Ever since the character's inception, Spider-Man has remained a cultural icon. His early 21st-century trilogy helped skyrocket his fame into an even higher level, and his current presence in the MCU has just increased it even more. However, before all that, Spidey's first venture into television was in 1967, in his very own animated show.
That show has since given the modern meme generation a ton of content to use, due to the series' low budget resulting in a variety of odd still shots. The most popular one comes from the episode "Double Identity", where one shot sees Spider-man pointing at another Spider-Man. Now that all that is out of the way, let's move on to the 10 best Spider-Man pointing memes.
Updated on September 17, 2020, by Richard Keller: Spider-Man is loved by fans. Even those that may not have read a comic book or seen all the movies including him, seem to know the Wall-Crawler like they were a relative. It's truly a testament to one of the most popular characters of all time. That's why the pointing meme is so famous, thanks to Spider-Man's relatability and popularity. Here are a few more well-used examples of Spidey pointing at himself.
15 15. Doodleverse
The end of Into the Spider-Verse featured an appearance of the 2099 version of the hero. His goal was to go back in time to help his friends from a parallel universes. Unfortunately, he arrived on Earth-1967, and ended up in an infinite pointing loop.
This image is an example of what should have happened after the last credits rolled. It's pretty good for a doodle. What viewers might want to know is why Peni Parker didn't participate.
14 14. Days of the Week
There are two ways to interpret this meme. During the coronavirus pandemic, it represented how everyone felt about days of the week. Most of the time, they couldn't tell if it was a Monday or Saturday.
The second way to interpret this is a general sense of ennui of daily life. The duplicate Spider-Men all point at each other with a lack of excitement. For some, it's a symbol of the ongoing blah-ness of life. Who knew the Wall-Crawler was a philosophical symbol.
13 13. Into the Bat-Verse
Meanwhile, at another comic book company, two characters with similar names point at each other. These two would be Terry McGinnis, the Dark Knight from Batman Beyond, and Bruce Wayne, the original Caped Crusader.
This Spider-Man pointing meme nearly imitates the end-credits scene of Into the Spider-Verse. The Wayne version seen here seems to come from the era of the Superfriends. Thus, his pointing is illustrated a little better.
12 12. Okay, Boomer
Generation X sets of a battle royale between Baby Boomers and Millenials in this meme variation. To this particular person, it seems both generations are the same in their values and complaints.
Yet, there's some irony to this. The first animated version of the Wall-Crawler premiered in the late 1960s. This is when the first babies in Generation X were born.
11 11. Math-Verse
It's a known fact Spider-Man has been used for educational purposes. His time on the first-generation Electric Company proves this. What wasn't known were his skills in old and new math.
It's clearly defined in this Spider-Man pointing meme. The old math Spidey is the middle one. The new math version is on the right. The Spidey on the left? He's the Kindergarten version.
10 10. Undercover failure
This first meme comes courtesy of an absurd story involving a group of undercover cops from Detroit. On November 2017, a group of police officers posed as drug dealers to draw out potential buyers. A few buyers did arrive, but, unknowingly to them, they were also undercover police officers, but posing as drug buyers.
The cops ended up trying to arrest each other in a massive police brawl with close to 30 armed personnel. Fortunately, this is a situation that can be laughed off, as no one was seriously injured. The Spider-Man meme is used very obviously to summarize what happened, showing a buyer and a dealer accusing each other of a crime, even though they are both just trying to serve justice.
9 9. Tom "Stan Lee" Holland
In under a decade, Hollywood delivered three different actors for three distinct live-action portrayals of the wall-crawler. It started by Tobey Maguire's trilogy, then moved on to Andrew Garfield's failed reboot, and finally landed at Tom Holland's successful MCU iteration. The debate for the best Spider-Man is still an ongoing one, but many say Holland is the perfect depiction of Peter Parker.
Turns out this might not only have to do with his acting skills. Someone compared a picture of a young Stan Lee to a current Tom Holland and noticed how eerily similar they both look. Seeing as one is Spider-Man and the other is the character's creator, this meme makes perfect sense.
8 8. Fast food hypocrisy
Twitter user @Big_Mina had a funny story to tell after a day at the office. By his comment, it appears that he is some sort of doctor. He tweeted that he had told a patient not to eat fast food before lunchtime saw them embarrassingly bumping into each other at McDonald's.
The patient felt guilty for having to face the man who had prohibited him to eat what he was about to savor, while the doctor couldn't shake off the awkward feeling that came with doing exactly what he had told the patient not to do, right in front of the man himself. @Big_Mina then humorously mocked the situation by comparing it to the Spider-Man pointing meme.
