Marvel's Alleged AI Flub? Fans Spot Odd Hands in New Fantastic Four Poster

Fantastic Four fans are calling foul after eagle-eyed users on X pointed to telltale signs of the use of generative AI: badly drawn hands.

The image features a crowd of cheering fans in a retro-futuristic poster. Yet a closer examination of the hands of several figures shows some with missing fingers or disfigured hands in a form typical of AI image generators.

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.

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.

Marvel denied the allegations of using AI to create the Fantastic Four poster, according to a report by The Wrap. Marvel Studios did not immediately respond to requests for comments by Decrypt.

Social media users voiced concerns over the AI-generated posters, arguing that the move 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.”

Even those who liked the trailer and thought the movie looked fun expressed frustration over using AI-generated posters. Despite positive reactions to the trailer and film, they questioned why Marvel Studios would cut marketing costs with AI-generated art.

The 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