Marvel's “Werewolf by Night” called out for plagiarizing poster graphics

While Marvel's show Werewolf by Night has gained a lot of popularity amongst its viewers, it has been accused of copying its poster image of a werewolf with red eyes from a graphic designer.

Estonia-based Midiankai has accused Marvel of stealing his design that he had created six years ago as a T-shirt image for hardcore Dutch band Born from Pain.

Midiankai tweeted a photo of his design alongside the Werewolf by Night poster for a side-by-side comparison, pointing out major similarities like the wolf’s teeth, chin and nose.

He claimed that both the images were created with lighter lines on a black background, although Marvel's version depicts the wolf with its mouth open against a background of tree branches, while Midiankai's version has teeth bared, but the wolf's face lies over a crossed knife and rose.

"I might be crazy but did marvel just rip me off?" Midiankai asked in his tweet.

In the next post, he said: "As a vector artist, I can tell that these rounded ends mean the art was auto traced and then edited."

Midiankai’s followers also agreed with his allegations and pointed out many similarities.

In an interview with The Direct, Midiankai claimed that he had previously experienced art theft, though typically by lesser-known creators rather than well-known ones like Marvel.

He claims that the issue needs to be handled, and given how extensively the image has been distributed, he may urge Disney to give him credit and pay him royalties.

He said he was "taking some legal actions”.

PitchMark recently covered a story that echoes Midiankai’s experience. 7-Eleven Singapore was accused of copying images for its Hawker Fiesta 2022 campaign from creative studio 8EyedSpud. When the agency contacted the convenience store chain to notify them about the matter, it was subsequently put in touch with their creative agency and it was later revealed that the illustration was created by an outside illustrator that the creative agency had hired.

PitchMark helps innovators deter idea theft, so that third-parties that they share their idea with get the idea but don’t take it. Visit PitchMark.net and register for free as a PitchMark member today.