Marvel Used Artificial Intelligence To Produce The Opening Credits Of ‘Secret Invasion’

Marvel may have figured out a way around the current vfx crisis it has been accused of creating by eliminating much of the need for human artists. The opening credits of the company’s latest Disney+ series Secret Invasion were produced using artificial intelligence.

Disney will probably be hoping there is no such thing as bad publicity, as the news that AI was used on Secret Invasion has been met with outrage on social media, with some artists calling for a boycott of the show.

A critical tweet from Jeff Simpson, who worked with vis dev team on character design, props, and keyframes for Secret Invasion , has already been liked more than 14,5000 times:

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…

— Jeff Simpson (@jeffsimpsonkh) June 21, 2023

Alvaro García Martínez (vfx on Avengers: Infinity War, Ready Player One) posted to Linkedin asking Method Studios to explain in greater detail how the credit reel was produced:

Eisner-nominated cartoonist and screenwriter Victor Santos (Polar) was critical of the production choice and the final result:

#MarvelStudios didn't need to do an intro using AI.
They knew this choice would upset hundreds of artists.
They did it anyway.
Make your own judgment.
…
P.S.: The credits are awful.
P.S.(2): Their artistic justification is pathetic.https://t.co/8JkOBmhD1N

— Victor Santos (@polarcomic) June 21, 2023

David Blatt, an illustrator, painter, and concept artist at Naughty Dog (The Last of Us, Uncharted), didn’t mince words in his thread on the subject:

This is the new #SecretInvasion title sequence…
Big studios are taking a clear stance on AI issues for artists by using exploitative and morally very questionable AI tools for their current productions.
It is disgusting. 🧵1/ pic.twitter.com/m4O1RnP09s

— David Blatt (@KOPF_STOFF) June 21, 2023

And Riot Games (Arcane) senior storyboard artist Jon Lam (animation department on Invincivle) tweeted that he’ll be boycotting the show:

I will be boycotting Secret Invasion. A slap in the face of artists and the WGA strike. https://t.co/oM2fEw2YUl

— Jon Lam #CreateDontScrape (@JonLamArt) June 21, 2023

For those uninitiated in the Marvel lore leading up to Secret Invasion, the series features a group of changeling aliens called the Skrull who can look and sound like anyone they want. That shapeshifting ability is, according to director Ali Selim, part of the decision to use AI for the opening credits.

Selim told Polygon, which first reported that AI was used on the show, “When we reached out to the AI vendors, that was part of it — it just came right out of the shapeshifting, Skrull world identity, you know? Who did this? Who is this?”

Selim went on to explain that he doesn’t really understand how AI works, but that he believed it could be used to impart a sense of foreboding he was looking for. “We would talk to them about ideas and themes and words, and then the computer would go off and do something. And then we could change it a little bit by using words, and it would change,” he explained.

The opening credits were produced by Method Studios, which previously worked on Marvel shows including Ms. Marvel, Loki, and Moon Knight. Method Studios has not responded to Cartoon Brew’s request for a comment, but we will update if and when the company does reply.