(Photo Credit: Marvel Studios)
Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee is coming back to life with AI. The comic book creator behind iconic characters like Spider-Man and the Hulk passed away in 2018. Much like many Marvel superheroes, Lee’s likeness will be resurrected following a major business deal from ElevenLabs.
What is the controversial Stan Lee AI comics project?
ElevenLabs has signed a deal with Stan Lee Universe, a joint venture between Genius Brands International and POW! Entertainment, to add his likeness to the ElevenLabs Iconic Marketplace. For the uninitiated, the marketplace includes a collection of voice and video likenesses from celebrities for companies to officially license in their products.
The company will also launch a series called Stan Lee Book Club of the Month. Through it, ElevenLabs will use Lee’s voice to narrate a different book every month, which users can access via Eleven Reader. The first book in the series will see the AI-replicated Lee narrate Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island. ElevenCreative Music, the company’s AI music generator, will also get two music filters inspired by Lee, called “Superhero Cinematic Swells” and “Retro Hero Fanfare.”
The company announced the news by releasing a video narrated by an AI replica of Lee’s voice. Users will be able to use Lee’s voice to listen to books on Eleven and even score “creations with Stan-inspired music” in Finetunes. Users will also be able to generate Lee’s likeness in comic book-inspired templates via ElevenLabs’ visual generator (via Variety).
“You know what they never tell you about legends? They outlive the page,” says Lee’s AI replica in the video.
“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,” said Chaz Rainey, board member for Stan Lee Universe. “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.”
“His voice, his image, his love of storytelling… ElevenLabs gives us a way to keep that alive and in fans’ hands in a way that’s true to who he was,” Rainey said.
Lee is far from the only celebrity whose likeness has been recreated with AI. Late last year, British acting legend Michael Caine signed a deal to have his voice recreated via ElevenLabs’ tools.
Originally reported by Rahul Majumdar on ComingSoon.net.
