Fans of Marvel Studios’ upcoming “Fantastic Four” film are calling foul after social media users claimed to have found telltale signs of the use of generative AI on a teaser poster.
The image features a crowd of cheering fans in a retro-futuristic poster. Yet social media users claimed to have found examples of figures with missing fingers or disfigured hands, prompting accusations that the studio had used AI image generators to create the poster.
Marvel Studios denied the allegations of using AI to create the “Fantastic Four” poster, according to reports by The Wrap and The Hollywood Reporter. The firm did not immediately respond to requests for comments by Decrypt.
Since the public launch of ChatGPT in 2022, Hollywood has grappled with AI’s encroachment on the creative process.
In May 2023, the Writers Guild of America went on strike after negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers collapsed over several factors, including compensation and the inability to agree on the use of AI in the writers’ room.
The WGA strike was followed in July 2023 by the members of SAG-AFTRA, who went on strike, citing several factors, including a lack of residuals and AI protections in the negotiations with the Alliance, as factors in the decision.
While AI has convincingly mimicked many aspects of the creative process, hands have remained a small but looming detail that can give away AI-generated images—and seemingly return false positives, given Marvel Studios’ denial that the “Fantastic Four” poster actually used AI.
The backlash directed at the “Fantastic Four” poster also highlights the long-standing distaste by the general public towards AI-generated content.
In a 2023 study published in Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, between 50 and 60% of people surveyed said they prefer human-created art to AI-generated images.
Social media users voiced concerns over the posters, arguing that Disney’s alleged use of AI replaced human artists and reduced creative opportunities.
Others questioned why a billion-dollar movie studio would rely on AI for posters instead of hiring an artist, and some have argued that it undermines the value of the industry’s massive budgets.
“Using AI to make the poster?” music and culture writer Ted Gioia said. “Hollywood really has gone to war with creatives.”
No way I just woke up to Marvel dropping AI posters, man.
— Andrew J. Salazar @ Sundance (@AndrewJ626) February 4, 2025
Even those who liked the trailer and thought the movie looked fun expressed frustration over AI-generated posters. Despite positive reactions to the trailer and film, they questioned why Marvel Studios would cut marketing costs with AI-generated art.
BOOOOOOO
YOU’RE THE WALT DISNEY CORPORATION. YOU CAN AFFORD TO PAY ARTISTS INSTEAD OF USING AI GARBAGE
— jake christie (mr curator) (@TheJakeChristie) February 4, 2025
“Fantastic Four” is the latest high-profile film to be called out over generative AI. In January, Academy Award contenders “The Brutalist” and “Emilia Perez” were called out for using AI to improve the voice work of actors in their respective films.
“We should be having a very open discussion about what tools AI can provide us with,” The Brutalist editor Dávid Jancsó said in an interview with Red Share News.
“There’s nothing in the film using AI that hasn’t been done before. It just makes the process a lot faster,” Jancsó added. “We use AI to create these tiny little details that we didn’t have the money or the time to shoot.”
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair and Stephen Graves.
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