Eva Mendes publicly corrected an artificial intelligence-generated image that falsely appeared to show her longtime partner Ryan Gosling spending time with Johnny Depp at San Diego Comic-Con, urging its creator to tell viewers when celebrity content is fabricated.
The Hitch actress intervened after an Instagram account posted an image of Gosling, Depp and a fictional character named Slopaxo apparently walking through the convention crowds. Although both actors attended Comic-Con separately, there is no evidence that the photographed encounter happened.
Mendes Sets the Record Straight
'FAKE. Please let people know when you're putting out AI', Mendes wrote beneath the post, directly challenging the account over its lack of clear disclosure. Her message shifted attention away from the imagined celebrity crossover and towards the growing difficulty of distinguishing genuine event photography from AI-generated content online.
The creator acknowledged Mendes' criticism and apologised, writing, 'Ok we will sorry', before adding that they were a fan of her films. A more explicit follow-up reportedly stated, 'DISCLAIMER: THIS WAS AI*. Thank you for saying something. You're right, and I'll be more clear going forward.'
The account regularly publishes AI-generated celebrity scenes featuring Slopaxo, a fictional superhero-like character placed alongside recognisable actors. However, the Comic-Con setting made the latest image particularly believable because Gosling and Depp had both made real appearances connected to major film announcements during the same convention weekend.
Both Actors Really Attended Comic-Con
Gosling appeared during Marvel Studios' Hall H presentation on 25 July, where he was announced as the new Ghost Rider in an upcoming standalone film. The Barbie and La La Land actor told the audience, 'As you know, this is a character I've wanted to play for a long time.'
His casting also created an unexpected connection to Mendes, who played Roxanne Simpson opposite Nicolas Cage's Johnny Blaze in the 2007 film Ghost Rider. Gosling's movie will be directed by Shawn Levy, who previously worked with him on the forthcoming Star Wars: Starfighter, although Marvel has not announced an official release date.
Depp, meanwhile, attended Comic-Con in character as Ebenezer Scrooge while promoting Ebenezer, his upcoming adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Wearing a top hat, overcoat and heavy character make-up, the Pirates of the Caribbean star addressed fans outside a mock Scrooge and Marley storefront before later appearing in Hall H.
'Do you have jobs? It seems as though you have so much spare time. Why are you here?' Depp joked in character before calling the crowd 'very, very strange people' and declaring, 'Humbug!'
A Believable Image That Never Happened
Because real photographs and clips of both actors at Comic-Con were already circulating, the fabricated image combined authentic circumstances into a convincing but fictional moment. It did not invent their attendance, but it falsely placed them together and presented the scene in the visual language of candid celebrity photography.
Mendes' response therefore addressed more than a harmless fan edit. Without an obvious label, viewers scrolling quickly could reasonably interpret the image as documentation of a genuine meeting between two major Hollywood stars.
The correction also arrived as Gosling's Comic-Con appearance generated personal excitement for Mendes. She celebrated his Ghost Rider casting by sharing a fan-made video linking his motorcycle-riding role in The Place Beyond the Pines, where the couple met, with the Marvel antihero.
Her latest comment drew a clear boundary between playful digital creativity and misleading celebrity imagery: AI content can create encounters that look completely plausible, but viewers still need to be told when the moment they are seeing never actually occurred.
