LOS ANGELES: Dressed in a green sweater and tan trousers in front of a vivid blue backdrop, Marvel comic book superhero creator Stan Lee will appear at L.A. Comic Con in holographic form to connect with fans of his characters like Spider-Man, Hulk, Iron Man, and Thor.
Fans can engage with a hologram of Lee, who passed away in 2018 at the age of 95, inside a closed booth at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
Preserving Stan Lee’s Legacy Through Technology
“Many of us were clearly heartbroken when Stan died,” stated Chris DeMoulin, CEO of Comikaze Entertainment, which runs Los Angeles Comic Con. “For the past few years, we’ve been discussing potential actions we could take to help preserve Stan’s legacy.”
Approximately six months prior, DeMoulin mentioned that he conceived the idea of crafting an avatar of Lee to act as an “entry point for both long-time and new fans into the Marvel universe.”
The initiative involved a partnership between Proto Hologram, a company utilizing its holographic technology in shopping centers to advertise movies like The Conjuring and A Minecraft Movie, and Hyperreal, an AI company that develops lifelike digital humans.
Safeguards on Stan Lee’s Digital Avatar
The hologram was developed using the countless instances of Stan Lee on red carpets and at fan conventions. Fans who never encountered Lee face-to-face may know him from his cameo roles in all live-action Marvel films released while he was alive.
“This avatar will never express anything that Stan didn’t express,” stated DeMoulin. “It will always reflect a perspective on Marvel or the narratives or Stan’s involvement that stems directly from Stan’s own words.”
George Johnson from Mammoth Vision stated that they implemented technological safeguards to stop Lee from making any statements that seemed out of character. “We incorporate Stan Lee’s words into the model and then add boundaries on either side,” Johnson stated, “to ensure he doesn’t stray into topics that Stan wouldn’t have discussed.”
Mixed Fan Reactions to Holographic Stan Lee
During a demonstration on Friday, holographic Lee expressed his passion for fan conventions. “My favorite aspect of attending a comic convention is interacting with incredible fans and listening to their stories about how Marvel has influenced their lives,” Lee remarked in the late actor’s tone.
Not all attendees embraced Lee’s posthumous presence at the convention. A few commenters on Reddit voiced their criticism of the Stan Lee Experience. “Even in death, they won’t allow the guy to find peace,” remarked a commenter using the name RGCBlade. “It’s rather bleak and dystopian.”
