“This looks worse"— Fan's AI redesign of Krypto from James Gunn's upcoming Superman film causes internet frenzy

On Tuesday, October 15, 2024, director James Gunn shared that Krypto the Superdog will appear in his upcoming Superman film. He shared the inspiration behind Clark Kent's animal companion, and released a first-look poster of Superman and his furry friend looking at Earth from their vantage point.

However, many fans were dissatisfied with the first look picture that was shared, stating that it looked AI-generated and not natural. A netizen, @MaanDCEU on X, ran a similar prompt through ChatGPT and even generated a redesigned poster with the AI tool.

The new AI poster also grabbed the eyeballs on X, but most DC fans spoke out against it. Many users openly criticized the new AI poster, with one user saying:

"lol this looks worse," said a fan.

Many netizens online even commented on the original poster, saying that the way it was shot looked terrible and did not deliver a heroic scene:

"I don't want to be a hater but this pic looks so cheap. Just like the first one, I don't know if it's the artistic vision but this lighting and the composition is just so off. Unsettling," wrote a user.

"This looks worse than that TV show. I feel like I’m going crazy, I want to love a new Superman movie so bad but everything so far has looked cheap and hokey and pretty terrible. Everyone seems to love it though, so I guess I’m out," another commented.

Taking the other side, many fans also jumped to the reveal's defense. They reasoned that the picture was only a first-look based on concept art, and it was unfair to expect a high level of artistry from it:

"Doubt it’s an actual image. Just a concept image/video, like the suit reveal," said a user.

"Because "everything" so far is this concept art, a promo photo, and iPhone set photos zoomed in from 100 feet away. Footage on the IMAX RED cameras being used with finished VFX shots (Gunn's last film got an Oscar nom for best VFX) will look better," elaborated a netizen.

A few fans also cited James Gunn's previous works, using them as an example to hope that he would do good work with the final visuals of Krypto in the film:

"I disagree, Guardians 1-3 looked beautiful - specifically 2 is one of the best looking comic book films next to BvS and The Batman. Even TSS (which I wasn’t a fan of) looked pretty damn good," a fan explained.

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Who is Krypto the Dog?

Krypto the Dog has been featured in many panels of the original DC Superman comics. Krypto first appeared in Adventure Comics #210 back in 1955. He was introduced as a one-off storyline, but ended up featuring longer as Superman's dog.

In the canon comics, Krypto looks like a white Labrador retriever. He became Superman’s pet as a toddler on the alien planet, Krypton. The dog also followed Superman on Earth to Smallville, where he bonded with Clark Kent as well.

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Audiences will be able to watch James Gunn's Superman: Legacy in theatres in July next year.