‘Secret Invasion’ fans “disgusted” as Marvel show uses AI for intro sequence

22 June, 2023

The intro sequence to Marvel‘s Secret Invasion was made using artificial intelligence, the Disney+ show’s director and executive producer Ali Selim has confirmed.

Speaking to Polygon, Selim explained how special effects company Method Studios created the sequence — which features shapeshifting faces and abstract imagery — with the help of AI.

“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 said.

Selim admitted that he wasn’t quite sure how the technology worked, but that he was amazed with what the AI studio could create.

“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 said.

Secret Invasion
Samuel L. Jackson is back as S.H.I.E.L.D. head honcho Nick Fury. CREDIT: Marvel Studios/Disney

Following the release of the first episode, fans have taken to Twitter to express their disgust at Marvel for using AI instead of hiring artists to create the opening sequence.

“It’s actually over,” tweeted director Brian Long in response to the AI intro. In another post, he added: “Think about all the intros created by REAL HUMANS!!!”

Jon Lam, an artist who worked on X-Men and Valorant, pointed to the ongoing Writer’s Guild of America strike, which has been pushing for protections against AI replacing its members.

“I will be boycotting Secret Invasion,” Lam wrote on Twitter. “A slap in the face of artists and the WGA strike.”

Fans also expressed their distaste, with one writing: “This feels like just the beginning of A.I. overtaking the jobs of passionate artists. It’s disgusting & the ultimate turnoff.”

Another wrote: “Marvel really used A.I. to create the ugliest fucking intro known to man, they couldn’t afford to hire a comicbook artists???”

“This is an embarrassing new low,” added another. “I can’t believe marvel is proudly using the same visual gag that little kids use in tiktoks for fun.”

In a four-star review of Secret Invasion, NME wrote: “As the MCU turns 15, it’s time to start growing up. If not yet fully adult, Marvel’s latest series at least feels a bit more mature in design and ambition – a teenage franchise stepping out into the real world for the first time.”

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