Justice League hit theaters in mid-November. Does anyone remember that? Probably not… but one thing that remained in the minds of those who saw it was the dreadful CGI used to erase Henry Cavill's mustache. However, a new YouTube channel called "Deep Fakes", a name similar to the old "deepfakes" subreddit, published a new video showing artificial intelligence removing the mustache, and the Web's conclusion is unanimous: that algorithm and a $500 computer did a better job.
A Mustache Crisis
The story starts with Henry Cavill and a scheduling conflict. The actor found himself in the difficult situation of filming scenes for Justice League and Mission Impossible 6 almost at the same time. As if that weren't enough, his work on MI6 required growing a thick mustache – something Superman apparently could not have. According to an anonymous visual effects artist who worked on Justice League, Warner fought tooth and nail for Paramount to allow Cavill to remove his mustache, even going so far as to offer money to pay for the CGI and add a fake mustache to MI6. Paramount said no, and if we add the little time the experts had to work on Cavill's face (a detail that became chronic throughout Justice League's production), well… the results speak for themselves.
The Internet's Response
What was the Internet's answer? In short, "we can do better", which gave rise to the new YouTube channel Deep Fakes from the portal deepfakes.club. As its name indicates, Deep Fakes is based on the technology behind the FakeApp application that has caused so much noise in recent weeks. A large part of the Web has declared war on "home videos" from certain users, to the point that the "deepfakes" subreddit was banned on Reddit, and Pornhub announced it would delete all videos made with the algorithm. However, at deepfakes.club they decided to attack Cavill's mustache, using a $500 computer purchased via Craigslist. A couple of days later, the mustache disappeared.
The Verdict
In summary, yes, the work of an enthusiast is superior to that of Warner's experts. The production cost of Justice League rose to $300 million, of which $25 million were "consumed" by the mustache incident. Estimates suggest the film caused an average loss of $90 million, and Zack Snyder will not direct again in the DC Extended Universe.
