# Staring Avatar Guy Staring Avatar Guy is a screencap from Avatar: The Way of Water showing Na'vi character Lyle Wainfleet looking down at Colonel Quaritch from a POV shot. The frame circulated on TikTok in January 2023, then became an image macro on iFunny by late February with top-and-bottom pun captions like "Bird Flu? Yeah they do that." ## Origin Avatar: The Way of Water opened in American theaters on December 16th, 2022, and the Quaritch hospital scene established the point-of-view shot of Wainfleet that would later be meme'd[1]. A YouTube upload of the scene preserves the exact camera angle, with the medical lamp framed behind Wainfleet's head[2]. The still began spreading as a standalone image on January 7th, 2023, when TikToker @ienykid posted a photo slideshow with the Wainfleet screencap as the first slide and the caption "next in line for ugliest character in the movie," which later tallied around 1.2 million plays and 226,800 likes[1]. The pun-caption format itself appears to have taken hold on iFunny on February 27th, 2023, through a post by @TheLordKingSim that pasted "Bird Flu? Yeah They Do That" over the image[3]. The original movie frame was created by 20th Century Studios; the meme format's actual originator is not confirmed. - **Platform:** TikTok (early spread) / iFunny (pun format) - **Creator:** Unknown - **Date:** 2023 ## Overview Staring Avatar Guy centers on a single frame from Avatar: The Way of Water in which the recombinant Na'vi Lyle Wainfleet peers directly down at the camera, with a round surgical light behind his head. Because the shot is filmed from the newly awakened Quaritch's point of view, the audience sees Wainfleet's wide blue eyes and bared teeth staring straight at them, which gave the still an uncanny, unblinking quality that TikTok users latched onto[1]. The caption style that fixed the image as a meme uses the familiar two-line pun joke setup, with a question on top and a dumb punchline on the bottom[2]. Early examples read like playground wordplay, including "Road work ahead? I sure hope it does" and "Bird Flu? Yeah they do that," with the Wainfleet stare standing in for the deadpan listener[3]. The format travels well because the face is already weird on its own, so any flat delivery lands as absurd. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Staring Avatar Guy? Staring Avatar Guy is an image macro built on a POV screencap from Avatar: The Way of Water showing the Na'vi character Lyle Wainfleet looking down at the camera, captioned in early 2023 with two-line pun jokes[1]. ### Where did Staring Avatar Guy come from? The still is from Avatar: The Way of Water, released December 16th, 2022, and started circulating as a meme after TikToker @ienykid posted it in a slideshow on January 7th, 2023[1][2]. ### What does Staring Avatar Guy mean? The face reads as a flat, unblinking stare, so captions use him as a deadpan listener for a dumb punchline, as in "Bird Flu? Yeah they do that"[3]. ### How do you use Staring Avatar Guy? A common convention is to place a short question on top of the image and a one-line pun reply on the bottom, often leaning on homophones or literal readings of the question[3]. ### Is Staring Avatar Guy still popular? Peak activity was February and March 2023 on iFunny and Twitter, and the image is still recognized as a classic pun-caption template from that run[1]. ## References 1. [https://www.tiktok.com/@ienykid/video/7185928199799573806]() 2. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDAHFAA6b8s]() 3. [https://ifunny.co/picture/bird-flu-ey-do-ZMvN03pIA]() 4. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/staring-avatar-guy]() 5. [https://twitter.com/yallletmedownv4/status/1622606426957807616]() 6. [https://ifunny.co/picture/occultist-59-45-i-m-making-a-run-for-more-VgZMpIYFA]() 7. [https://www.tiktok.com/@quaritchsboxersmeller/video/7186479786292776238]() 8. [https://pruane2.tumblr.com/post/709291817944989696]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/staring-avatar-guy Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library