WARNING: SPOILERS FOR AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR AHEAD.
Avengers: Infinity War, the landmark movie event that Marvel Studios has been setting up for the last decade, is finally in theaters, and has the world talking.
To put into perspective just how big of a global phenomenon the movie has already become, look no further than last year’s Justice League.
The DC superhero team-up that brought comic book icons Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, The Flash, and Cyborg together on-screen for the first time made $657 million worldwide in its entire theatrical run. Infinity War made $630 million in its opening weekend.
While the road to Infinity War was originally paved back in 2008 with the release of Iron Man, fans have realistically been looking forward to the epic crossover event ever since 2012. That was the year fans got their first glimpse of Marvel super villain Thanos during the mid-credits sequence of The Avengers.
The Mad Titan has been teased numerous times since then, further fueling fans’ desire to see him face off against Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and the Guardians of the Galaxy on the big screen.
The movie hit theaters, the world reacted, and, naturally, the memes followed. We’ve combed through them to find the funniest the internet has to offer.
Here are the 25 Hilarious Infinity War Memes Only True Marvel Fans Will Understand.
the lighter side of thanos
Die-hard MCU fans were quick to point out the gigantic change in appearance that Thanos underwent between his first appearance in The Avengers, his subsequent appearances in Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers: Age of Ultron, and when he finally appeared on the big screen (in more than just a cameo) in Avengers: Infinity War.
From the moment Thanos made his debut in the first Infinity War trailer (via a portal created by the Space Stone), it was immediately clear that his skin had lightened significantly when compared to the comics (and even his previous appearances in the MCU).
In the comics, Thanos is often portrayed as purple. The Avengers stayed true to his comic book origin, portraying him as purple in his first cameo.
Then came his role in Guardians of the Galaxy, where his skin was somewhat lighter, but purple nonetheless.
Next came Age of Ultron, where he was even lighter.
By the time he showed up in Infinity War, the change in Thanos’ skin color was so jarring that it led to the creation of the above meme that sees the not-so-mad Titan endorsing a product that lightens skin.
Marvel Studios hasn’t officially commented on Thanos’ ever-changing skin, so we’ll just chuck this one up to different directors using different CGI.
no context
Infinity War has been shrouded in secrecy ever since it was first announced back in 2014.
At the time, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige announced Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 for a May 2018 release and Part 2 for May 2019.
Then Marvel not-so-quietly changed the latter to Untitled Avengers 4, explaining that the title of the movie would spoil the ending of Infinity War.
The studio even developed a marketing campaign around the slogan “Thanos demands your silence” to keep fans from spoiling the movie after seeing it.
In response, the internet began spreading “no context” spoilers like the one above; thereby technically spoiling the movie without actually doing so.
Those who have seen the movie should understand each of the images.
The Doctor Who image is a nod to Spider-Man’s fate, the dirt signifies the film’s ending, and Squidward is a reference to Tony Stark’s knock on Ebony Maw.
The rest are pretty straightforward: the donut-shaped ships, Thanos using the reality stone to turn weapons into bubbles, Thor calling Rocket a Rabbit, and Star-Lord and Spider-Man’s Footloose interchange.
The Lion King image has got to be the most heartbreaking of them all, signifying Gamora’s passing at the hands of Thanos when the Mad Titan threw her off a cliff in order to obtain the Soul Stone.
thanos all grown up
Some people are just born to force a giant dwarf to create an Infinity Gauntlet, collect the six Infinity Stones and place them in said Gauntlet, and then destroy half of the universe with a snap of their fingers.
Case in point: Thanos, who has clearly been planning all of this since he was a kid, at least according to this meme.
For those unfamiliar with this particular meme, “Success Kid” was born after photographer Laney Griner snapped a photo of her then-11-month-old son Sammy at the beach back in 2007.
The toddler happened to be holding a handful of sand at the time (which you can actually see in the image), which made it look like he closed his fist while celebrating some sort of milestone achievement.
This combined with Sammy’s facial expression at the time made him the perfect meme for representing a successful situation.
This meme also adds another meme-ful element with the “Feel old yet?” text at the bottom of the image, which is often used to make the viewer feel much older than they actually are.
In this case, the implication is that Success Kid had grown up to become Thanos. Given the resemblance between the two, and the positions of their fists, it’s not that big of a stretch.
aaaaaavengers
Ever since they first assembled in 2012’s The Avengers, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes have often made quick work of their foes.
