The Humble Cartoon Origin of the Spider-Man Pointing Meme Uncovered
The famous Spider-Man pointing meme came from the Spider-Man animated series where Paul Soles voiced the web-slinger.
In Episode 19 of its inaugural season, Spidey confronts a criminal who’s been impersonating him, leading to the two pointing at each other.
Spider-Man pointing at Spider-Man proves 60’s Spider-Man will never run out of meme material. https://t.co/DX3qq3q5Vb pic.twitter.com/RNxqCePuNn
— Know Your Meme (@knowyourmeme) July 12, 2017
Know Your Meme: The earliest known use of the two characters dressed as Spider-Man pointing at each other was an image macro posted February 5th, 2011 on Sharenator in a compilation of 60’s Spider-Man images (shown below).
The image wouldn’t begin seeing widespread popularity until the mid-2010s, when people would make jokes describing situations in which two people who are very similar meet. It started growing popular on Black Twitter, particularly related to hip-hop. On May 6th, 2016, Reddit user Dualestl used the image to describe a meeting between similar-style rappers Future and Desiigner, gaining over 1,300 points.
It was formally introduced in the Spider-Man Into The Spider-Verse end post-credit clip.
In September this began appearing.
It’s happening ???????? pic.twitter.com/CZ41DOWUry
— Zerx ???????????????????????????? (@Zerxsifyyy) September 27, 2021
In September, Tom Holland has confirmed what many have speculated has to be true lest Marvel Studios face a full fledge revolt by Spider-Man fandom: that Andrew Garfield and Tobey McGuire will indeed be playing variant versions of Spider-Man in December’s No Way Home.
Is Tom Holland telling us the Spider-Man pointing meme will happen in No Way Home…???? pic.twitter.com/dRaglYcEoW
— BLURAYANGEL ???? (@blurayangel) September 27, 2021
Big Giant Robot: The No Way Home leaks season is in full bloom, and the latest leak details a purported dialogue that takes place between Tom Holland, Tobey Maguire, and Andrew Garfield. The three actors have played Peter Parker in Sony’s Spider-Man movies in the past 20 years. They’ll meet for the first time in No Way Home, which is the kind of Spider-Man 3 spoiler that no longer qualifies as a spoiler. It’s a secret every Spider-Man fan knows by now, although not everyone might be convinced the spoiler is real. The first No Way Home trailer confirms what we’ve known all along, that Spider-Man 3 will be a multiverse film. Sony and Marvel gave us a look at Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock and teased four of the Sinister Six villains. The trailer only shows Tom Holland’s Peter Parker, however.
Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire must have pointed at someone at some point in their lives; someone photoshop! https://t.co/9tMNXOo688
— Mike ???????????????????????????? (Spider-Man of Earth 19880908) (@Mike94007546) September 27, 2021
The same person took to Twitter to post details from what appears to be a leaked video of the Brazilian voice actors who dub the three Spider-Man versions in No Way Home. If the video is genuine, the No Way Home movie will deliver the sort of MCU scene I was referring to before. We’ll see Holland’s Spider-Man meet the others at various points in the film. At some point in the movie, they’ll all be in the same place for the first time.
Tobey Maguire dub: Ok, but I’m the spider-man.
Tom Holland’s dub: What?
Andrew garfield dub: But I’m also spider-man! I’m spetacular!
Tom Holland’s dub: Of course not! Mr Stark!— Spider-Fan (@Spiderfanleaker) September 28, 2021
@squidgamer1213 Something me and my friend thought about when we saw this part! #spidermannowayhome #spiderman #nowayhome #electro #funny #meme #fyp #foryoupage ♬ Electro looking at camera with cave sound – Squid Gamer
On Sept. 27, 2021, Culture Crave on Twitter tweeted out a post of Holland assuming the ‘Spider-Man pointing meme’ position. “Tom Holland recreating the famous Spider-Man pointing meme,” Culture Crave labeled the photo with a fitting spider emoji.
Tom Holland recreating the famous Spider-Man pointing meme ???? pic.twitter.com/DhqiutAvRa
— Culture Crave ???? (@CultureCrave) September 27, 2021
Previous photos already cycled the internet, with Holland pointing opposite Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield based on rumors of their inclusion in Spider-Man: No Way Home.
@miiikaaa__ ????SPOILERS???? The 3 Spider-Man ????✨ #spidermannowayhome #tomhollandspiderman #andrewgarfield #tobeymaguire #spidermanedit #spiderverse #the3spidermen ♬ original sound – spider man edits
In an interview with Josh Horowitz on The Happy Sad Confused podcast, Andrew Garfield opened up about No Way Home’s homage to the now-infamous Spider-Man pointing meme:
“Oh, so we were trying to figure out the pointing thing, like how we were going to do the pointing meme in a way – it took us a while – it kind of happened naturally on that scaffolding scene with Peter 1, Peter 2, Peter 3, like all that.
The Direct: Garfield thought the film’s Statue of Liberty scaffolding sequence presented a natural moment for the trio to evoke the pointing meme. Later, The Amazing Spider-Man star had an idea for how the meme could work in the school laboratory sequence as well, saying, “But then I was like, no, this is the moment where we get to go, ‘Do you mean me?'”
I remember having a lightning bolt and running into set and telling [director] Jon [Watts], ‘I got it, I got it.’Cause there’s this moment where Jacob is like, ‘Hey Peter?’ and we all go, ‘Yeah?’ But in the script, it was like, that was that. We all go ‘Yeah?’ and in the script, my Peter says, ‘This isn’t going to get old at all,’ like something kind of sardonic – which felt kinda undercutting and not quite right for the moment because it’s cute. It’s actually kinda cute. So then we were thinking I could say, ‘Aw, this is adorable. We’re so adorable. God, we’re cute.’ Something like that. But then I was like, no, this is the moment where we get to go, ‘Do you mean me?’ Jon was like, ‘That’s it. That’s it. Done.’ I was so happy that worked.”
Spider-Man: No Way Home is currently playing in theaters everywhere.
