# 60S Spider Man > 60s Spider-Man is a 2009 image macro from the 1967 animated series, featuring awkward poses with absurd captions, best known for the "Spider-Man Pointing at Spider-Man" reaction image. 60's Spider-Man is an image macro series built from screenshots of the original 1967 Spider-Man animated television series, typically overlaid with absurd captions or internal monologues that match the awkward poses and low-budget animation on screen[1]. The meme took off on 4chan's /co/ board in mid-2009 after Marvel began officially streaming the old episodes, and it spread across Tumblr, Reddit, and humor blogs through 2011[4]. Its most iconic variant, the "Spider-Man Pointing at Spider-Man" scene from the episode "Double Identity," became one of the most recognizable reaction images on the internet[2]. ## Origin The 1967 Spider-Man cartoon had three seasons, the first produced by Grantray-Lawrence Animation with relatively faithful adaptations of the comic book rogues gallery[3]. When animator Ralph Bakshi took over for seasons two and three, the show took a surreal turn. Bakshi's acid-washed skies, dissonant jazz scores, and unsettling camera angles gave the cartoon an unintentionally psychedelic quality that aged into comedy gold[3]. The show sat largely forgotten until Marvel officially began streaming full episodes on Marvel.com on April 2, 2009[4]. This caught the attention of 4chan's /co/ (cartoon) board, where users organized group viewing sessions of the episodes via streaming. After each session, users posted screenshots with humorous titles in a style similar to LOLcat image macros[4]. One of the earliest documented threads appeared on July 19, 2009, titled "Spider-man on his day off"[4]. The thread contained 153 posts with captioned Spider-Man images, establishing the format that would define the meme. As more viewing sessions took place, the screenshot collection grew and the images began circulating independently as reaction faces and standalone image macros[1]. - **Platform:** 4chan /co/ (meme format), Marvel.com (episode streaming) - **Creator:** Unknown (community-created from 1967 Spider-Man animated series by Grantray-Lawrence Animation) - **Date:** 2009 ## Overview The 60's Spider-Man meme pulls still frames from the original Spider-Man cartoon that aired from 1967 to 1970[3]. The show was produced jointly in Canada and the United States and was the first animated adaptation of the Marvel comic created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko[4]. Budget constraints meant heavy reuse of stock animation, weird character poses, and off-model drawings throughout the series. These visual quirks gave memers an endless supply of screenshots that look hilarious out of context. The typical format places text over a freeze-frame from the cartoon, with captions written as Spider-Man's inner thoughts. The humor comes from the mismatch between Spider-Man's heroic reputation and whatever absurd, mundane, or inappropriate monologue the caption assigns to a given pose[1]. Common setups include Spider-Man sitting at a desk, pointing at something, hiding behind objects, or swinging through the city with an expression that reads as anything from smug to deeply confused. ## How It Spread The meme's migration from 4chan to broader platforms happened gradually through late 2009 and 2010. Geek culture blogs like Topless Robot and The Daily P.O.P. were already reviewing the original cartoon episodes, which helped build awareness of the show's unintentional comedy[3]. On Tumblr, a user named Hobbo launched the blog "Wallopin Websnappers" in November 2010 as a hub for organizing livestream viewings and collecting the 700+ screencaps he had gathered from the series[4]. The first Tumblr blog dedicated specifically to captioned 60's Spider-Man images, "You're a horrible man, Spiderman Brown," appeared on February 1, 2011[4]. More single-topic Tumblrs followed later that year, along with an active Tumblr tag. Between April and July 2011, the meme hit its mainstream stride. Compilation galleries appeared on Reddit, FunnyJunk, Uproxx, and the humor blog Pleated Jeans[5]. A Redditor named PineAppleExpress213 posted a gallery of 41 images that BroBible called "the very best of the 60's Spider-Man meme"[1]. Multiple generators appeared on Meme Generator with different still images from the series, making it easy for anyone to create their own versions[4]. Search traffic for "spiderman meme" picked up in January 2011 and climbed steadily through the year[4]. ## How to Use The 60's Spider-Man format works best when you match a specific screenshot's body language to an unexpected or absurd caption: 1. Pick a still frame from the 1967 cartoon where Spider-Man is in a funny pose, awkward position, or making an odd gesture 2. Write a caption as Spider-Man's inner monologue or dialogue that recontextualizes the image. The more mundane or inappropriate compared to the heroic context, the better 3. The text usually goes above or below the image in standard image macro style ## Cultural Impact The "Double Identity" pointing scene broke out of meme culture and into the physical world when Iron Studios produced an official 1/10 scale collectible statue recreating the pose[2]. Priced at $150 and officially licensed as "Spider-Man '60s Animated Series – Spider-Man – Art Scale 1/10," the figure depicts Spider-Man with his right arm raised and index finger pointing, left arm curled with a clenched fist, standing on a pedestal with a wooden crate[2]. Buyers who wanted to recreate the full pointing meme needed to purchase two figures and source their own miniature police truck. The pointing Spider-Man format got a major boost from the Spider-Verse film franchise. