KUALA LUMPUR: Popular animated superhero Ejen Ali has been "captured" by a most unlikely enemy in cyberspace.
The homegrown pre-teen secret agent has ended up in explicit artwork circulated on social media.
This has made his producers Wau Animation and Primeworks Studios see red and they are contemplating legal action against the culprits.
"We have been informed of the explicit artwork on social media which made use of Ejen Ali.
"Such work is not from us, and while we believe in creative freedom, we are strongly against the use of our character for explicit art," said Wau and Primeworks in a joint statement on Ejen Ali's Twitter account yesterday.
"We have reported this explicit artwork to the relevant authorities for further investigation. We are in discussion with our legal advisers over possible legal action against the individuals behind the social media account that promoted the work."
Ejen Ali was first broadcast on TV3 in 2016, and tells the story of a teen agent of the futuristic crime-fighting Meta Advance Tactical Agency (MATA) and his adentures.
Ali uses state-of-the-art gadgets to fight supervillains, and made his big screen debut in Ejen Ali The Movie in 2019.
Ejen Ali The Movie raked in RM30 million at the box office after six weeks, and became Malaysia's third best-selling film after 2018's biggest hits Munafik 2 (RM48 million) and Hantu Kak Limah (RM36 million).