Super Saiyan Goku rendered in dark cinematic style for the Prowler Theme Goku meme

Prowler Theme

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Published October 20, 2026

Prowler Theme / Goku Prowler (XenoVerse 2) is a video edit format that sets 'The Prowler's Theme' from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse behind a darkened image of Goku, cutting from a character wronging Goku to Goku snapping and attacking them. The style first appeared on YouTube in October 2022 and went viral on TikTok in March 2023, when @just5am_'s edit reached over 1.2 million views in five days.

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Overview

Edits typically open with a short clip of a Dragon Ball character annoying or wronging Goku. Krillin tosses a rock, Chi Chi nags about chores, a side villain lands a cheap shot. From there, the shot cuts to a shadowed still of Goku as the ominous saxophone intro to 'The Prowler's Theme' kicks in1, before a final sequence shows Goku delivering a disproportionately brutal beatdown as if he finally lost his patience2.

Humor comes from the gap between Goku's usual cheerful goofball personality and the stalker-villain mood of the Prowler cue. Editors also call the trend Goku Prowler and Goku XenoVerse 2 Stare, nodding to the Dragon Ball XenoVerse 2 image many of them reuse5.

Origin & Background

Platform
YouTube (origin) / TikTok (viral spread)
Date
2022

'The Prowler's Theme' was composed for the 2018 film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse as music for the villain Aaron Davis. The soundtrack track was uploaded to YouTube on December 16, 2018, and reached over 5.9 million views in five years1. Editors began placing the song over unrelated clips within months. YouTuber Serperior and the animator posted a compilation of such edits on October 31, 2019, which reached over 332,000 views in four years9, and in August 2021, Spicy Shark set the track over a scene from Regular Show for over 23,000 views10.

The Goku version first surfaced on October 31, 2022, when YouTuber NotVintage shared a clip they said originated on Discord. It opens with Krillin tossing a rock at Goku, cuts to a shadowed Goku image with the Prowler cue, then returns to Krillin exploding as if Goku had killed him. NotVintage's upload passed 91,000 views in six months2.

How It Spread

TikTok editors took up the format in March 2023. On March 16, @jabonkasthemaker posted a version using a scene with Chi Chi, which reached over 56,000 views in a month4. Nine days later, Twitter user @Extralongdokkan wrote 'Goku with the Prowler theme is peak fiction,' and the tweet collected over 1,400 likes within a week6.

On March 30, TikToker @just5am_ posted an edit that hit over 1.2 million views in five days, one of the trend's biggest TikTok hits3. Twitter user @Cordeeeeee started a dedicated thread of Goku Prowler clips on April 18, and on April 2, animator @papasaber shared an original hand-drawn take that reached over 750,000 views in two days7.

Timeline

2018-12-16

The official 'The Prowler's Theme' audio from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is uploaded to YouTube.

2019-10-31

YouTuber Serperior and the animator posts a compilation of early edits using the Prowler cue.

2021-08-02

YouTuber Spicy Shark places the song over a Regular Show scene.

2022-10-31

YouTuber NotVintage uploads the first widely seen Goku version, with Krillin throwing a rock and getting killed.

How to Use This Meme

Creators typically keep the format to three beats: a setup clip of someone disrespecting Goku, a cut to the shadowed Goku still with 'The Prowler's Theme' playing, and a payoff where Goku responds with cartoonishly excessive violence. Common conventions include letting the saxophone intro play uninterrupted for a few seconds before the attack. Variants include original animations instead of clipped anime footage, as in @papasaber's hand-drawn version7.

Frequently Asked Questions