7 7. Spider-Memes
This image excellently combines a total of two memes and three different media platforms. The vertical image on the right of Tobey Maguire is straight from 2002's Spider-Man. It has been used on many occasions, usually to differentiate a lower quality image to a similar, but higher-quality one. The bottom right panel is taken from the webhead's recent PlayStation 4 video game.
Although the meme can't be recreated in the game (at least not to this extent), one user used the game's photo mode to merge two different pictures. Put it all together, and you get Peter Parker putting on his glasses to view a 2018 version of a 1967 image. That's all that needs to be said about this...
6 6. Identical men
This is a truly bizarre story. At the very beginning of the 20th century, a man named William West was convicted of a minor crime and sent to prison. However, as he arrived at Leavenworth Penitentiary, he learned that a physically identical William West was already in that same prison serving a life sentence for first-degree murder.
It was a very confusing situation that ultimately got resolved a few years later with a fingerprint test that confirmed they were two distinct human beings and not some previously undiscovered alien clones. The use of this meme to illustrate this situation is pretty obvious. It could not have been used in a more suitable circumstance than this.
5 5. Into the Memeverse
Last year, Sony released a new Spider-Man movie. Not Spider-Man 4, not The Amazing Spider-Man 3, and also not Spider-Man: (Something) Home. This was an entirely new concept. An animated movie that dealt with the multiverse, specifically with the different Spider-people from each universe. In an age of constant meme creation, blockbuster superhero movies are a main target.
Not only did this fit this category, but it was also one of the most critically acclaimed superhero movies of all time, to the extent that it became an Academy Award winner. All this plus the fact it dealt with different "Spider-Men meeting each other made it the perfect target for this particular meme.
4 4. Crime doesn't pay
On one hand, there is a ridiculous police blunder where everyone tries to arrest each other. On the other, some criminals are themselves fooled...by criminals. This meme depicts exactly that. This is what one might consider as accidental revenge. It all started when two men tried to sell a fake painting by the Spanish painter, Goya, to an apparent Arab sheik.
An Italian middleman offered himself as the deal broker, and he demanded a €300,000 commission from the con-men, who agreed to pay. Unfortunately, after they sold the painting, their money was denied at the bank as none of it was authentic. The two men were then arrested, and the buyer and middleman disappeared with their €300,000. Not only does crime not pay, but it seems to cost quite a bit.
3 3. Captain Marvel(s)
For many comic book fans, this image makes perfect sense. For others, let me explain. A character named Captain Marvel was created by Fawcett Comics in 1939. The character was very similar to Superman, so DC Comics decided to sue the company. This resulted in the superhero's rights moving from Fawcett to DC. However, DC did not publish any more Captain Marvel comics for the next decade or so, until it reached a point where the name (but not the character) was free for anyone to trademark.
This is where Marvel Comics comes in. They trademarked the name and created their own Captain Marvel. Only then did DC decide to start publishing Captain Marvel comics. Unfortunately, that name was now taken, so they had to change the original character's name to Shazam!. In other words, there are now two Captain Marvels, but one changed his name.
2 2. Tobey, Andrew, and Tom
Is there any need to explain? Here we have an actual picture of three famous actors taken last year. Tobey Maguire, who played the Marvel character Spider-Man, Andrew Garfield, who portrayed a boy named Peter Parker, and Tom Holland, who currently plays a web-slinging Avenger. One started the hero's live-action legacy, another tried to keep it going for as long as possible, and then it was handed over to the kid who is part of the highest-grossing movie franchise ever.
But that's not all. As can be seen in this meme, only two Spider-Men are pointing at each other...and a pile of dirt. Fortunately, Endgame saw the return of Peter Parker so this is not as heartbreaking anymore, but the dirt obviously represents Spider-Man's "dusting" at the end of Infinity War.
1 1. America's Twin
There is much to say about Avengers: Endgame, seeing as it is the end of an 11-year, 22-movie saga. But we're here to talk about memes. This particular one is a little different. Although it uses the same format we've been seeing throughout the article, the two red-wearing web-heads are replaced with a pair of blue Captain America's.
For anyone who's seen the latest MCU iteration, this is a fun nod at the Avengers' time-travel shenanigans. When Tony, Steve, Bruce, and Scott travel to a Battle of New York version of the Big Apple, Steve Rogers ends up bumping into...himself. This leads to a quick fist-fight, the knocking-out of 2012 Captain America, and the present-day Steve admiring his own backside. Unfortunately, this meme only references this encounter, and not "America's Ass".