Marvel Snap Accused of Plagiarizing Fan Art

Released in 2022, Marvel Snap is a mobile card game similar to Hearthstone and Shadowverse. The game features hundreds of cards, each of which can have multiple variations of artwork on them.

However, fan artists are accusing the game’s developers of plagiarizing their work. They allege that fan art they created, often many years ago, was “pixelated” and used in the game without permission or credit.

Second Universe, the game’s developer, stated on their Discord that they were aware of the reports and were looking into them.

However, this has not done much to placate angry artists and fans. They continue to scour Marvel Snap’s art assets and unearth cases where they say the game plagiarized fan creations.

Some anticipate that Second Universe will blame G-Angle, the studio behind these cards, rather than take ownership of the issue.

So what is going on, and how serious are the allegations? It turns out to be a complicated story literally years in the making.

The Story So Far

According to an article by Amanda Kay Oaks at Comicbook.com, artist Jason Kiantoro was the first to make the allegations. He alleged that the “pixelated” version of the M’baku card plagiarized his 2018 fan creation.

M’Baku is a villain from the Black Panther series. 2018 marked the release of the first Black Panther film, prompting Kiantoro to create and release his drawing.

Kiantoro alleges that the pixelated version of M’Baku’s Marvel Snap card, which was released in November 2022, strongly resembles his work.

After that, others began scouring the pixelated cards and found other examples, including Marvel cover artist InHyuk Lee’s version of the character The Sentry.

But what is most surprising about this story is that the copying appears to have been an open secret for quite some time. In June 2023, Reddit user Phalanx22 published a list of almost all the pixel art references/traces. That list includes both M’baku and The Sentry, as well as other highlighted examples.

So what does it mean for Marvel Snap? That’s very difficult to say.

Is This a Problem?

The original Reddit post did not generate much attention. The Marvel Snap community treated it as interesting trivia—fascinating but not incredibly worrisome.

The reason was twofold. First, many of the examples were loose references. The side-by-side comparisons make it clear that significant changes were made when creating the pixelated versions.

Second, most of the examples were from official Marvel sources. Though Phalanx22’s post doesn’t say where each piece came from, it’s clear that most are from official Marvel sources. As such, it’s not a particularly strong concern.

However, at least some of the art, including the two cited above, were not from official sources. Instead, they were works of fan art allegedly used as references or traces for the pixelated versions.

But is that true? Though Phalanx22 cites these fan art creations as the source, it’s unclear how accurate that is. Other than the similarities, there is no direct evidence that these were the reference images.

That said, the similarities are striking and largely agreed upon. However, there are two challenges in comparing the works.

First, the pixelated art style makes it difficult to compare the works directly. Details that might be a dead giveaway in a typical comparison aren’t present. Second, these are Marvel characters, and we must remove elements that are simply part of that character.

That said, there are still some noticeable similarities. With the M’Baku one, the position of the fingers on the left hand and the flowing fabric are very similar. The Sentry one is similar, with the cape and hands showing similarity beyond what one might expect by coincidence.

So it is very likely that the pixel versions of these cards were based on the images cited. The new question is: Does it matter?

The Copyright Problem

If we assume that the pixelated versions of these cards are based on fan art, what happens next? Likely, not much.

Marvel owns these characters. Though the individual artists do own their creations, that ownership only extends to the creativity that is solely theirs. Given that the cards were not direct copies, the original artists would have to show what elements they own that were copied and that those elements are protectable under copyright.

That’s going to be an uphill battle. Poses, for example, don’t enjoy a great deal of copyright protection. To make matters worse, all the images feature fairly standard superhero poses that no one can wholly own.

We end up coming down to details that, by themselves, likely don’t enjoy copyright protection. While this may be frustrating for the artists, it’s a major part of how copyright works.

The bigger issue, most likely, is with the fan community at large. Marvel and Second Universe, want and need to build a strong relationship with their fans. To put it mildly, using fan art without permission or attribution hurts that.

We have seen this over and over again with Wizards of the Coast. They have had repeated plagiarism scandals, many involving fan art, across their various properties. They also faced serious backlash two years ago after changing their licenses in a way seen as anti-creator.

Though the scandals haven’t hurt Wizards of the Coast significantly, they’ve had to backpedal multiple times and their reputation with their community, once seen as stellar, has become tarnished.

Marvel and Second Universe need to learn from Second Universe’s mistakes, not for fear of lawsuits, but out of respect for their community.

Bottom Line

In the end, I have to agree with Kiantoro. Marvel and Second Universe will likely blame G-angle for the issue. However, that isn’t inaccurate. G-angle is a well-respected creative studio. Marvel and Second Universe were not unreasonable in trusting it. Ultimately, the studio is where the mistake was most likely made.

The question I would ask is simple. How will you ensure this doesn’t happen again?

Though most of the (likely) references for the series were from official Marvel drawings, it seems that some fan art did slip through. How do we prevent that from happening again?

I would assume Marvel has an official repository of reference material. Whether that is available to contractors is another question. If it isn’t, it should be. If it is available, it should be required. If it is required, then contractors that don’t pull from it need to be held accountable.

Right now, this is a relatively simple mistake without any likely legal consequences. Though it is serious and needs to be treated accordingly, this isn’t likely to destroy or damage Marvel, Second Universe, or Marvel Snap.

Instead, this needs to be a warning. Marvel and those working with it need to realize the dangers here and recognize that the next issue could be much more harmful.

It’s time to make amends, review policies, and ensure that this cannot happen again.