Mickey Mouse is still under copyright. You’re thinking of Steamboat Willie.
Parody has always been allowed though. I mean check out Wally Wood’s work…https://image.invaluable.com/housePhotos/bradfordsauction/33/727133/H22021-L294574096.jpg
With white gloves - still under copyright
Disney published a poster with Mickey with gloves in 1928, so Steamboat Willie Mickey with gloves is also in the public domain. https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE8AT04E/
Wait, is there a channel of perfectly flat grey water, or is the ship sliding over asphalt?
… yes.
No further questions.
I like how the steam is getting sucked back into the second smoke stack.
Yeah, a lot of people are missing the point of this whole thing. Only the 1928 Steamboat Willie version of the character is in public domain. Most of these AI-generated examples contain features of later versions of Mickey (in particular the later, rounder head shape which is more like Fantasia-era Mickey), so these would likely still fall under copyright.
Not to be pedantic, but that doesn’t resemble the Steamboat Willie version, which is the one in the public domain. That looks more like modern Mickey, which is still under copyright. The SW version has smaller ears and a longer nose.
