Overview
- Evangeline Lilly posted a video on Wednesday calling Disney's Marvel cuts "disgusting and horrible," tagging the company with "SHAME ON YOU" and urging California lawmakers to protect human-made art from AI.
- Disney confirmed about 1,000 company-wide layoffs in April, and Marvel's visual development group—whose artists design characters, suits, and the look of films—was hit hard as longtime director Andy Park said he was let go.
- Lilly alleged the artists who built the MCU are being replaced by AI that will generate new iterations from their work, while Disney's internal memo described the reductions as streamlining and did not cite AI.
- Initial reports said roughly 8% of Marvel staff were cut, though Disney told TheWrap the number was much smaller, and Variety reported Marvel plans to keep a smaller core visual team and hire additional artists per project.
- The cuts raise concerns about lost institutional knowledge and more gig-style hiring for creative roles, which could fuel new calls in California for rules on how AI systems train on and reuse human-made designs.