Is Marvel ending credit art by using AI for Secret Invasion?

Marvel's latest limited series Secret Invasion began airing on Disney+ Hotstar on June 21 (Wednesday). The anticipated Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) solo venture was promoted heavily weeks before its release with even its trailer and sneak peak being launched on a special, encrypted website. 

ALSO READ: How to watch Marvel's new Secret Invasion clip and trailer? There's a password involved

It seems like Secret Invasion used up all of its creatives in marketing as the show's opening credits were left to be generated by AI. Now, that's a first for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. 

The fluid-like opening animation uses green as the dominant colour to represent the antagonistic alien race known as Skrulls. A few grotesque images of Nick Fury and the rest of the ensemble are thrown in the mix with the swirly animation reminding audiences of the most generic form of AI art. And, the hunch of such audiences was proven right when Marvel did admit on actually using AI for its opening credits.

What is Marvel's justification? 

Secret Invasion executive producer Ali Selim himself confirmed while talking to Polygon on the day of the show's release. But Selim feels that using AI goes beyond being a gimmick as the wavy art goes in tandem with the shapeshifting abilities of the Skrulls. To quote Selim, 

AI is still not a 100% sentient and prompt-engineering is the key. Touching upon the different prompts they used, Selim had an explanation (that will be relatable to anyone with not much idea of how AI really works),

Regardless of the sequence looking visually smooth or not, many MCU fans and pop culture commentators are concerned of what this means for the future of Marvel. As the Kevin Fiege-led Marvel Studios has proven before with its VFX teams, cost-cutting measures are a priority for the superhero media giant (and even its parent company Disney). 

Who did the AI artwork? 

AI artist Sagan (Instagram user @sagansagansagans) seems to be the person behind Marvel's AI contract as he revealed in a post on June 21. The artist took to Instagram calling the work "groundbreaking" and a "milestone" that can "push boundaries". The post has now been deleted. 

The artists and fans aren't impressed

Now, with the ongoing Writers Guild Strike raising questions on AI replacing screenwriters, title sequence artists seem to have every reason to fear Secret Invasion. As storyboard artist John Lam said on Twitter, 

Many leading writers have shunned AI softwares like ChatGPT and feel that AI can still not step into writers' rooms. Black Mirror's Charlie Brooker recently opened up on how he tried getting ChatGPT to write him an episode but the software failed to generate a comprehensible outline. Even though Marvel regular Joe Russo (Infinity War, Endgame) has also voiced concerns about AI, he is also certain that AI will be making movies in two years. 

Well, for Marvel, the earliest steps for that future are already being put into place. 

Commenting on the aesthetic quality of the opening sequence, a Twitter user @EPM106 wrote, "the Secret Invasion MidJourney intro is repulsive." Even though Marvel has not revealed what software did they actually rely on, another Twitter user @CucumberHorse corrected him, "It's not even MidJourney, it's VQGAN+CLIP, super early AI image stuff."

Irrespective of which software and AI tech team Marvel actually relied on, it would be the end of an era if other Marvel productions end up aping Secret Invasion. The closing credits sequence of numerous Marvel productions have prompted theater audiences to stick around till the very end (that and the post-credit scenes). Even the TV shows have had some creative takes, like She-Hulk relying on its legal premise to present the entire episode in courtroom sketches. 

While Iron Man relied on some 3D schematics from Tony Stark's lab, Spider-Man: Homecoming had scrap book-y feel for its juvenile protagonist. With the art being reinvented according to the themes and setting, Captain America: The First Avenger creatively relied on a sequence that emulated the hand-painted propaganda posters. 

Not just Marvel, the superhero genre in general has gone on to incorporate visually-rich animated or hand-drawn credits sequences. The latest case in point is the psychedelic musical conclusion to Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

Compare that to Secret Invasion now!