The Marvel Cinematic Universe's latest entry has arrived on Disney+ in the form of Secret Invasion, and viewers may notice something odd about its opening credits: it's AI-made.
As reported by Polygon, this was an intentional creative decision from Marvel Studios. The sequence is deliberately odd and twisted, showing a handful of familiar places and faces being warped and overcome by Skrull green.
This invokes themes of the show itself, which is about, well, a secret invasion of the shape-shifting Skrulls and never really knowing what's real and what's not.
So Marvel really used AI to make the intro for #SecretInvasion… it’s actually over. pic.twitter.com/pWUNOZWTqd
— Brian Long (@BrianLongFilms) June 21, 2023
"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?” director and executive producer Ali Selim told Polygon.
He also admitted he didn't really understand how AI works, but explained a little of the process. "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."
The emergence of AI has been a hot topic in the entertainment industry and has been met with backlash within animation in particular.
"It really feels like these tools are a way to remove what little leverage we feel like we have," animation writer Frank Gibson told IGN earlier this year. Similar concerns have been raised across the board, including in TV, video games, and more, and clearly even the biggest organisations like Marvel aren't afraid to utilise it.
In our 7/10 review of Secret Invasion's opening episodes, IGN said: "Secret Invasion is a welcome and solid return for the MCU’s lesser-used gritty espionage template, even if its first two episodes lack the sense of fear that it really needs."
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.
source https://www.ign.com/articles/secret-invasions-opening-credits-is-ai-made