Spider-Man Pointing at Spider-Man

2011Image macro / reaction imageactive

Also known as: Spider-Man Pointing Meme · Two Spider-Mans Pointing · Pointing Spider-Man

Spider-Man Pointing at Spider-Man is an image macro meme taken from a 1967 Spider-Man cartoon episode where two characters in Spider-Man costumes point at each other in confusion. First used as a meme around 2011, the format took off in the mid-2010s as a way to joke about two nearly identical things meeting, and got a massive boost when the actual Spider-Man film franchise recreated the moment in both *Spider-Man: No Way Home* and *Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse*.

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Overview

The meme uses a still frame from the 1960s *Spider-Man* animated series showing two characters dressed as Spider-Man standing face-to-face, each pointing at the other. The image works as visual shorthand for any situation where two people, things, or ideas are so similar they might as well be the same. People typically slap labels on each Spider-Man or add caption text describing the two matching things, turning the pointing into a joke about doppelgangers, hypocrisy, or uncanny resemblance.

The format is dead simple and instantly readable. Two identical figures, pointing. You get it in half a second.

The source image comes from episode 19b of the 1967 *Spider-Man* animated series, titled "Double Identity"4. The show aired on ABC starting September 9, 1967, and was produced by Grantray-Lawrence Animation for its first season6. In the episode, a villain named Charles Cameo impersonates Spider-Man to steal art treasures. When the real Spider-Man shows up, the two costumed figures end up pointing at each other, creating the now-iconic frame7.

The earliest known use of this image as an internet meme was an image macro posted on February 5, 2011, on the site Sharenator4. It appeared in a compilation of images from the 60s Spider-Man cartoon. From there, the format slowly started circulating with various caption texts added.

Origin & Background

Platform
1967 Spider-Man cartoon (source image), Sharenator (first known meme use)
Creator
Unknown
Date
2011 (first meme use); 1967 (source material)

The source image comes from episode 19b of the 1967 *Spider-Man* animated series, titled "Double Identity"4. The show aired on ABC starting September 9, 1967, and was produced by Grantray-Lawrence Animation for its first season6. In the episode, a villain named Charles Cameo impersonates Spider-Man to steal art treasures. When the real Spider-Man shows up, the two costumed figures end up pointing at each other, creating the now-iconic frame7.

The earliest known use of this image as an internet meme was an image macro posted on February 5, 2011, on the site Sharenator4. It appeared in a compilation of images from the 60s Spider-Man cartoon. From there, the format slowly started circulating with various caption texts added.

How It Spread

Early uses were scattered and low-key. On June 26, 2012, a Funnyjunk user named generalshawn posted a version with the text "SAMEFAG" in a thread4. In early 2013, a 9GAG user called stormrdr shared a version captioned "HA! Look at that asshole!"4. These early image macros treated the pointing as a generic joke setup rather than the specific "two identical things" format it would become.

The meme didn't hit widespread popularity until the mid-2010s. People started using it specifically to describe situations where two very similar people or things encounter each other. It picked up steam on Black Twitter, especially in hip-hop circles. On May 6, 2016, Reddit user Dualestl posted the image to describe a hypothetical meeting between rappers Future and Desiigner, whose styles were frequently compared. That post pulled in over 1,300 upvotes4.

Twitter became the main growth engine in early 2017. On March 10, user @FreddyAmazin posted the image with the caption "When your boo start talking like you," racking up over 3,400 retweets and 8,900 likes4. The format kept spreading through Reddit as well. A version posted to r/funny on May 17, 2017 scored over 440 points, and a crosspost to r/MemeEconomy on July 9 hit over 4,900 points4.

The meme's biggest mainstream moment came through the Spider-Man films themselves. On February 23, 2022, actors Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and Tom Holland, who had reunited as three different Spider-Men in *Spider-Man: No Way Home*, recreated the pointing pose in a promotional photoshoot3. The image was shared by the film's official Twitter account as part of the home release marketing campaign4.

The recreation in *No Way Home* wasn't scripted. According to Andrew Garfield, the idea came to him on set. "I remember having a lightning bolt and running into set and telling Jon [Watts], 'I got it, I got it,'" Garfield said on *The Happy Sad Confused* podcast2. The original script had Garfield's Peter saying something snarky when all three Peters respond to the name "Peter," but Garfield pushed for the more playful pointing moment instead. Director Jon Watts immediately approved: "That's it. That's it. Done"2. Tom Holland confirmed the collaborative nature of those scenes, calling it "so playful" and noting that Garfield "coming up with the idea of pointing at us" was something "we came up with on the day"2.

Platforms

RedditTwitterTikTokInstagramYouTube

Timeline

2017-07-11

Entry published on Know Your Meme

View on Google Trends

How to Use This Meme

The format is one of the most flexible reaction images around. The basic setup:

1

Find two things that are strikingly similar. Two brands with identical products, two friends with the same outfit, two politicians with matching policies, two subreddits covering the same niche.

2

Label each Spider-Man with text identifying one of the two similar things. This can be done with image macro text, object labels, or a caption above the image.

3

Post it. The humor comes from the visual, so the pointing does most of the work.

