While most shows manage to wait until after the opening titles to piss off viewers, Marvel’s new mini series Secret Invasion struck with immediacy.
The premiere of the new Disney+ series irked many viewers who were met with an opening title sequence that closely resembled the now recognizable style of artificially generated art. Those behind the series quickly argued that the use of the controversial technology was in keeping with the theme of a show that focuses on a shapeshifting alien race infiltrating the human population.
Speaking with Polygon, director and executive producer Ali Selim confirmed the show’s use of AI for the sequence, adding, “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 added, “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.”
Of course, the show’s use of an AI title sequence has several points against it. It’s ugly. That’s a big knock. It is the opposite of art. As well as workers’ rights. But it does ring true of many of the uglier aspects of Marvel’s past when it comes to the treatment of artists and illustrators.
Disney and the MCU have scored billions off of movies inspired by Marvel comics. And often “inspired by” means completely ripped from without properly compensating the original artists. The most egregious example perhaps being Thor: Love and Thunder.
But this trend stretches back decades for Marvel. Perhaps all the way back to the company’s earliest days. Let me tell you about the “Marvel method.”
Stan Lee is largely credited as the heart and soul of Marvel Comics. And that rings true, as anyone can see from Lee’s heartwarming cameos that spread over much of the MCU’s installments. But Lee was also a businessman and a bit of a carny. And he alone did not build this empire.
As explained in his incredibly incisive book All of the Marvels, Douglas Wolk explains how Marvel’s unique creative process functioned in its formative days:
“In the early 1960s, Lee developed what he later called the ‘Marvel method’”: instead of writing a script at the outset, he would write a loose plot for whichever artist was going to draw a particular story (or act it out for them, or chat with them about a few ideas he’d like to see realized, or very often just leave it up to them altogether), then add dialogue and captions to the artwork at the pencil stage. That saved Lee a lot of time, and gave pencilers a lot more creative latitude to tell a story visually — or a lot more unpaid work to do, depending on your perspective.”
A recent Disney+ documentary drew sharp criticism from the son of foundational comic artist and writer Jack Kirby for underselling his father’s contributions to Marvel’s legacy. Neal Kirby continued to challenge the legend of Lee and the House of Mouse, releasing a statement saying, “‘It should be noted and is generally accepted that Stan Lee had a limited knowledge of history, mythology, or science,” Kirby wrote. “On the other hand, my father’s knowledge of these subjects, to which I and many others can personally attest, was extensive. Einstein summed it up better; ‘More the knowledge, lesser the ego. Lesser the knowledge, more the ego.'”
While Stan Lee’s impact on comics and the broader world of entertainment in general cannot be overstated, it is far too easy to overlook the contributions of artists who simply wanted fair compensation for their work.
In the ’60s, you had one passionate voice throwing out ideas for a dedicated team of artists to sculpt and make real. Today you have an AI trained on the work of thousands of artists opening the latest streaming series for a multi-billion-dollar company.
