Luigi's Death Stare — Luigi in a Mario Kart 8 kart giving a menacing sideways death stare

Luigi's Death Stare

2014viral videoclassic

Published September 5, 2026 · Updated September 25, 2026

Luigi's Death Stare is the deadpan, over-the-mustache glare that Luigi throws at rivals after knocking them out in Mario Kart 8. Spotted by players within days of the game's May 2014 launch, the icy sideways look was chopped up, slowed down and set to Chamillionaire, spawning one of the first big memes to come out of a Nintendo racing game.

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Overview

Luigi's Death Stare refers to the flat, unblinking side-eye Luigi gives other racers right after tagging them with a shell or banana in Mario Kart 81. While the rest of the roster does a little celebration dance after a hit, Luigi just tilts his head, locks eyes with his victim, and coldly drives past, which is what turned a small animation quirk into a running joke about Luigi being a plumbing psychopath2.

The meme mostly lives as short video edits. Fans clip the exact frames where Luigi turns his head, slow the footage down, and layer it with menacing or comically inappropriate music, most famously Chamillionaire's 2006 track "Ridin'"3. Reaction GIFs of the stare also get reused far outside Mario Kart contexts as a stand-in for petty, silent revenge4.

Origin & Background

Platform
YouTube (source) / Reddit (viral spread)
Creator
Nintendo; Rizupicorr
Date
2014

The stare was first flagged by YouTuber Rizupicorr, who on May 30th, 2014 uploaded a highlight video titled "Waluigi vs Luigi" in which Luigi green-shells Waluigi and coldly eyeballs him while cruising past5. The same day, user Mega Beardo posted a second clip called "Mario Kart 8 – Luigi's Death Stare" showing Luigi giving the same look while trying to overtake Mario6.

Mario Kart 8 had only been out on the Wii U for about a week at that point, having launched on May 30th, 2014, so the clips were among the earliest viral moments to come out of the game2.

How It Spread

The stare broke out on May 31st, 2014, when YouTuber CZbwoi cut the original footage against Chamillionaire's "Ridin'" and posted it as a parody video that quickly pulled hundreds of thousands of views1. That single edit set the template for basically every Luigi's Death Stare video that followed.

On June 1st, a Reddit post titled "Luigi Death Stare" featuring a GIF of the moment hit r/gaming and pulled thousands of upvotes, which kicked off a wave of user-made parodies in the comments7. Gaming press picked it up almost immediately, with The Independent running a piece calling Luigi an "Italian plumbing psychopath" and Polygon publishing a longer look at his "down-the-nose, over-the-mustache glare"32. Uproxx also covered the trend under the headline "The Luigi Death Stare Just Turned 'Mario Kart 8' Into Creepy Hilarity"8.

Tumblr helped push it further the same day, when user Scarfydog posted a "Dear Sister" parody built around the same clip that pulled more than 95,000 notes within 48 hours9. From there the stare settled in as shorthand for silent, unbothered dominance and is still trotted out whenever someone wants a visual for cold-blooded pettiness1.

How to Use This Meme

The typical Luigi's Death Stare edit isolates the exact seconds where Luigi turns his head after a hit, slows the clip down, and drops in a menacing or absurd audio bed, with Chamillionaire's "Ridin'" as the classic pick3. As a reaction GIF, it is often used in replies to signal quiet, deadpan disapproval or a petty win without saying a word.

Frequently Asked Questions