Visualizing In the Mirror the Man I Want to Become — Man looking in oval mirror with Shrek shown as his reflection, captioned 'visualising in the mirror he man

Visualizing In the Mirror the Man I Want to Become

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Published October 25, 2026

Visualizing In the Mirror the Man I Want to Become is an exploitable image macro taken from the 1975 Spider-Man concept album cover showing Peter Parker staring at Spider-Man in a mirror. Starting in May 2023, Facebook pages began replacing Spider-Man with other characters, and by June 2023 versions featuring Shadow the Hedgehog and Dragon Ball cast members had collected hundreds of thousands of likes across Instagram and Facebook.

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Overview

Each edit keeps the composition of Peter Parker viewed from behind, hands clasped at his back, facing the mirror, but replaces the Spider-Man reflection with whatever aspirational or absurd figure the poster wants to project2. The caption "Visualising in the mirror the man I want to become" stays locked in place, letting the humor sit in the gap between a quiet onlooker and an exaggerated self-image.

Posts work best when the character in the mirror reads as either an impossibly cool aspiration or a comedic failure of self-awareness. Common choices include anime figures like Musashi Miyamoto from Vagabond6 and animated characters like Peter Griffin8.

Facebook meme pages drove most of the engagement for Visualizing In the Mirror the Man I Want to Become, especially pages aimed at Filipino audiences, where influencer edits and anime references each collected tens of thousands of reactions7.

Origin & Background

Platform
Facebook (origin) / Instagram (viral spread)
Creator
Refined Claymore +10
Date
2023

On March 17, 1975, the rock concept album Spider-Man: Rock Reflections of a Superhero was released, featuring cover artwork of Peter Parker viewed from behind looking into a mirror that reflects Spider-Man1. Nearly five decades later, on May 3, 2023, the Facebook page Refined Claymore +10 posted a Bloodborne edit of the cover, replacing the Spider-Man reflection with a hunter from the FromSoftware game2.

That Bloodborne post is the earliest known meme use of the artwork, collecting over 960 shares and 3,500 reactions in the following month3.

How It Spread

A day later, Instagram user ilcirox posted a version with Shrek in the mirror on May 4, earning over 600 likes within a month4. On May 6, a /r/DevilMayCry post titled "I think I am him" took the setup to Reddit and received more than 1,500 upvotes5. Three days after that, the Facebook page A Lonely Guy With Good Taste In Pretty Much Everything shared an edit featuring Musashi Miyamoto from Vagabond, collecting over 7,900 shares and 24,000 reactions6.

On May 13, two Facebook pages posted viral versions of Visualizing In the Mirror the Man I Want to Become on the same day. Filipino My Swag Dealer placed influencer Romeo Gulla in the mirror and received over 9,300 shares and 25,000 reactions7, while You already know wtf is going on put pimp Peter Griffin in the frame and collected 5,100 shares and 6,300 reactions8. On May 26, Hey It's Me Goku posted a Dragon Ball version that earned 7,200 shares and 17,000 reactions9.

The meme reached its biggest single-post numbers on Instagram, where user epicjoko posted a Shadow the Hedgehog edit on June 18 that collected over 119,000 likes in ten days10.

Timeline

1975-03-17

Lifesong Records releases Spider-Man: Rock Reflections of a Superhero, with cover art of Peter Parker facing Spider-Man in a mirror[1].

2023-05-03

Facebook page Refined Claymore +10 posts a Bloodborne edit of the album cover, the earliest known meme use[2].

2023-05-04

Instagram user ilcirox posts a Shrek-in-the-mirror version[4].

2023-05-06

A Reddit post on /r/DevilMayCry titled "I think I am him" takes the format to the subreddit[5].

2023-05-09

A Lonely Guy With Good Taste In Pretty Much Everything shares a Vagabond edit featuring Musashi Miyamoto[6].

2023-05-13

Filipino My Swag Dealer posts a Romeo Gulla edit[7]; You already know wtf is going on posts a pimp Peter Griffin edit the same day[8].

2023-05-26

Hey It's Me Goku posts a Dragon Ball version that collects over 17,000 reactions[9].

2023-06-18

Instagram user epicjoko posts a Shadow the Hedgehog edit that earns over 119,000 likes in ten days[10].

Frequently Asked Questions