The Rock Driving — Three-panel Rock Driving meme with The Rock asking about plans and receiving a shocking answer from the passenger.

The Rock Driving

2009image macroclassic

Published October 1, 2026

The Rock Driving is a multi-pane exploitable comic built from screen captures of Dwayne Johnson's 2009 family film Race to Witch Mountain, where his character turns to face a passenger with a startled expression. The format began on a Newgrounds thread in July 2009 and spread across forums, 4chan and Quickmeme, becoming one of the earliest widely remixed three-panel reaction comics on the web.

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Overview

The Rock Driving is a three-panel comic template cut from a cab scene in Race to Witch Mountain in which Jack Bruno, played by Dwayne Johnson, notices the two kids who have snuck into his back seat1. The first panel shows Jack asking a question, the second shows the passenger's reply, and the third shows Johnson's wide-eyed, head-whipped reaction. Users swap the dialogue in panels one and two so the third panel reads as a punchline shock take.

The appeal comes from the extreme physicality of that final frame. Johnson's exaggerated expression works for almost any absurd twist, so edits ranged from topical political jokes to video game in-jokes to NSFW gags3. Captions were added directly over the panels in classic image-macro Impact font, and later versions used Spanish, Portuguese and other translations as the format spread internationally5.

Alongside the standard three-panel layout, remixers also produced extended versions with more panels or substituted the back-seat character to fit niche jokes, such as the World of Warcraft Cataclysm riff on MMO Champion in 20104.

Origin & Background

Platform
Newgrounds Forum / Quickmeme (viral spread)
Creator
MetalStar
Date
2009

On July 29th, 2009, Newgrounds Forum user MetalStar started a thread with a blank three-panel template cut from Race to Witch Mountain, inviting other members to Photoshop their own captions over the stills1. The thread grew to more than 690 replies across the following ten months and became the earliest documented hub for the format3.

The source footage comes from the taxi scene in which Dwayne Johnson's character Jack Bruno realizes two children have climbed into the back of his cab, the specific head-turn reaction that defines the meme's third panel3. While Johnson stars in the film, the comic format itself was assembled by Newgrounds users; Johnson and the studio behind the film did not create the meme.

How It Spread

Within two days of the original Newgrounds post, member TheJamoke complained in the same thread that the exploitable was already being reposted on 4chan's /b/ board, pointing to an early jump off Newgrounds6. On August 23rd, 2009, BodyBuildingForums user Razicator opened a thread collecting several of the comics for the forum's audience5. The format kept circulating on gaming forums into the next year, with MMO Champion user nightnox posting a World of Warcraft Cataclysm version on October 16th, 20104.

The meme hit its widest reach once it moved onto image-macro generator sites. A dedicated page titled The Rock Driving was created on Quickmeme on May 31st, 2011, and gathered over 41,000 user-submitted versions over the next three years7. On June 29th, 2011, pop-culture blog Coed published a gallery rounding up 25 of the funniest Rock Driving edits, giving the format mainstream blog coverage2.

Later activity included an NSFW crossover post by Redditor relevant_rule34 to r/rule34 on May 15th, 2012, which pulled over 930 upvotes before archiving8, and a Spanish-language Facebook page called The Rock Driving Meme launched on November 14th, 2012 that curated translated versions of the comic3.

Timeline

2009-07-29

Newgrounds user MetalStar posts the original blank three-panel template cut from Race to Witch Mountain[1].

2009-07-31

A Newgrounds reply notes the exploitable is already being reposted on 4chan's /b/ board[6].

2009-08-23

BodyBuildingForums user Razicator shares a collection of the comics with the forum[5].

2010-10-16

MMO Champion user nightnox posts a World of Warcraft Cataclysm edit[4].

2011-05-31

A dedicated The Rock Driving page launches on Quickmeme, eventually hosting over 41,000 submissions[7].

2011-06-29

Coed publishes a gallery of 25 standout Rock Driving comics[2].

2012-05-15

Redditor relevant_rule34 posts an NSFW version to r/rule34, which clears 930 upvotes[8].

2012-11-14

A Spanish-language Facebook page, The Rock Driving Meme, is launched to curate translated edits[3].

Frequently Asked Questions