Stan Lee Universe has agreed to let ElevenLabs use the late Marvel co-creator's voice and likeness across its products, Engadget reported on 28 May. Lee joins the company's Iconic Marketplace, where businesses license famous voices for commercial work, alongside Judy Garland, Michael Caine, John Wayne and David Hasselhoff, and his voice is also available in ElevenReader, the 2024 app that reads uploaded text aloud, with ten free hours a month and an unlimited plan at $8.25. Late in life Lee was as well known for his Marvel film cameos as for his comics.
The agreement comes with a monthly Stan Lee book club in ElevenReader, starting in June with Treasure Island and adding one public-domain title each month for a year. Citing Variety, Engadget says Lee's likeness can also be used in comic-style templates in the ElevenCreative image generator for non-commercial use, and Eleven Music has gained Lee-themed presets such as "Superhero Swells".
Chaz Rainey of Stan Lee Universe framed the deal as a way to keep Lee close to fans who already hear his voice when they read his comics. Engadget notes that it could in principle put AI cameos of Lee in almost any production, and that Eleven Music, launched last year as a royalty-free generator, was first trained on catalogue licensed from Merlin and Kobalt, with the company hoping to bring major labels on board later.
Sources · 1