopening debates around AI recreations of celebrities who are no longer alive.
The agreement between ElevenLabs and Stan Lee Universe — the joint venture involving Genius Brands International and POW! Entertainment — gives the company rights to add Lee’s voice and image into its “Iconic Marketplace.” That platform already includes AI versions of famous personalities whose voices can be licensed for commercial projects. According to the company, the recreated Stan Lee voice was trained using professional archival recordings of the late comic book writer and producer.
Stan Lee’s AI Voice Will Narrate Books And Appear In Comic-Style Content
To announce the partnership, ElevenLabs released a promotional video featuring an AI-generated version of Stan Lee speaking directly to fans. In the clip, the recreated voice says, “You know what they never tell you about legends? They outlive the page.” The company also ended the video with one of Lee’s most iconic phrases: “With great power comes great responsibility… Excelsior!”
Along with the voice recreation, ElevenLabs is introducing comic-inspired visual templates that can digitally generate Stan Lee’s likeness inside illustrated scenes. Those visuals and videos are currently limited to non-commercial use, but fans can still experiment with them through the company’s visual generator tools. Meanwhile, users of the Eleven Reader app will now be able to hear books narrated in Lee’s recreated voice.
The company is also launching something called the “Stan Lee Book Club of the Month.” Every month, the AI-generated voice of Lee will narrate a different public-domain book inside the app. The first selection is Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, and future titles are expected to rotate regularly as a tribute to Lee’s love for storytelling and literature.
The Entertainment Industry’s AI Debate Keeps Getting Bigger
The announcement arrives at a time when AI recreations of celebrities are becoming increasingly common inside Hollywood and entertainment. More actors, estates, and public figures are now exploring ways to license voices, images, and digital likenesses for AI-generated content. ElevenLabs already offers AI versions of personalities like Michael Caine, Judy Garland, Burt Reynolds, David Hasselhoff, and even Albert Einstein through its marketplace.
The conversation has become even more intense after reports that late actor Val Kilmer’s likeness and voice were also licensed for an upcoming movie despite his passing in 2025. Supporters argue these technologies preserve iconic personalities for future generations, while critics worry about ethical concerns, consent boundaries, and how far AI-generated recreations should go.
Chaz Rainey, a board member of Stan Lee Universe, defended the partnership by saying fans have always imagined hearing Lee’s voice while reading Marvel comics. According to him, the technology simply brings that experience closer to reality. Industry voices are also calling for stronger cooperation between tech companies and entertainment studios to ensure AI systems respect creativity and personal identity rights.
Beyond Stan Lee, ElevenLabs itself has rapidly grown into one of the biggest AI audio companies in the industry. Earlier this year, the company reportedly raised $500 million in funding and reached an estimated valuation of $11 billion. It has also expanded into AI-generated music, celebrity voice licensing, and entertainment-focused AI projects at an aggressive pace.
For Marvel fans though, the emotional side of the story feels bigger than the technology itself. Stan Lee wasn’t just a comic book creator — he became one of pop culture’s most recognizable storytellers. Now, years after his death in 2018, AI is attempting to keep that voice alive in an entirely new way.
