Marvel has set the record straight, confirming that AI was not used to create the new poster for "The Fantastic Four: First Steps," despite speculation on social media.
The Disney-owned studio released the poster Tuesday along with the film's first teaser. The image depicts a crowd of men and women from the 20th century, all seemingly waving at the Fantastic Four as they embark on a superhero mission.
While the poster was met largely with excitement from fans, there were some who quickly noticed flaws in the design, including characters with only four fingers and two women bearing the same face. This led to widespread speculation that Marvel had used AI to generate the image, but a studio spokesperson released a statement to The Hollywood Reporter claiming no AI technology was involved.
The backlash comes after a wave of controversy surrounding the Oscar-nominated film "The Brutalist," which was criticized after rumors surfaced that AI had been used to enhance the film's dialogue.
Director Brady Corbet quickly shot down these claims, explaining that Adrian Brody and Felicity Jones spent months perfecting their characters’ Hungarian accents with the help of a dialect coach. He added that only the Hungarian segments of the film were adjusted manually, using Respeecher technology.
"The aim was to preserve the authenticity of Adrien and Felicity’s performances in another language, not to replace or alter them and done with the utmost respect for the craft," Corbet said.
Recently, Nicolas Cage spoke out against the use of AI in the film industry. In a speech over the weekend at the Saturn Awards, the actor took a strong stance against what he described as "the new AI world," according to Variety.
"I am a big believer in not letting robots dream for us. Robots cannot reflect the human condition for us. That is a dead end if an actor lets one AI robot manipulate his or her performance even a little bit, an inch will eventually become a mile and all integrity, purity and truth of art will be replaced by financial interests only. We can’t let that happen," he said.
"The job of all art in my view, film performance included, is to hold a mirror to the external and internal stories of the human condition through the very human thoughtful and emotional process of recreation. A robot can’t do that. If we let robots do that, it will lack all heart and eventually lose edge and turn to mush. There will be no human response to life as we know it. It will be life as robots tell us to know it. I say, protect yourselves from AI interfering with your authentic and honest expressions."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.