Posted in: Comics, DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Spider-Man, Superman | Tagged: ai, dan mora, spider-man, spoilers, superboy prime

Superboy-Prime, Spider-Man's Marriage, Dan Mora And A.I. Accusations

Superboy-Prime, Spider-Man's Marriage, Dan Mora, A.I. Accusations... and Superman Spoilers, all in one post

Earlier this week, I ran a clip from an upcoming, but unreleased, preview of Superman #37 by Joshua Williamson and Dan Mora. It featured Superboy-Prime, a Clark Kent from another universe close to our own, where the DC Universe is just a comic book line. In which he informed Martha and Jonathan Kent, the parents of Superman, with whom he has been living, that in a number of timelines, they are dead, and that Mark Waid prefers it that way. We ran a small piece, with those two panels, and quoted Mark Waid's comments. It seems to have opened a small Pandora's box, however.

Because another poster ran an image from the comic, with Superboy-Prime, working in a comic book shop, shouting at a customer, "They should be married".

A clear reference to Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson, and redolent of certain ardent fan belief, reading Marvel's Spider-Man comics, still going strong twenty years after that marriage was removed from continuity. Oh, and also with a T-Shirt declaring that Red Hood should wear his helmet again, and a little Red Hood plush toy around his neck.

But some folk noticed an issue with the art, it seemed to have aspects of A.I. in the background, suggesting that the whole image had a) been concocted or that b) artist Dan Mora was using A.I. explaqining why he was such a fast comic book artist, sometimes drawing two or three issues of a comic book every month.

Well, Dan Mora wasn't having that. He posted the original black and white art of that panel for comparison, saying, "I made this with my hands, it isn't perfect but it is not AI"

Which led folk to realise that the original post had used A.I. to possibly disguise where it had come from, identifying features, a watermark, index numbers, something. Was the original version even the correct version? Had it been rewritten or doctored in any way? And since Bleeding Cool seems to have started this, I was asked to verify one way or another.

So, I see no sign that Dan Mora uses A.I., quite the opposite. He is just a demon at the boards. Yes, Superboy-Prime would absolutely oppose the removal of the Spider-Man Marriage. He would probably be against Jon Kent ageing up as well.  And then the original poster replied, apologising, translated from the Chinese.

"Recently, regarding the preview images for Superman #37, I used an AI tool to remove the watermarks since they had them originally. However, due to my personal oversight at the time, it caused the top-left and bottom-left corners of the images to be automatically filled in, and it also led to some of the later images being beautified. I am deeply sorry for sparking this discussion about the use of AI this time. I never expected the images to be directly reposted to X, causing some confusion for DanMora himself—I'm truly sorry."

And I can confirm that the original image is, at least, somewhat based on reality, and this is the line.

And for those that are angry that Superboy-Prime is being accepted into the DC Universe, despite having a genocidal mass murdering past… You are not alone. Power Girl has her own take…

Yes, yes, I added a Bleeding Cool watermark, come on, I want some credit for working this all out when folk take it and add it into their own online fights, okay? Thank you… Superman #37 by Joshua Williamson and Dan Mora will be published in a couple of weeks.

SUPERMAN #37
(W) Joshua Williamson (A/CA) Dan Mora
REIGN OF THE SUPERBOYS HEATS UP! Superboy Prime gets a new real-life job with a new secret identity while he protects Metropolis from dangerous threats! But there is a whole DC Comics universe out there for him to explore, and the fanboy in him wants to see it all… Too bad there are heroes who don't trust him and think he should be locked up! $4.99 4/22/2026

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