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) and its sequel Across the Spider-Verse (2023) built their entire premise around multiple versions of Spider-Man meeting each other, directly echoing the "Double Identity" meme[6]. The films' multiverse concept made the pointing meme feel almost prophetic, and it saw heavy reuse around each film's release. ## Fun Facts - The original 1967 cartoon was notorious for its low budget even at the time. Animator Ralph Bakshi, who was only 25 when he took over, created such unsettling visuals for the episode "Revolt in the 5th Dimension" that the network pulled it from broadcast[3]. - The show's theme song ("Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does whatever a spider can") and the phrase "friendly neighborhood Spider-Man" both originated with this 1967 cartoon, not the comics[3]. - Hobbo's "Wallopin Websnappers" Tumblr had collected over 700 screencaps from the series before the meme even fully broke out[4]. - The 4chan thread that helped spark the meme format had 153 individual captioned images in a single discussion[4]. - Iron Studios' official statue of the pointing scene shipped with only one Spider-Man figure, meaning fans needed to buy two to properly recreate the meme[2]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is 60's Spider-Man? It's an image macro meme series using screenshots from the original 1967 Spider-Man animated television show, with humorous captions overlaid on the awkward or funny-looking frames[1]. ### Where did 60's Spider-Man come from? The meme originated on 4chan's /co/ board in 2009 after Marvel began streaming the classic episodes on Marvel.com, prompting group viewing sessions that produced hundreds of captioned screenshots[4]. ### What does 60's Spider-Man mean? The meme format typically assigns absurd inner monologues to Spider-Man based on whatever his pose or expression suggests in the still frame. The humor comes from the contrast between the heroic character and mundane or inappropriate captions[1]. ### How do you use 60's Spider-Man? Find a screenshot from the 1967 cartoon with a funny pose, then add text that reinterprets Spider-Man's body language in a humorous way. The pointing variant specifically works for situations involving duplicates, hypocrisy, or mutual accusations[2]. ### Is 60's Spider-Man still popular? The meme is a classic that peaked in 2011 but still sees regular use, especially the pointing Spider-Man variant, which got renewed attention with the Spider-Verse films[4]. ### What episode is the pointing Spider-Man from? The famous scene comes from "Double Identity," an episode where a villain impersonates Spider-Man and the two end up pointing at each other in front of police[2]. ### Why does 60's Spider-Man look so weird? The original cartoon had a very low production budget, leading to heavy reuse of stock animation, off-model character drawings, and strange poses that became the raw material for memes decades later[3]. ### When did the Spider-Man pointing meme become an official product? Iron Studios released a licensed 1/10 scale statue recreating the pointing pose, priced at $150, though it only included one figure rather than the two needed for the full scene[2]. ### Who was Ralph Bakshi's role in the cartoon? Bakshi took over as animation director for seasons two and three. His surreal, psychedelic art style with acid-washed skies and dissonant jazz made the later episodes stranger and, unintentionally, more memeable[3]. ### Did the Spider-Verse movies reference the pointing meme? The Spider-Verse franchise's central concept of multiple Spider-People meeting across dimensions directly parallels the "Double Identity" pointing scene, and the films drove renewed interest in the meme format[6]. ## References 1. [Most Memed 60s Spider-Man Scene Now Has Its Own 1/10 Scale Statue -]() 2. [Meme You Should Know: 60's Spider-Man - BroBible]() 3. [Spider-Man ’67 | The Daily P.O.P.]() 4. [60's Spider-Man - Know Your Meme]() 5. [Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse]() 6. [1960sspiderman]() 7. [UPROXX – Music Television and Culture]() 8. [Best of The 60s Spider-Man Meme (21 Pics)]() 9. [1mut.com : Analysis Modern Headlines News Around The World]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/60s-spider-man Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library