Secret Invasion's AI Intro Is Marvel Studios' Biggest Fumble to Date

By Adam Barnhardt

After months of anticipation, Secret Invasion has arrived on Disney+ with its premiere episode. Though the series garnered generally positive reviews in the lead-up to release, its premiere day was marred in controversy as it was confirmed Marvel Studios used artificial intelligence to craft the show's opening credits. Instead of watchers discussing the quality of the show's plot or character work, discourse has been centered around the outfit's use of AI and rightfully so, the decision to release something such as that is one of the biggest flubs the studio has ever made.

According to Secret Invasion director Ali Selim, Marvel Studios contracted the intro through Method Studios, which has worked on other Marvel projects. Method Studios was then directed by Marvel to use AI software to produced the images used in the intro. "When we reached out to the AI vendors, that was part of it — it just came right out of the shape-shifting, Skrull world identity, you know? Who did this? Who is this?" Selim said in an interview with Polygon.

The filmmaker then admitted he wasn't quite sure how the software worked, and was "fascinated" but how it returned results based on simple prompts. "We would talk to them about ideas and themes and words, and then the computer would go off and do something," he added. "And then we could change it a little bit by using words, and it would change."

Instead of cobbling together an understanding metaphor for the usage of AI, viewers were left to what amounts to Marvel's most egregious mistreatment of working artists to date. At a time when comic creators are tweeting their horrifying stories of how the comics industry has mistreated them (look under the #ComicsBrokeMe for one haunting story after the next), what amounts to the biggest movie studio in Hollywood opted to use free work instead of paying its comic artists. Let us not forget Marvel Studios infamously paid Devin Grayson and JG Jones a lump sum payment of $5,000 for their work creating Yelena Belova, despite an agreement saying they could be paid upwards of $25,000.

Not only that, but it's likely Marvel Studios paid Method a pretty penny to use AI software instead of going directly to artists themselves. According to Method, none of its artists lost jobs due to the use of AI with the studio confirming in a statement (via THR) it used both existing and proprietary AI software for the intro.

"AI is just one tool among the array of toolsets our artists used. No artists' jobs were replaced by incorporating these new tools; instead, they complemented and assisted our creative teams," the company's statement read.

The Writers Guild of America is nearly two full months into its strike and the use of artificial intelligence is one of the sticking points preventing an agreement between the two parties. The studios want the ability to use AI to help write scripts should it need a screenplay on a whim. With each passing day, it's looking increasingly likely the Screen Actors Guild will also strike and again, AI is at the root of the contentious debate with actors hoping to avoid studios using digital recreations and deepfakes in lieu of actual performances.

Just last week, Marvel Studios delayed much of its theatrical slate once again. Instead of dealing with COVID-related delays, the Burbank-based studio found itself forced to delay its projects because of the ongoing writer's strike. Only that can't continue to happen given Marvel Studios and, in turn, Walt Disney Studios and the almighty Mouse has a bottom line to appease. If the studio is fine with using AI for an intro, what's stopping them from making their infamous on-set rewrites using a service similar to ChatGPT?

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The use of an AI-generated intro in a Marvel Studios project sets a dangerous precedent, one that needs to be snuffed out as soon as possible. The livelihood of the arts and the artists whose art we adore day in and day out relies on it.

The MCU's top superspy Nick Fury is back in Secret Invasion, the limited series premiering June 21st on Disney+. Samuel L. Jackson returns in the new Marvel Studios series, showcasing Fury's attempt to get to the bottom of a Skrull invasion that goes all the way to the most powerful positions in various governments and organizations on the planet. In Secret Invasion, Fury teams with allies Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders), Everett Ross (Martin Freeman), and Talos (Ben Mendelsohn), while James Rhodes AKA War Machine will appear in a mysterious capacity. Other newcomers to the Marvel Cinematic Universe include Emilia Clarke, Olivia Colman, and Kingsley Ben-Adir.

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