The Ant-Man actress, Evangeline Lilly, has lashed out at Disney following the recent mass layoffs at Marvel Studios. The company eliminated 1,000 jobs, including a large part of the visual development team. Among those affected is Andy Park, designer of the original Wasp suit and a collaborator for 16 years. Lilly denounced on Instagram that the company prioritizes artificial intelligence and executive profits over artists.
Visual development loses its backbone 🎨
Andy Park, who defined the aesthetic of key MCU characters, is one of those affected. His visual development team used to create hundreds of sketches and renders for each film, a process Disney now seeks to replace with automated AI generation. Lilly questioned the lack of laws protecting human work from being used by algorithms, pointing out that artists like Park are the true magicians behind the movies. The staff reduction not only affects quality but eliminates decades of accumulated experience.
The AI that can't draw a wasp suit 🐝
Disney prefers to save on salaries and bet on an AI that probably draws the Wasp with mosquito wings and ant legs. Meanwhile, executives line their pockets with box office revenue. The most ironic thing is that the artificial intelligence they idolize cannot even replicate the shine of Hope van Dyne's suit. If they keep this up, the next Marvel movie will be a video generated by ChatGPT with Paint special effects.