The original team of Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Black Widow, and Hawkeye took on the Chitauri army (plus Loki) and walked away virtually unscathed. This was long before the likes of Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Scarlett Witch, and Black Panther joined their ranks.
Heck, the Avengers were so overpowered compared to their foes that it became an actual joke at the start of Avengers: Age of Ultron.
While the heroes stormed a HYDRA compound to retrieve Loki’s scepter, Baron Strucker asked, “Can we hold them?” to which a soldier incredulously (and rightfully) responds, “They’re the Avengers.”
As the trailers for Infinity War have shown, though, the team had their hands full with Thanos et al. V
ision, Captain America, Thor, and Doctor Strange were seen screaming at one point or another in the movie’s various trailers, leading to the aptly titled “Aaaaaavengers: Infinity War” meme.
This particular meme began making its internet rounds even before the movie his theaters.
Given the heavy losses the team face in the titular war, it was a sign of things to come.
heeeere’s thanos
Some memes are meant to make us laugh. Some are meant to make us cry. Then there are those that make us laugh hard enough that we cry.
This meme that combines Infinity War with one of the most iconic movies of all time in The Shining is clearly one of the latter, and it is pure gold.
Thanos needs the Mind Stone, and Vision has it. That means Thanos is going to do everything in his power to get it, and no door is going to stand in his way.
This absolutely brilliant photoshop started making the rounds online shortly before the movie’s release and claimed to show a leaked scene of Thanos getting the Mind Stone from Vision.
In it, Thanos takes an axe to a door (aka Jack Torrence) in an attempt to reach Shelly Duvall’s Vision.
The meme is simply hysterical and the look of pure terror on Duvall’s Vision-like face fits the scene perfectly. How else do you react when a Mad Titan takes an axe to your door and tries to rip a stone from your forehead?
The kicker is the final panel that shows Jack Nicholson delivering his timeless “Here’s Johnny” line with Thanos’ trademark chin photoshopped onto his face.
the hype is real
Over the last ten years, Marvel Studios has become the gold standard for success in movie.
None of the studio’s movies have ever been labeled “Rotten” on Rotten Tomatoes (the lowest score is a 66% for Thor: The Dark World), and all but three (The Incredible Hulk, Captain America: The First Avenger, and Thor) grossed more than $500 million at the worldwide box office.
Infinity War, meanwhile, has already broken loads of box office records since its release.
Some of these records include: Biggest Domestic Opening of All Time ($258.2 million, beating Star Wars: The Force Awakens), Biggest Worldwide Opening ($640.9 million, beating Fate of the Furious), and Biggest Superhero Opening (beating The Avengers).
It also holds the record for Biggest Saturday in North America and Biggest Sunday in North America, and has the highest opening of all time in South Korea, Mexico, Brazil, India, and others.
A lot of this money came from fans seeing the movie in theaters more than once, giving us this awesome meme that uses the number of times Doctor Strange looked into the future during the movie’s climax as the number of times one movie-goer plans to see the film in theaters by the end of its run.
daddy thanos
Good luck un-seeing this one.
Ever since he was first teased in The Avengers, there has been a certain aura surrounding Thanos. By keeping him largely in the background and only featuring him in cameos every now and then, Marvel Studios successfully made the Mad Titan one of the most intriguing figures in all of the MCU.
Unfortunately, all of that mystique was shattered by this meme, which shows Thanos in a completely different light.
As the meme shows, Nebula and Gamora (the Mad Titan’s adopted daughters) see him much differently than the rest of us do. They see him as Dad.
Whereas MCU fans are used to seeing Thanos sitting in his chair menacingly (which is much scarier than it sounds), this meme shows Thanos in a manner to which Gamora and Nebula are surely much more accustomed.
The image of Thanos sipping a hot beverage from a #1 Worst Dad-inscribed mug (which was undoubtedly given to him by one of his aforementioned daughters) while wearing glasses and reading the latest copy of “Galaxy Times” does very little to portray the Mad Titan as a force to be reckoned with.
He looks less like a super villain capable of single-handedly defeating Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and much more like a tired man in desperate need of some peace and quiet.
vision and scarlet witch
Long before it released the official poster for the movie, Marvel Studios released a beautiful drawing of the stars of Infinity War surrounding Thanos as he stares at the Infinity Gauntlet on his hand. (A gauntlet that contained all six Infinity Stones in it, by the way).
