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Stan Lee died in November 2018 at age 95. Nearly eight years later, his voice is about to narrate Treasure Island.
ElevenLabs, the AI audio company valued at $11 billion earlier this year, announced a partnership with Stan Lee Universe on May 27 to license Lee’s voice and likeness for a range of AI-generated content and products. The deal covers everything from commercial voice licensing to audiobook narration to visual templates and music filters.
What the deal actually includes
The partnership has several moving parts. Lee’s voice, cloned from historical professional recordings, will be available through ElevenLabs’ Iconic Marketplace for commercial licensing. Think of it as a storefront where businesses can pay to use recognizable celebrity voices in their products, all subject to approval from the rights holders.
The voice will also appear in the Eleven Reader app, where it will narrate literature as part of a new “Stan Lee Book of the Month Club.” The inaugural selection is Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island.
On the visual side, Lee’s likeness will be integrated into visual templates within the ElevenLabs ecosystem. There are also two exclusive Stan Lee-inspired music filters coming to ElevenCreative Music, the company’s music generation tool.
Both commercial and personal uses of Lee’s voice and likeness will require approval from Stan Lee Universe, the joint venture between Genius Brands International and POW! Entertainment that was established in July 2020 specifically to manage Lee’s posthumous rights.
“Fans have always told us that when they read his comics, they hear the words in Stan’s voice,” said Chaz Rainey.
The bigger picture on AI celebrity licensing
This partnership didn’t emerge from nowhere. ElevenLabs launched its Iconic Marketplace in November 2025, building the infrastructure for exactly this kind of deal. The marketplace is designed to make celebrity voices and likenesses accessible to businesses through a formal licensing pipeline, complete with rights management and approval workflows.
What this means for investors and the tech landscape
This deal has zero blockchain or crypto components. No NFTs, no tokens, no decentralized anything. It’s a straightforward licensing agreement powered by AI voice synthesis technology.
The approval mechanism through Stan Lee Universe is important because it addresses the biggest objection estates have about AI: loss of control. Both commercial and personal uses require sign-off from Stan Lee Universe, meaning rights holders maintain meaningful oversight over how Lee’s voice and likeness are deployed.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
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