Skip to main content

Marvel used AI to create Secret Invasion’s opening credits — and it looks awful

For the most part, Marvel Studios’ original series have featured intriguing and well-designed credit sequences that played at the end of each episode. However, Marvel’s newest Disney+ show, Secret Invasion, has bucked that trend in an unfortunate way. Following a tense introductory scene with Martin Freeman’s Everett K. Ross, the first episode leaps into an opening credits sequence that was created with AI. And it is astonishingly awful.

While speaking with Polygon, Secret Invasion director and executive producer Ali Selim shared his belief that this AI-generated monstrosity served the needs of the show.

“When we reached out to the AI vendors, that was part of it,” said Selim. “It just came right out of the shape-shifting, Skrull world identity, you know? Who did this? Who is this?”

That's supposed to be Samuel L. Jackson in this AI-generated image from Secret Invasion.

“We would talk to [the AI vendors] about ideas and themes and words, and then the computer would go off and do something,” added Selim. “And then we could change it a little bit by using words, and it would change.”

The social media backlash against these AI opening credits has already begun. Via Deadline, here are some of the most memorable responses.

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

secret invasion opening used ai art……. one of the dumbst things I've ever seen pic.twitter.com/2UQJJgqsrW

— Gabriel ⧗ (@dorksofprey) June 21, 2023

Secret Invasion intro is AI generated. I’m devastated, I believe AI to be unethical, dangerous and designed solely to eliminate artists careers. Spent almost half a year working on this show and had a fantastic experience working with the most amazing people I ever met…

— Jeff Simpson (@jeffsimpsonkh) June 21, 2023

Ironically, the first episode of Secret Invasion has been largely well-received as a welcome break from the recent Marvel Studios projects that veered too far into comedy. Instead of basking in that response, Marvel has unintentionally put the spotlight on the opening sequence and placed itself in the crosshairs of the anti-AI movement.

The first episode of Secret Invasion is now streaming on Disney+. The remaining five episodes will be released weekly.

Editors' Recommendations

Blair Marnell
Blair Marnell has been an entertainment journalist for over 15 years. His bylines have appeared in Wizard Magazine, Geek…
Secret Invasion season 1, episode 1 release date, time, channel, and plot
Samuel L. Jackson stares in the air in Secret Invasion.

Where in the world is Nick Fury? When we last saw the former director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Fury was taking a vacation on a Skrull spaceship in the post-credits of Spider-Man: Far From Home. On Earth, Talos and Soren were disguised as Fury and Maria Hill. It's been four years since that post-credits scene, and Fury finally returns to the MCU in the new Disney+ series Secret Invasion.

Samuel L. Jackson reprises his role as Fury, who returns to Earth to investigate a covert mission by a faction of Skrulls seeking to invade and conquer Earth. To stop the Skrull invasion, Fury seeks help from three allies: Hill (Cobie Smulders), Everett K. Ross (Martin Freeman), and Talos (Ben Mendelsohn). The spy thriller is the first Disney+ TV series in Phase Five of the MCU.
When does episode 1 of Secret Invasion season 1 release?

Read more
5 Marvel comics to read before you watch Secret Invasion
A group of Skrulls impersonating the Avengers on the cover of "Secret Invasion" #1.

Marvel Studios is set to reshape its cinematic universe with its upcoming Disney+ series, Secret Invasion. This streaming event will show the legendary Nick Fury returning to Earth to stop a sect of shape-shifting Skrulls from taking over world governments from the inside.

This sci-fi spy thriller is sure to be a darker and more unpredictable new chapter for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it's anyone's guess what could happen. To prepare for what's to come, fans should take a look at these five comics depicting the Skrulls and their impact on the world of Marvel.
Secret Invasion (2008-2009)

Read more
Instead of seeing The Flash, watch The Incredible Hulk on Disney+ instead
A CGI Hulk from Marvel's Incredible Hulk movie.

This is a good weekend for superhero movie fans. The Flash is now in theaters, and you can watch DC try to catch up to the multiverse hijinks of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-VerseĀ and Spider-Man: No Way Home. Or instead of seeing The Flash, you can watch The Incredible Hulk on Disney+.

One of those films stars an occasional outlaw, and the other features Ed Norton as Bruce Banner, a fugitive who is on the run from the U.S. military, which wants to turn Banner's alter ego, the Hulk, into a weapon. This is also a big deal because The Incredible Hulk is poised to have a big influence on the upcoming MCU movies.
The Incredible Hulk has arrived on Disney+

Read more