The drawing includes practically all of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and the Guardians of the Galaxy (Ant-Man is noticeably missing, but Hawkeye is present despite not appearing in the movie), plus the Black Order.
Upon closer inspection, one eagle-eyed fan noticed that Scarlet Witch and Vision are standing in a position that is very similar to an image of Kevin Hart from the series Real Husbands of Hollywood.
Then the names Thanos, Wanda, and Vision were assigned to the Hart image and a hilarious (and completely accurate) meme was born.
The movie begins with Scarlet Witch being the only person standing between the Black Order and Vision before Captain America, Black Widow, and Falcon show up to lend a hand.
Then all of Wakanda tries to defend Vision at the film’s climax before everything breaks down and Wanda is once again left as the last obstacle between Thanos and the Mind Stone.
Unfortunately, she wasn’t enough.
infinity minerals
Ever since he first turned up in the Infinity War trailer, Thanos has been photoshopped to resemble practically everyone under the sun.
Some of the best examples include depictions of the Mad Titan as Homer Simpson, Bruce Willis, Hellboy, and even The Avengers director Joss Whedon. Actor Dean Norris, the guy in the meme above, has also been dragged into the mix.
Norris plays Hank Schrader in the television series Breaking Bad, which ran from 2008 to 2013 and is considered by many to be one of the greatest series of all time. The lady in the image is actress Betsy Brandt who plays Hank’s wife Marie.
In the series, Hank is a mineral collector who has packages up them delivered to his house regularly.
The recurring joke on the show was that when Marie would refer to them as rocks, to which Hank would reply, “Jesus Christ Marie, they’re not rocks. They’re minerals.”
Given this running gag, the meme practically writes itself. Hank is bald (just like Thanos) and he collects stones (just like Thanos). All that was missing was Thanos’ chin and purple skin, which the artist was kind enough to provide.
It’s too bad we never met Thanos’ wife in the movie. Then the package would have been complete.
no time wasted
In the 18 MCU movies before Infinity War, the Avengers escaped their movies generally unscathed. Even when major characters do seemingly pass away, they tend to come back later in the movie.
The only major losses the Avengers sustained before Infinity War were Agent Coulson in The Avengers (who returned in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., but has for all intends and purposes remained dead in the movies) and Quicksilver in Avengers: Age of Ultron.
This lack of demises among the MCU’s main characters conditioned fans to believe their heroes would continue to escape future movies with their lives intact. Then came the opening of Infinity War, which changed all of that.
As the meme above so perfectly describes, fans undoubtedly went into the movie anticipating an engrossing story that slowly built to a thrilling climax.
Instead, directors Joe and Anthony Russo established the emotional stakes early on by having Thanos appear in the opening scene and wreak havoc aboard Thor’s ship.
The Mad Titan physically overpowers the Hulk in a one-on-one fight, brutally (and fatally) stabs Heimdell, and then breaks Loki’s neck all within the film’s first five minutes.
The scene is captivating, entirely unexpected, and brilliantly sets the stage for the two and a half hours that follow.
the stone he wants
When the music video for Drake’s single “Hotline Bling” first hit Youtube back in 2015, it immediately became a global phenomenon.
The video quickly racked up millions of views (and has more than 1.3 billion at the time this article was written).
It gave us what felt like innumerable photoshopped videos of the rapper dancing (where he does everything from throw pepperoni on a pizza, to play tennis, to toss poké balls) and the now infamous Drakeposting meme.
The meme is simple and consists of four panels depicting the rapper’s reaction to two options placed before him. He rejects the first before smiling pleasantly at the second.
Naturally, Thanos received his own Drakeposting meme where the Mad Titan is forced to choose between two of Hollywood’s most popular Emmas.
The first is Emma Watson accompanied by the image of an angry Thanos, and the second is Emma Stone alongside a smiling Thanos photoshopped over Drake’s body.
Given Thanos’ desire to acquire all six Infinity Stones, it’s understandable why he would prefer Stone over Watson.
The joke is awfully cheesy but kind of hilarious and completely in tune with Thanos characterization in the MCU so far.
He wants his stones, be they Time, Mind, Power, Space, Soul, Reality, or Emma.
vision’s health
Despite not appearing on screen until 2015’s Age of Ultron, Paul Bettany has been an MCU stalwart since its inception back in 2008.
He originally voiced Tony Stark’s automated butler J.A.R.V.I.S. in the Iron Man trilogy and The Avengers before J.A.R.V.I.S. was combined with the Mind Stone and placed into the android that would eventually become Vision.
