Marvel's Official Spider-Man Art Book Sparks Backlash Over Suspected AI Concept Art

[Karen88]

Marvel's official collector's art book for Spider-Man: Brand New Day, released shortly after the film crossed two billion dollars in global ticket sales, has landed the studio in an unwanted AI controversy after fans spotted what looks like generative AI imagery buried inside the 208 page collection. The piece in question, titled Big City, Little Spider and credited to concept artist Scott McInnes, depicts a busy New York street scene, and it is the specific warping in that single image that set off the entire backlash.

Fans combing through the book flagged several classic tells associated with AI generated imagery once the discovery started spreading across X, Reddit, and dedicated comic forums. Two taxis in the middle of the frame appear to be merging into one another rather than existing as distinct vehicles, a fire escape stairway on one side shows clearly distorted and inconsistent shaping, and at least one storefront sign reportedly reads something garbled rather than legible English text, all classic artifacts commonly associated with earlier generation AI image models struggling with fine repeated detail.

Some working artists have pushed back on the AI framing specifically, arguing the distortions could just as easily be the result of Photoshop's content aware fill or a similar automated tool being used to quickly patch or extend a background element, rather than the entire image having been generated from scratch by a text prompt. That distinction matters quite a bit for how seriously the allegation should actually be taken, since using an automated fill tool on a small background detail is a very different practice than generating an entire concept piece with AI from nothing.

Marvel and Sony have not issued any public statement addressing the allegations as of this writing, leaving fans to speculate about whether future printings might quietly address or remove the specific image. The timing is genuinely awkward given the book celebrates the film's creative process at a fifty dollar price point, and it also arrives closely on the heels of reported cuts to Marvel's own internal visual development team, which has only added fuel to fears the studio is looking for shortcuts around real artists rather than investing in them.

This is not Marvel's first AI adjacent controversy either, with the studio's Secret Invasion AI generated title sequence back in 2023 still remembered as a genuinely rough moment for how the wider industry perceives Marvel's relationship with the technology

The Spider-Man AI scandal feels inevitablewww.creativebloq.com