Create Your Own

Cultural Impact

The meme crossed fully into Hollywood when the Spider-Man film franchise began directly referencing it. *Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse* (2018) was the first Spider-Man film production to include a nod to the pointing meme3. *Spider-Man: No Way Home* (2021) took it further with the three live-action Spider-Men recreating the pose, making it the second film production to do so3.

*Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse* (2023) went all-in on the reference. In one scene, an entire cafeteria full of Spider-People from across the multiverse, including a Spider-Cat and a Spider-Tyrannosaurus Rex, all point at each other when Spider-Man 2099 calls for everyone to be on the lookout for "Spider-Man"1. The scene took the original two-person gag and scaled it up to dozens of characters, making it both a tribute to the meme and a joke about how far it had come5.

The *No Way Home* recreation was particularly significant because it emerged organically from the actors themselves. Garfield described the moment as a "lightning bolt" idea that replaced scripted dialogue with something fans had been hoping to see ever since rumors of the multi-Spider-Man crossover began circulating2. Fans had been using the pointing meme on social media for months before the film's release, speculating about exactly this kind of scene2.

Fun Facts

The villain in the original "Double Identity" episode is Charles Cameo, an actor-turned-criminal who impersonates others to steal art treasures. His bodyguard Brutus helps him pull off the heists7.

Grantray-Lawrence Animation, which produced the first season of the 1967 cartoon, went bankrupt after producing only 20 episodes. Ralph Bakshi took over for seasons two and three6.

Andrew Garfield described his on-set idea for the pointing scene as replacing a snarky line with something more "adorable." His original pitch included the line "We're so adorable. God, we're cute" before settling on the simpler pointing gag2.

The 1967 *Spider-Man* series ran for three seasons and 52 episodes total, airing on ABC before going into syndication6.

*Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse* grossed over $690 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing Sony Pictures Animation film at the time5.

Derivatives & Variations

Three Spider-Men Pointing:

After the *No Way Home* promotional image with Holland, Garfield, and Maguire all pointing at each other, a three-way version of the meme became widely used for situations involving three similar things[3].

Spider-Verse Mass Pointing:

The *Across the Spider-Verse* cafeteria scene, with dozens of Spider-People pointing, spawned its own variant for chaotic situations where everyone is equally confused or implicated[1].

60s Spider-Man meme family:

The pointing image is part of a broader family of memes pulled from the 1967 cartoon. The Sharenator compilation where the pointing meme first appeared included multiple 60s Spider-Man images that became memes in their own right[4].

Frequently Asked Questions

Spider-Man Pointing at Spider-Man

2011Image macro / reaction imageactive

Also known as: Spider-Man Pointing Meme · Two Spider-Mans Pointing · Pointing Spider-Man

Spider-Man Pointing at Spider-Man is an image macro meme taken from a 1967 Spider-Man cartoon episode where two characters in Spider-Man costumes point at each other in confusion. First used as a meme around 2011, the format took off in the mid-2010s as a way to joke about two nearly identical things meeting, and got a massive boost when the actual Spider-Man film franchise recreated the moment in both *Spider-Man: No Way Home* and *Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse*.

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Overview

The meme uses a still frame from the 1960s *Spider-Man* animated series showing two characters dressed as Spider-Man standing face-to-face, each pointing at the other. The image works as visual shorthand for any situation where two people, things, or ideas are so similar they might as well be the same. People typically slap labels on each Spider-Man or add caption text describing the two matching things, turning the pointing into a joke about doppelgangers, hypocrisy, or uncanny resemblance.

The format is dead simple and instantly readable. Two identical figures, pointing. You get it in half a second.

The source image comes from episode 19b of the 1967 *Spider-Man* animated series, titled "Double Identity"4. The show aired on ABC starting September 9, 1967, and was produced by Grantray-Lawrence Animation for its first season6. In the episode, a villain named Charles Cameo impersonates Spider-Man to steal art treasures. When the real Spider-Man shows up, the two costumed figures end up pointing at each other, creating the now-iconic frame7.

The earliest known use of this image as an internet meme was an image macro posted on February 5, 2011, on the site Sharenator4. It appeared in a compilation of images from the 60s Spider-Man cartoon. From there, the format slowly started circulating with various caption texts added.

Origin & Background

Platform
1967 Spider-Man cartoon (source image), Sharenator (first known meme use)
Creator
Unknown
Date
2011 (first meme use); 1967 (source material)

The source image comes from episode 19b of the 1967 *Spider-Man* animated series, titled "Double Identity"4. The show aired on ABC starting September 9, 1967, and was produced by Grantray-Lawrence Animation for its first season6. In the episode, a villain named Charles Cameo impersonates Spider-Man to steal art treasures. When the real Spider-Man shows up, the two costumed figures end up pointing at each other, creating the now-iconic frame7.

The earliest known use of this image as an internet meme was an image macro posted on February 5, 2011, on the site Sharenator4. It appeared in a compilation of images from the 60s Spider-Man cartoon. From there, the format slowly started circulating with various caption texts added.