Die-hard MCU fans knew Vision was not long for this world because of Thanos’ quest for all six Infinity Stones and the fact that Vision has one embedded in his forehead. It was only a matter of time until Thanos got the stone at the cost of Vision’s life.
What fans didn’t know was just how early Vision would be sidelined with an injury at the hands of the Black Order.
Shortly after their first appearance, Scarlet Witch and Vision are attacked by Corvus Glaive and Proxima Midnight.
Glaive stabs Vision with, well, a glaive, and leaves him seriously wounded throughout the rest of the movie, as perfectly illustrated by Terrence Howard in the meme above.
Vision (one of the strongest Avengers) never fully recovers from his injury and is destroyed by Scarlet Witch when she destroys the Mind Stone to keep it from Thanos.
Then Thanos resurrects him… only to immediately destroy him afterward. Poor Vision.
hulk is shy
Both Bruce Banner and Hulk have had quite the character arc in the MCU thus far.
In The Incredible Hulk, Banner (with Edward Norton in the role) is a man who hates having the Hulk inside of him and longs to rid himself of his big, green counterpart. By the movie’s end, however, he has come to peace with his inner monster.
Next came The Avengers, which saw Banner (now played by Mark Ruffalo) struggling to suppress the Hulk throughout the movie before finally unleashing him on the Chitauri during the battle of New York.
Age of Ultron introduced the lullaby, which Black Widow used to calm the Hulk and turn him back into Bruce, and then Thor: Ragnarok turned the Hulk/Bruce dynamic on its head when it showed Hulk in control and Bruce as the one suppressed.
Infinity War introduces yet another wrinkle to this dynamic: a seemingly scared Hulk.
The big guy appears in the movie’s opening scene and promptly gets his butt kicked by Thanos. He vanishes and refuses to come back again throughout the rest of the movie.
Despite the pleas of Banner and others, Hulk refuses to return to help the Avengers save the day, much like the timid Spongebob in the meme above.
hulk versus moon
The comic book World’s Finest Vol 1 #153 was published in November 1965. It takes place in an alternate reality in which Batman believes Superman is responsible for the passing of his father and features what is perhaps the single greatest comic book panel of all-time: the Caped Crusader slapping the Boy Wonder in the face.
The image was hijacked by the internet (because of course it was) and turned into a hilarious meme in which Batman slaps Robin for a litany of reasons.
Some of these include Robin asking Batman what his parents got him for Christmas and Robin using the phrase #YOLO. There are also countless images of other heroes’ faces photoshopped over Batman’s and having a go at slapping the Boy Wonder.
This brings us to Thanos and Tony. Both a play on the Batman meme and a homage to the original Avengers movie, the meme features Tony telling Thanos, “We have a Hulk” before the Mad Titan slaps him and responds, “I have a moon!”
It’s funny and true. Even if Tony somehow managed to get Bruce to turn into his hulking counterpart, the Hulk was no match for Thanos without the Infinity Gauntlet.
He has no chance against both Thanos and an entire moon.
thor and the guardians
The major difference between the MCU and the DCEU is patience. The DCEU was rushed to the big screen in a blatant cash grab; whereas the MCU is the result of careful planning and Marvel President Kevin Feige’s unwavering forbearance.
By introducing the Avengers in their own solo movies before bringing them together in 2012’s crossover, Marvel gave fans time to acclimate themselves to each character’s personality.
Fans were given the chance learn their heroes’ backstories, abilities, and what made them tick, which made it all the more exciting to see the characters interact on the big screen.
Phases 2 and 3 have brought about more and more of these unique interactions as characters continued to meet each other for the first time; and Infinity War continued the trend by finally bringing the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy together.
One of the movie’s funnier moments comes when the Guardians rescue Thor from space.
The rest of the Guardians are impressed by Thor’s good looks and physique while Star-Lord is much more guarded as a result of the Asgardian’s presence, even going so far as to copy Thor’s deep voice.
The “distracted boyfriend” meme encapsulates this dynamic perfectly (and hilariously). The Guardians are enamored with the God of Thunder while a jealous Star-Lord looks on incredulously.
let m’baku handle it
M’Baku has only appeared in two MCU movies so far and has already made a lasting impression on the fans. The leader of the Jabari tribe made his debut in Black Panther as a challenger to T’Challa’s throne.
