All Three Spider-Man Leads Just Brought That Epic Pointing Meme To Life
Tom Holland, Andrew Garfield, and Tobey Maguire are my faves.
As the 10th Marvel title released in an 11-month span over 2021, Spider-Man: No Way Home proved the superhero genre is still dominant two decades after 1999’s The X-Men first debuted. The third film in the Holland-led trilogy broke just about everything, from box office records to the multiverse. But it was the meeting of the three Spider-Men actors from the past 20 years that broke fans' brains. Even better, all three Spider-Man stars recreated that epic pointing meme, which may just break the internet.
The “multiple Spider-Men pointing at each other” meme dates back to the beginning of the 2010s when it was usually posted with simple accusatory captions of “No, You!” The image, which is a still from the 1967 Spider-Man cartoon “Double Identity,” was usually meant to call out hypocrisy, an updated version of “pot meet kettle.” It gained popularity on Twitter and soon multiplied, with photoshop amateurs taking the image of the two Spider-Men and turning it into three, all pointing at each other.
The triple Spider-Men version became so standard as a meme that when the Spider-Man: No Way Home actors found themselves on set together for their big climactic battle, they actually recreated it, albeit with their masks off, so audiences knew which Spider-Man was which. However, the moment was brief; the scene is kind of dark, making it more of a blink and “did they just...?” moment than an easily useable meme.
So as part of the DVD and Blu-ray extras, the actors gamely made a new version, complete with an easily removable background for all your photoshop needs.
As much as this meme should properly have them with their masks on, Holland’s little “Yeah, we’re doing this!” grin is worth it not being entirely accurate.
The image is part of the package of Spider-Man: No Way Home extras included with the film. Other notable features include a bloopers reel, a guide to all the alternate reality easter eggs you may have missed, several behind-the-scenes featurettes, a couple of stories from The Daily Bugle, plus a pair of roundtables with the actors. But of course, the real test will be how quickly this version of the pointing meme reaches cultural saturation and if it can replace the 1967 cartoon image as the go-to meme.
Spider-Man: No Way Home is still playing exclusively in theaters. The film becomes available on digital download and for purchase on March 22, 2022. There is no word on when the movie will come to streaming, but as the first two Tom Holland Spider-Man films are still only available as streaming rentals, it may be a while.
