King Penguin's "Do You Yield?" — Close-up of the blue King Penguin wearing a crown with angry eyes and the text 'Do you yield' overlaid.

King Penguin's "Do You Yield?"

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Published October 22, 2026

King Penguin's "Do You Yield?" is a catchphrase from the 2023 Super Mario Bros. Movie teaser trailer, where a dignified penguin monarch demands surrender from Bowser only to be laughed at and have his castle set on fire. Within hours of the October 6, 2022 Nintendo Direct, Redditors turned the exchange into a two-panel image macro, pairing the penguin king's challenge with Bowser's deadpan "I do not." By October 7, 2022, Twitter fan artists like @Krossan were attaching the line to redraws of the penguin.

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Overview

The format most often appears as a two-panel comic. The top panel shows King Penguin (voiced by Khary Payton) asking "Do you yield?" and the bottom shows Bowser (Jack Black) replying "I do not," with captions reframing the exchange as any confrontation where one side refuses to back down4. Common uses include jokes about studying habits, dieting, workplace demands, or any situation where surrender is being requested and ignored7.

Fan artists also attached the catchphrase to original drawings and redraws of the penguin king, often in a serious or dignified style that contrasts with the trailer's slapstick payoff6. The appeal came from King Penguin delivering the line with Shakespearean weight ("That is but a taste of our fury") before Bowser laughs him off and incinerates the ice castle1.

Origin & Background

Platform
Nintendo Direct trailer (source) / Reddit (meme format)
Creator
Ghimzzo
Date
2022

Illumination's teaser for The Super Mario Bros. Movie premiered on October 6, 2022 during a Nintendo Direct presentation. Around the 40:27 mark, a penguin army pelts Bowser's forces with snowballs and ice projectiles, prompting the penguin king to deliver his ultimatum. Bowser laughs, replies "I do not," then sets the castle on fire1. Nintendo and Illumination produced the trailer; the meme format itself came from fans. Redditor Ghimzzo posted the earliest known two-panel version to r/MemeTemplatesOfficial that same day under the title "Invest in penguin king from the Mario movie," earning over 2,000 upvotes within a day4.

How It Spread

Within hours of the trailer's debut, Twitter artists @playcentermd and @pauldrawsart posted fan art riffing on the scene, picking up over 44,000 and 75,000 likes respectively on October 623. On October 7, Redditor -The_Onion_Ring- posted a different two-panel version to r/memes under the title "They stand no chance," which collected more than 42,000 upvotes in under a day5. A blank template version appeared on r/MemeTemplatesOfficial the same day for other posters to caption8.

Twitter artist @Krossan posted fan art on October 7 using the phrase directly in the caption, which hit over 14,000 likes in under a day6. The format stayed in rotation through the following week as clips from the Nintendo Direct trailer kept circulating, with the exchange working equally well for serious fan art and absurd caption jokes7.

Timeline

2022-10-06

The Super Mario Bros. Movie teaser trailer premieres during a Nintendo Direct presentation, featuring the "Do you yield?" exchange around the 40:27 mark[1].

2022-10-06

Redditor Ghimzzo posts the earliest known two-panel meme format to r/MemeTemplatesOfficial, earning over 2,000 upvotes[4].

2022-10-06

Twitter artists @playcentermd and @pauldrawsart post fan art of the penguin king, hitting 44,000 and 75,000 likes in a day[2][3].

2022-10-07

Redditor -The_Onion_Ring- posts a two-panel version titled "They stand no chance" to r/memes, picking up 42,000+ upvotes in under a day[5].

2022-10-07

A blank meme template is posted to r/MemeTemplatesOfficial[8].

2022-10-07

Twitter artist @Krossan posts fan art using the catchphrase in the caption, reaching 14,000+ likes[6].

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