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Thunderbolts* poster asks how many fingers Bob is holding up, and risks restarting an AI conversation

Does actor Lewis Pullman have odd fingers, is there a bad photo manipulation technique going on, or did Marvel use AI for its new movie poster?

News by Graeme McMillan, Editor

Published on Mon Sep 23 2024

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Perhaps you remember the controversy that erupted over the fact that Marvel Studios used generative AI to create the opening titles to 2023’s Disney+ series Secret Invasion. The upset provoked a somewhat defensive statement from the production house responsible, claiming that “no artists’ jobs were replaced” by use of AI, even as social media was increasingly filled by comic book creators and fans alike appalled that Marvel would even consider using generative AI in the first place.

It was, shall we say, enough to make you feel that Marvel might stay away from generative AI for the foreseeable future. And then the new poster for Thunderbolts* dropped.

Thunderbolts* poster — Image credit: Marvel Studios

For those who need to look a little closer at what we’re talking about:

How many fingers does Bob actually have on his hand? (Count not the fingertips, but where the digits hit the palm; that's the thing that seems to be confusing the matter.) It’s not entirely clear, which is entirely the problem. As can be seen by the trailer — check the 1:45 mark — Bob in the movie only has five fingers on each hand, so if he does have six fingers as some are arguing might be the case in this poster, it’s possible that Marvel hasn’t just returned to the use of AI, but done so in such a way that it’s fallen prey to a recurring joke about one of the most visible downfalls of generative AI art.

To play Devil’s Advocate for a second: if you look at the Thunderbolts* poster, it’s obvious that the actors involved didn’t actually pose for one photograph like that; it’s no surprise to anyone that the image has been faked. On the other hand, there are ways to create such a composite photograph without the use of generative AI, and it would be genuinely surprising that Marvel seemingly didn’t use one of them considering the response to Secret Invasion’s credit sequences last year… although perhaps less surprising than the idea that no-one at Marvel Studios noticed that one of their characters had six fingers on a poster before releasing it publicly. So maybe he doesn’t have six fingers! Maybe it’s just five and a hand that looks really, really strange.

It’s possible, if you really want to give Marvel the benefit of the doubt, that what’s happening with that hand isn’t generative AI, but a very strange photo-manipulation effect. There’s something strange happening on the index finger that feels entirely unnatural, but it’s honestly possible that Lewis Pullman’s hand photographed very oddly, and then was given manipulation treatment that didn’t help. Stranger things have happened, as unlikely as it may seem.

For now, the discussion as to whether or not the hand is genuine — and just how many fingers it has, one way or another — continues to play out on social media. Think of it as a Marvel version of the Blue Dress/Gold Dress meme from way back in 2015.

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Graeme McMillan: Popverse Editor Graeme McMillan (he/him) has been writing about comics, culture, and comics culture on the internet for close to two decades at this point, which is terrifying to admit. He completely understands if you have problems understanding his accent.