Disney’s $1 Billion OpenAI Gamble Could Sideline the Marvel Comics Artists Who Built the Universe
After snapping up 20th Century Fox and bringing Marvel into its empire, Disney is reportedly placing a $1 billion bet on an AI company — a shock move that has blindsided its own Marvel comics artists, reports Marvelous News.
Disney just made a very loud move into AI. Reports say the company has put $1 billion into OpenAI tied to a three-year deal around Sora, the video generator. The pitch: fans can spin up short clips starring themselves next to Disney characters. The reaction: a lot of creators, including some of Disney's own comics artists, are stunned and not thrilled.
What Disney is actually doing here
Per Marvelous News and follow-ups, Disney has invested $1B in OpenAI and struck a three-year agreement centered on Sora. The plan is to let people generate short videos with Disney IP. The Guardian adds a few concrete details: the tool will cap videos at around 20 seconds, and it will support about 200 licensed characters. You can also insert your own avatar or face into the clips. Characters mentioned across the materials include Iron Man, Disney Princesses, Baymax, Lightning McQueen, R2-D2, and Aladdin. In a very on-brand detail, Disney's press release reportedly even used an AI-generated image of Princess Jasmine, and OpenAI shared screenshots of similar clips.
- Price tag and term: $1B investment; three-year Sora agreement
- Output: roughly 20-second videos
- Access: fans can drop in their avatars/faces
- Library: about 200 licensed Disney characters (examples: Iron Man, Disney Princesses, Baymax, Lightning McQueen, R2-D2, Aladdin)
Why creators are wary
This lands in an industry already on edge about AI. The past year has been filled with protests over AI in screenwriting and production. It is not just writers feeling squeezed; visual artists, actors, and other creatives are looking at erosion of their work as models get trained to imitate it. Even some Marvel and Disney comics artists reportedly felt blindsided, because this system could let anyone remix their designs at the push of a button.
Disney CEO Bob Iger tried to frame the partnership as both forward-looking and respectful of artists. The message is reassuring on paper, but the boundaries are fuzzy right now.
"The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence marks an important moment for our industry, and through this collaboration with OpenAI we will thoughtfully and responsibly extend the reach of our storytelling through generative AI, while respecting and protecting creators and their works. Bringing together Disney's iconic stories and characters with OpenAI's groundbreaking technology puts imagination and creativity directly into the hands of Disney fans in ways we've never seen before, giving them richer and more personal ways to connect with the Disney characters and stories they love."
That sounds great, but it does not spell out which creator protections apply when fans are generating new videos using artists' designs, or how far those protections go.
The messy part: Sora's copyright baggage
OpenAI's Sora has already drawn heat from copyright holders. Variety reported back in October that CAA (the talent agency) rejected OpenAI's video model when it allowed users to create footage with copyrighted IP in the mix. There's also a wonky detail about how Sora handles rights: a version referred to as Sora 2 reportedly runs on an opt-out system. In plain English, that means rightsholders have to notice their IP being used and then tell OpenAI to remove it.
That rubs a lot of people the wrong way because, legally, copyright in the U.S. does not require opt-out. Rightsholders can sue and pursue statutory damages over infringements whether or not a company offers an opt-out setting. Industry groups have criticized that stance, and studios have been litigious around image-generators in general. Disney and Universal, for example, teamed up in a lawsuit against Midjourney. Disney also previously sent a letter to OpenAI saying it had not authorized the use of its characters.
Where this leaves things
On one hand, Disney is trying to turn its IP into something interactive and viral: 20-second fan-made clips with Lightning McQueen, R2-D2, or Iron Man is an easy sell. On the other, this puts a lot of pressure on the exact guardrails Iger is promising. Who gets credited or paid? How are original artists protected when their designs become raw material for a generator? And when something goes too far, does Disney's opt-in licensing trump the broader legal fights still swirling around Sora?
Big swing, big upside, big mess to clean up if the safeguards are vague. For now, expect to see a lot more AI-driven Disney content — and a lot more arguments about where the line is.