Marvel Studios has been a global entertainment giant for the last 15 years. It has turned beloved but sometimes obscure comic book franchises into massive successes in film and TV. However, its latest TV series, Secret Invasion, debuting on the Disney+ streaming service, has been met with an immediate backlash upon its premiere on June 21, 2023. This backlash is over the use of AI to generate the imagery of the title cards in the opening sequence of each episode.
The Backlash Over the Use of AI in the Opening Credits
Twitter users have criticized the opening credits of Secret Invasion as “ugly,” “disgusting,” and “repulsive.” They have lamented the company’s treatment of human visual effects (VFX) artists and concluded that Marvel had chosen AI to replace human artists. A former Marvel concept artist who claimed to have worked on the series itself, Jeff Simpson, joined in the criticism, tweeting “Secret Invasion intro is AI generated. I’m devastated, I believe AI to be unethical, dangerous and designed solely to eliminate artists careers. Spent almost half a year working on this show and had a fantastic experience working with the most amazing people I ever met…”
However, at least one Twitter user countered these objections by noting that Method Studios, a VFX and motion graphics subdivision of Company 3, had been credited in the end credits as the creators of the Secret Invasion main title sequence, and that real human artists’ names were listed among the team that worked on the sequence. Marvel has worked with Method Studios and Company 3 previously on such hit projects as Spider-Man: Far From Home and Avengers: Infinity War. Method Studios also lists Top Gun: Maverick, Blade Runner 2049 and Elvis among the diverse set of Hollywood films for which it has helped create graphical elements.
In an interview with Polygon, Secret Invasion director and executive producer Ali Selim confirmed that Method Studios used AI to design the opening titles of the series. AI was chosen as a creative medium because it reflected some of the series’ themes. In the series, shapeshifting aliens called Skrulls masquerade as human beings, much like how AI can sometimes produce convincing impressions of humanity or human creativity. Selim did not elaborate on exactly which AI tools Method Studios deployed for this project, and the VFX production firm had not responded to the reporter’s questions at the time of the article’s publication.
VentureBeat also reached out to Marvel Studios and Method Studios and some of the artists credited with the title sequence to get more information on how it was designed and their reaction to the backlash on Twitter, and we will update if and when we hear back.
AI and Its Impact on the Creative Industry
The use of AI to create Secret Invasion’s opening credits comes at a particularly fraught time period between major Hollywood studios and the creative community. As of the time of this article’s publication, the Writers Guild of America union representing Hollywood film and TV writers has been on strike for more than seven weeks over disputes about renewed contracts and residual payments in the streaming and AI era, with no immediate resolution in sight. Meanwhile, SAG-AFTRA, the union representing film and TV actors, remains in negotiations with the studios over some of the same issues with authorization to strike if a resolution for their guild is not met by June 30 — nine days from now.
Leading creatives within the massive Marvel moviemaking operation believe that it is inevitable AI will disrupt the filmmaking businesses. Joe Russo, co-director of several of Marvel’s most financially successful films including Avengers: Endgame, has said that he believes AI would be able to create a feature film within two years. He himself sits on the board of several AI companies.
“The value of it [AI] is the democratization of storytelling,” Russo was quoted as saying. “That’s incredibly valuable. That means that anyone in this room could tell a story, or make a game at scale, with the help of a photoreal engine or an engine and AI tools. That, I think, is what excites me about it most.”
Marvel Studios’ latest TV series, Secret Invasion, has faced immediate backlash upon its premiere on June 21, 2023, over the use of AI to generate the imagery of the title cards in the opening sequence of each episode. Twitter users have criticized Marvel’s treatment of human visual effects (VFX) artists and concluded that Marvel had chosen AI to replace human artists. However, Method Studios, the VFX and motion graphics subdivision of Company 3, had been credited in the end credits as the creators of the Secret Invasion main title sequence, and real human artists’ names were listed among the team that worked on the sequence. The use of AI to create Secret Invasion’s opening credits comes at a particularly fraught time period between major Hollywood studios and the creative community. Leading creatives within the massive Marvel moviemaking operation believe that it is inevitable AI will disrupt the filmmaking businesses.
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