Summary
Grant Gustin from The Flash recreated the popular Oliver Queen tombstone meme with a fan, Gary Lizaso.
Spider-Man: No Way Home united Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and Tom Holland to recreate the pointing meme in live-action, both on-screen and behind the scenes.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe and other Marvel movies have contributed to some exciting memes for quite some time, and even though the DCEU was never really humor-oriented, past DC projects have also led to some popular superhero memes. All Marvel movies in the MCU are known to adhere — to a varying degree — to the well-known Marvel formula. A part of the reason MCU movies have become so successful relates to the franchise’s use of comedy, which allows its heroes to have human moments that the more god-like characters of the DCEU’s Justice League hardly got.
Truly viral memes have also come from other Marvel projects, with some originating in the comics or animated series and then being recreated in a movie. DC has also had quite a few memes become popular over the years, with past DC movies and the shared DC TV universe — The CW’s Arrowverse — having contributed to keeping the DC brand in the zeitgeist. Based on the signature comedic style of DC Studios’ creative chief James Gunn, it is possible that several upcoming DC movies in his DC Universe will contribute to the superhero meme culture, but while that doesn’t happen, here are 8 superhero movies and actors that recreated famous memes.
Related: Every DCEU Movie Ranked From Worst To Best
8 Grant Gustin Recreates The Oliver Queen Tombstone Meme
The Flash‘s Grant Gustin making fun of Oliver Queen’s death by posing next to his grave is one of the most popular superhero memes. It originated from the filming of Arrow‘s final episode in 2020, with a behind-the-scenes photo of Barry Allen actor Gustin smiling next to the tombstone of Stephen Amell’s Oliver Queen — Arrow‘s lead character — who had died during the Arrowverse’s Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover. The image has since become a very popular meme template, with several different characters and other subjects replacing Gustin’s face while other things get made fun of on the tombstone. Recently, Gustin recreated the Oliver Queen grave meme with a fan, Instagram user Gary Lizaso.
7 Into The Spider-Verse Recreates The Spider-Man Pointing Meme
Another extremely popular superhero meme is the one where two versions of Spider-Man point at each other. The origin of the Spider-Man pointing meme comes from the 1967 Spider-Man animated series, with the episode “Double Identity” showing Spider-Man and a villain impersonating him point at each other. The meme template has since become popular, being used to showcase meetings between two similar people or that two subjects have something in common. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse recreated the meme during its post-credits scene, with Oscar Isaac’s Spider-Man 2099 traveling to the world of the Spider-Man animated series and entering a pointing battle with the cartoon’s Spider-Man.
6 Across The Spider-Verse Recreates The Spider-Man Pointing Meme On A Larger Scale
With the Spider-Man pointing meme only getting more popular after it appeared in Miles Morales’ first big-screen animated adventure, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse decided to bring it back. While Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse‘s post-credits scene used the meme in a more tame way, with Spider-Man 2099 replacing the copycat villain of the 1960s Spider-Man animated series in the meme, the Spider-Verse sequel decided to recreate the famous Spider-Man meme on a much larger scale. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse introduced the Spider Society, Miguel O’Hara’s team of multiversal Spider-Men. When Spider-Man 2099 tells the others to “stop Spider-Man [Miles],” they all start pointing at one another.
5 Spider-Man No Way Home Recreates The Pointing Meme In Live Action
The MCU’s Spider-Man: No Way Home united all three Spider-Man movie actors — Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and Tom Holland — to recreate the meme in live-action. Spider-Man: No Way Home‘s pointing meme recreation first happens when the three Spider-Men are working on a cure for the movie’s multiverse villains at Midtown School of Science and Technology’s laboratory. After Ned Leeds calls out for Peter Parker — Holland’s — all three versions of Spider-Man think he’s calling for them, with the three pointing at each other in confusion. A second version of the meme comes when the three are talking during the battle at the Statue of Liberty at the end of the movie.
4 Maguire, Garfield, & Holland Recreate The Pointing Meme Behind The Scenes
One Marvel Studios’ recreation of the pointing meme didn’t happen only on the big screen. A photoshoot with the three Spider-Man movie actors included a shot of Garfield, Maguire, and Holland doing a more faithful recreation of the popular Spider-Man meme than the more subtle version of it present in the MCU film. The story behind Spider-Man: No Way Home‘s pointing meme, as described by The Amazing Spider-Man‘s Garfield, is that the image of the three actors pointing at each other came before they shot any scenes together for the movie. According to Garfield, that was due to everyone involved in the movie asking, “‘How do we do the meme?’“
X-Men: The Last Stand recreated Juggernaut’s explicit introduction meme. In February 2006, Randy Hayes and Xavier Nazario of My Way Entertainment made a new comedic dub for the X-Men: The Animated Series episode “Phoenix Saga Part 3: Cry of the Banshee” that included a lot of profanity. In the YouTube video, Juggernaut says, “Don’t you know who the f–k I am? I’m the Juggernaut, b–h,” which went viral. Months later, X-Men: The Last Stand recreated the meme by having Vinnie Jones’ Juggernaut say, “Don’t you know who I am? I’m the Juggernaut, b–_h,” to Kitty Pride after she got the villain stuck on the ground with her phasing powers.
2 Captain America Hails Hydra In Avengers: Endgame
One of the most infamous moments in recent Marvel Comics was when Steve Rogers revealed that he was an undercover HYDRA agent in 2016’s Captain America: Steve Rogers. Captain America saying, “Hail HYDRA,” was a shocking moment that went against everything the hero stood for. The panel with Captain America’s twist reveal soon became a template for other superheroes to take Cap’s place and say things that went directly against their core values, such as Spider-Man leaving “responsibility” behind and Batman claiming he killed his parents. The MCU’s Avengers: Endgame capitalized on the infamous comic book moment by having Steve fake being a HYDRA agent when traveling to the past.
1 The Dark Knight Rises Puts A Serious Spin On A Silly Batman Meme
Adam West’s Batman generated several memes. One of them comes from 1966’s Batman: The Movie, where West’s Batman runs around a boardwalk while carrying a big bomb over his head. The hero eventually says, “some days, you just can’t get rid of a bomb.” The scene became famous due to its absurdity, inspiring many GIFs that make modifications to what Batman is carrying. Several years later, The Dark Knight Rises‘ ending bomb storyline, with Christian Bale’s Batman almost sacrificing himself to save Gotham City from a bomb, served as the perfect serious spin to Batman’s silly meme, a tactic that could have been more present in MCU and DCEU movies.
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