Spider-Man: Brand New Day has been wildly popular since its debut, surpassing a tidy $2 billion in global ticket sales, and yet fans are hungry for more Spidey content. Prayers were answered when the new Art of Spider-Man: Brand New Day book dropped, but soon Spidey-fans noticed something was a little off.
Perusing the pages of the new book, many began to notice artwork that looked suspiciously AI-generated. With AI creating a divide among creatives, many fans shared their disappointment at the discovery, but to me, it feels like just another inevitability of the AI invasion.
Selling an “art book” that has Ai visuals in it should genuinely be illegal Welp, The Art of Spider-Man Brand New Day book sadly includes Ai slop (look at the traffic lights and fire escapes) pic.twitter.com/To5rGdfsC7August 21, 2026
The artwork in question is a piece titled "Big City, Little Spider" created by concept artist Scott McInnes. It all looks pretty innocuous at first glance, but take a closer look and strange details emerge. Taxi cabs merge into each other, fire escapes lead to nowhere, traffic lights warp, and windows appear in nonsensical places. The bottom line is, it stinks of AI.
"Selling an “art book” that has AI visuals in it should genuinely be illegal," one disgruntled X user wrote. "Can’t say I'm surprised that GenAI is in Spider-Man art book but I’m still disappointed and hurt all the same," another added.
With big superhero titles like Supergirl admitting to using AI, Spider-Man isn't even the first of its genre to be caught using AI, and I sense that the technology will only become more normalised in the industry. From The Brutalist's AI art controversy to the Fantastic Four AI poster drama, it's clear the technology is already being embraced in film production and promotion, regardless of audience backlash.
Do I believe there are some productive applications for AI technology? Yes. But when audiences are continuously identifying AI slop that manages to slip through the cracks, it makes me question how valuable AI is in the film industry.
Should AI be embraced in the film world? Have your say in the comments below.
