Overview
- ElevenLabs and Stan Lee Universe announced on Wednesday that the company licensed the late creator’s voice and likeness and has placed the replica in its Iconic Voice and Image & Video Marketplaces for licensed use.
- The AI voice was trained on historical professional recordings and will narrate a new “Stan Lee Book of the Month” series in the Eleven Reader app, starting with Treasure Island in June.
- Stan Lee–inspired visual templates are available in ElevenLabs’ generator but are labeled for non‑commercial use, while the cloned voice can be requested for editorial and commercial licensing through ElevenLabs’ marketplace.
- The rollout prompted swift fan backlash over the ethics of posthumous AI recreations, and some reports said ElevenLabs briefly removed a press release and that Stan Lee search results were not appearing on its marketplace.
- The deal follows a wider industry trend of estates and studios striking explicit AI licensing pacts, and it arrives as ElevenLabs expands products and capital after a large Series D raise earlier this year.