Tell Me, Do You Bleed?

2015catchphraseclassic

Published September 30, 2026

In April 2015, Warner Bros. dropped a teaser trailer for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice featuring Ben Affleck's Batman growling the line "Tell me, do you bleed?" at Henry Cavill's Superman. Within days the rhetorical taunt was turned into comics, joke images and 4chan shitposts, becoming one of the most quoted lines from the film's marketing.

movie quote memesdc comics memescatchphrase memessnowclone memesdialogue edit memes

Overview

"Tell Me, Do You Bleed?" is a line delivered by Ben Affleck's Batman to Henry Cavill's Superman in the first teaser trailer for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, where the masked vigilante confronts the alien and follows up with the promise, "You will"1. The quote turned into a catchphrase within days, mostly because the growled delivery paired with the armored Batsuit made the taunt feel absurdly heavy for a rhetorical question2.

The format is simple: pair a menacing Batman image, usually the shot from the teaser, with the "Do you bleed?" line, then swap Superman for a different target and answer the question with a punchline. Early jokes ran the gag through Wonder Woman, Scarlett Johansson and other characters whose answer to the question was some flavor of "yes, monthly"34. Wholesome flips also appeared, like a comic of Batman offering Superman a band-aid after asking if he bleeds2.

Origin & Background

Platform
YouTube (teaser trailer) / Facebook and Reddit (viral spread)
Date
2015

Warner Bros. Pictures released the teaser trailer for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice on April 16th, 2015, with the "Do you bleed?" line landing near the end as Batman squares up to Superman1. The film itself was directed by Zack Snyder; the meme was not authored by any single person but spun out of the trailer's viral reception among comic fans on Facebook and Reddit within twenty-four hours3.

The earliest widely shared joke came from the Brazilian Facebook page Cantinho do Caio the same day, posting a comic where Batman asks Wonder Woman if she bleeds and she flatly answers, "Sure. Five days a month"3. The comic was reposted by Redditor future_room to r/funny the next day, giving the format its first big cross-platform bump3.

How It Spread

The Cantinho do Caio Wonder Woman comic pulled over 670 likes on Facebook, and future_room's r/funny repost hit more than 4,400 votes with a 91% upvote ratio over the following months3. On April 17th, 2015, a Facebook fan page called "Tell me, Do You Bleed? You Will" was launched, giving the quote a dedicated hub1.

On April 20th, Pixar story artist Bobby Rubio tweeted an illustration of Batman offering Superman a band-aid while asking the line, softening the taunt into a joke about first aid2. Two days later, Imgur user CosmicForward reposted Rubio's drawing to the site's front page channel1. On April 24th, 4chan got in on the format with a thread pairing Batman's "Do you bleed?" with a photo of Scarlett Johansson captioned "Once a month", a screenshot of which was cross-posted to r/4chan where the top comment simply called it a "shitpost"4.

How to Use This Meme

The template typically pairs the Batman "Do you bleed?" screenshot or line with a target character whose answer to the question flips it into a period joke, a wound gag or a wholesome subversion. Common convention is a two-panel setup: Batman's threat on top, an unexpected literal or deadpan answer on the bottom.

Frequently Asked Questions