Stan Lee Returns!
AI voices, franchise synergy, and another week where the system refuses to leave money on the table—by Stephen Schleicher
The comics world went a little sideways this week with reports that Stan Lee is “back.”
Which, depending on how you feel about AI, is either exciting, unsettling, inevitable, or all three at once.
STAN LEE RETURNS
Stan Lee passed away in 2018, but ElevenLabs has partnered with Stan Lee Universe to license Lee’s voice likeness for commercial use.
And as expected, the internet immediately lost its collective mind.
Would Stan have approved of this?
Honestly, nobody knows.
He never publicly discussed AI voice technology specifically, but he was someone who spent decades pushing Marvel characters into every medium imaginable:
television
film
animation
video games
toys
anything with a licensing agreement attached to it
So the answer is probably more complicated than the internet wants it to be.
And to be clear:
This isn’t a free-for-all.
There is no rate card, which means if you have to ask, you can’t afford it.
Access to the AI voice requires:
formal approval
licensing review
content oversight
So no, AI Stan Lee probably won’t be narrating hate speech or screaming conspiracy theories into the void anytime soon.
And no—he won’t be guest-hosting the Major Spoilers Podcast either.
ElevenLabs is also licensing voices from:
Michael Caine
Richard Feynman
David Hasselhoff
and others
Because once the system realizes nostalgia can still generate revenue…
…it scales the process immediately.
The uncomfortable part is that the final years of Stan Lee’s life reportedly involved no shortage of people trying to profit from his name and image.
Which makes this entire story feel simultaneously:
understandable
unsettling
and deeply on-point for the world we currently live in
FROM SMALL SCREEN TO BIG SCREEN TO TOY AISLES
The system loves synergy.
It also loves selling you the same excitement over and over in different forms.
Case in point:
The Mandalorian and Grogu pulled in roughly $167 million worldwide during opening weekend, despite the usual flood of online discourse insisting Star Wars is either:
dead
ruined
woke
saved
or somehow all four simultaneously
And because excitement must immediately become merchandise, Hasbro announced 11 new figures tied to the film:
six Black Series releases
five Vintage Collection figures
prices ranging from around $20 to $35
Because the dopamine pipeline must remain operational at all times.
Meanwhile, Marvel Comics announced a seven-issue adaptation of The Book of Boba Fett.
Which is fitting.
Because modern franchises no longer move in straight lines.
They expand sideways:
streaming
toys
comics
games
collectibles
Everything feeds everything else now.
An ouroboros made of intellectual property and dopamine.
QUICK HITS
The Phantom Returns
Mad Cave Studios announced a new Phantom one-shot from Ray Fawkes and Russell Olson.
The Phantom still has a massive international audience—even if North America occasionally forgets that fact exists.
Hopefully, the distribution strategy will remember when The Phantom vs. The Singh Brotherhood drops in August.
The Homage Problem
On this week’s Major Spoilers Podcast pre-show, Rodrigo Lopez and I talked about homage fatigue.
Because eventually:
constant references
constant callbacks
constant “remember this?” moments
start weakening the original material they’re celebrating.
Marvel’s teaser for Midnight X-Men #1 feels like a perfect example.
The cover riffs on 1985’s Fright Night, and while the reference is clever, there’s a growing point where homage stops feeling celebratory and starts feeling reflexive.
Money Shot Returns
Vault Comics announced the next Money Shot series from Patton Oswalt, Tim Seeley, and Garth Graham.
The premise remains exactly as ridiculous as before:
scientists funding space exploration through interspecies adult entertainment.
And somehow, despite the premise, the series still rarely goes all the way.
Though you probably still don’t want your parents finding a copy under your bed.
TailSpin Returns
Dynamite Entertainment is finally bringing TaleSpin to comics.
And honestly?
I’m probably more excited about this than I should be.
The whole “Disney’s TaleSpin is secretly Tales of the Gold Monkey for children” energy always worked for me.
TaleSpin reunites Amand Deibert and Carlo Lauro, who brought us the Darkwing Duck series.
Static Joins the Titans
Static joins New Titans beginning with issue #38.
Which proves once again:
You can’t keep a good character down.
Even if publishers occasionally struggle to figure out how to market them consistently.
ABSOLUTE NEXT CHARACTER
While the Absolute Universe continues to burn up the charts, everyone is wondering, “What’s next?”
WHERE THIS LEAVES US
This week felt like a perfect snapshot of where entertainment is right now.
AI resurrecting iconic voices.
Franchises continue to expand sideways into every available format.
Publishers are leaning harder into homage, nostalgia, and recognizable IP.
They’re going to keep finding new ways to monetize that feeling for as long as humanly possible.
Cheers,
Stephen Schleicher