How It Spread

Early uses were scattered and low-key. On June 26, 2012, a Funnyjunk user named generalshawn posted a version with the text "SAMEFAG" in a thread4. In early 2013, a 9GAG user called stormrdr shared a version captioned "HA! Look at that asshole!"4. These early image macros treated the pointing as a generic joke setup rather than the specific "two identical things" format it would become.

The meme didn't hit widespread popularity until the mid-2010s. People started using it specifically to describe situations where two very similar people or things encounter each other. It picked up steam on Black Twitter, especially in hip-hop circles. On May 6, 2016, Reddit user Dualestl posted the image to describe a hypothetical meeting between rappers Future and Desiigner, whose styles were frequently compared. That post pulled in over 1,300 upvotes4.

Twitter became the main growth engine in early 2017. On March 10, user @FreddyAmazin posted the image with the caption "When your boo start talking like you," racking up over 3,400 retweets and 8,900 likes4. The format kept spreading through Reddit as well. A version posted to r/funny on May 17, 2017 scored over 440 points, and a crosspost to r/MemeEconomy on July 9 hit over 4,900 points4.

The meme's biggest mainstream moment came through the Spider-Man films themselves. On February 23, 2022, actors Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and Tom Holland, who had reunited as three different Spider-Men in *Spider-Man: No Way Home*, recreated the pointing pose in a promotional photoshoot3. The image was shared by the film's official Twitter account as part of the home release marketing campaign4.

The recreation in *No Way Home* wasn't scripted. According to Andrew Garfield, the idea came to him on set. "I remember having a lightning bolt and running into set and telling Jon [Watts], 'I got it, I got it,'" Garfield said on *The Happy Sad Confused* podcast2. The original script had Garfield's Peter saying something snarky when all three Peters respond to the name "Peter," but Garfield pushed for the more playful pointing moment instead. Director Jon Watts immediately approved: "That's it. That's it. Done"2. Tom Holland confirmed the collaborative nature of those scenes, calling it "so playful" and noting that Garfield "coming up with the idea of pointing at us" was something "we came up with on the day"2.

Platforms

RedditTwitterTikTokInstagramYouTube

Timeline

2017-07-11

Entry published on Know Your Meme

View on Google Trends

How to Use This Meme

The format is one of the most flexible reaction images around. The basic setup:

1

Find two things that are strikingly similar. Two brands with identical products, two friends with the same outfit, two politicians with matching policies, two subreddits covering the same niche.

2

Label each Spider-Man with text identifying one of the two similar things. This can be done with image macro text, object labels, or a caption above the image.

3

Post it. The humor comes from the visual, so the pointing does most of the work.

Create Your Own

Cultural Impact

The meme crossed fully into Hollywood when the Spider-Man film franchise began directly referencing it. *Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse* (2018) was the first Spider-Man film production to include a nod to the pointing meme3. *Spider-Man: No Way Home* (2021) took it further with the three live-action Spider-Men recreating the pose, making it the second film production to do so3.

*Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse* (2023) went all-in on the reference. In one scene, an entire cafeteria full of Spider-People from across the multiverse, including a Spider-Cat and a Spider-Tyrannosaurus Rex, all point at each other when Spider-Man 2099 calls for everyone to be on the lookout for "Spider-Man"1. The scene took the original two-person gag and scaled it up to dozens of characters, making it both a tribute to the meme and a joke about how far it had come5.

The *No Way Home* recreation was particularly significant because it emerged organically from the actors themselves. Garfield described the moment as a "lightning bolt" idea that replaced scripted dialogue with something fans had been hoping to see ever since rumors of the multi-Spider-Man crossover began circulating2. Fans had been using the pointing meme on social media for months before the film's release, speculating about exactly this kind of scene2.

Fun Facts

The villain in the original "Double Identity" episode is Charles Cameo, an actor-turned-criminal who impersonates others to steal art treasures. His bodyguard Brutus helps him pull off the heists7.

Grantray-Lawrence Animation, which produced the first season of the 1967 cartoon, went bankrupt after producing only 20 episodes. Ralph Bakshi took over for seasons two and three6.

Andrew Garfield described his on-set idea for the pointing scene as replacing a snarky line with something more "adorable." His original pitch included the line "We're so adorable. God, we're cute" before settling on the simpler pointing gag2.

The 1967 *Spider-Man* series ran for three seasons and 52 episodes total, airing on ABC before going into syndication6.

*Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse* grossed over $690 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing Sony Pictures Animation film at the time5.

Derivatives & Variations

Three Spider-Men Pointing:

After the *No Way Home* promotional image with Holland, Garfield, and Maguire all pointing at each other, a three-way version of the meme became widely used for situations involving three similar things[3].

Spider-Verse Mass Pointing:

The *Across the Spider-Verse* cafeteria scene, with dozens of Spider-People pointing, spawned its own variant for chaotic situations where everyone is equally confused or implicated[1].

60s Spider-Man meme family:

The pointing image is part of a broader family of memes pulled from the 1967 cartoon. The Sharenator compilation where the pointing meme first appeared included multiple 60s Spider-Man images that became memes in their own right[4].

Frequently Asked Questions