After failing to become king, M’Baku returns to the mountains with the rest of his tribe only to return in the film later on when Nakia, Everett Ross, and others ask him for help in overthrowing the newly-crowned King Killmonger.
Ross tries to speak to M’Baku, but the Jabari leader just woofs at him in return. Ross tries to speak again and again but is woofed into silence every time.
Since the tactic of woofing your adversary into silence proved to be a strong one, it only makes sense that M’Baku would try it again when Thanos came knocking.
The meme above shows exactly how it would have happened had M’Baku gotten a chance to go one-on-one with the Mad Titan. Thanos would have repeatedly attempted to ask for the Infinity Stone only to be shut down by M’Baku and his tribe.
Either that or M’Baku would have interrupted the Mad Titan one too many times and the gauntlet-wielding maniac would have promptly destroyed him by closing his fist.
It’s still a funny meme, though.
or tony can do it
The relationship between Tony Stark and Peter Parker has really blossomed ever since the latter was first introduced in Captain America: Civil War.
In addition to flirting with Aunt May (a plot thread that was immediately dropped by the time Spider-Man: Homecoming came around and Pepper returned), Tony also positions himself as a bit of a father-figure to the fatherless (and uncle-less) Peter.
This relationship progresses in Homecoming with Tony keeping in touch with Peter and generally looking out for him.
Unfortunately, things temporarily go south after Peter nearly sinks a ferry filled with passengers and Tony demands his suit back.
When Peter remarks that he is nothing without the suit, Tony says, “If you’re nothing without the suit, then you shouldn’t have it,” giving rise to this meme of Tony single-handedly winning the Infinity War by standing up to Thanos on his own.
The idea of Tony stepping up to the Mad Titan and admonishing him in the same manner that he did Peter is simply hysterical.
Given Thanos’ penchant for sparing those he respects (like he did with Star-Lord after retrieving the Reality Stone from the Collector), perhaps he would have handed the Infinity Gauntlet over if Tony has asked for it.
Okay, probably not.
philosophical drax
In a universe filled with funny characters and snappy, quip-filled dialogue, Drax the Destroyer remains one of the funniest of the bunch.
MCU fans were first introduced to Drax’s style of humor in the original Guardians of the Galaxy when Rocket Raccoon explains to Star-Lord that Drax’s people “are completely literal. Metaphors are gonna go over [Drax’s] head.”
To demonstrate Rocket’s point, Drax promptly responds, “Nothing goes over my head. My reflexes are too fast. I would catch it."
Dave Bautista’s dry delivery is always spot-on, leading to some of the funniest moments to come out of the MCU thus far.
Infinity War provides more of the same, first when Drax creepily watches Star-Lord and Gamora making out, and later when the Guardians are first introduced to Iron Man, Doctor Strange, and Spider-Man. S
tar-Lord holds his blaster to Spider-Man’s head and asks, “where is Gamora?” To which Iron Man appropriately responds, “I’ll do you one better; who is Gamora?” Drax, who’s staring into the barrel of Iron Man’s blaster, then says, “I’ll do you one better; why is Gamora?”
It’s a funny moment of levity in an otherwise serious scene that fits in perfectly with Drax’s character and is completely worthy of the “Expanding brain” meme.
star-lord ruins everything
Oh Star-Lord, what are we going to do with you?
Peter Quill (aka Star-Lord) made his MCU debut in 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy and quickly became a favorite among fans thanks to a star-making performance by Chris Pratt.
Pratt’s Quill is grounded, funny, charming, and cocky, but in an endearing way. He consistently finds himself in situations that are way over his head, yet manages to escape virtually unscathed thanks to his cunning and an array of unique gadgets.
Quill’s ever-evolving relationship with Gamora has been front-and-center in both Guardians movies and plays a key role in Infinity War as well.
After Thanos kidnaps Gamora and sacrifices her in exchange for the Soul Stone, he returns to Titan to rendezvous with the Black Order and retrieve the rest of the Infinity Stones.
Instead, he meets Doctor Strange, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Star-Lord, Drax, Nebula, and Mantis, and a battle ensues.
The Avengers and Guardians manage to subdue the Mad Titan and nearly pull the gauntlet from his hand when Quill learns that Thanos destroyed Gamora.
In a fit of rage, Quill attacks Thanos and knocks him out of Mantis’ trance, thereby dooming half of the universe.
So, as the meme says, thank you to the rest of the Avengers and Guardians for trying to save the universe. Not you, Quill, you hot-headed jerk.
