Comic book characters are definitely some of the most variable characters in pop culture. When the medium of comics first gained traction, it was seen as a bit of a juvenile affair. That mentality continued for decades until some of the characters and stories became too iconic to ignore. Some of our icons of popular culture come from icons; memes in the traditional sense.
But because comics spent so long thought of as nothing more that piffle, some of it actually is piffle. And with long standing characters like Batman, some times those poorer quality stories exist alongside the iconic ones. This makes comics a great place to find funny meme images. Even some characters themselves, from both the funny pages and the comic books, have become concepts.
Garfield
Garfield might not exactly be a comic book, but the strip has been published in many books over its history. And when it comes to meme characters, he’s easily the standout from the funny pages. Memes of Garfield usually take an ironic twist. This includes “I’m sorry Jon,” pictured above, high reimagines the strip as a cosmic horror, such as the above pic by William Burke.
Garfield definitely has a heavily ironic meme presence. But before the cynical internet, Garfield memes were more benign. The character’s indulgence in cliche sayings like “I hate Mondays” likely meant he always owed something to meme culture. The fat lazy cat is just a recognizable piece of pop culture; a true meme.
Deadpool
Deadpool’s meme status is probably the character’s most controversial. When the character originally appeared as a villain of the X-Men, he was simply a copy of a DC character with a similar name. But he has picked up plenty of side catchphrases and goofy habits since then. And that has made him Marvel’s biggest go to for comic relief.
Some are upset about this direction for Deadpool, which is a somewhat unpopular opinion. They found him funny but dislike his over-saturation. The character is often associated with memes nowadays, with Marvel inserting him into whatever image is popular. But he has memes of his own, like his obsession with chimichangas.
The Joker
The Joker is one of the most popular villains in comics. Plenty of fans in real life even emulate his worldview. This has made the character and his worldview ripe for meme mockery. In particular, “we live in a society” is a big key phrase.
But as the character is so old, there’s tons of Joker content with different vibes. The panels above see Joker talking about his boner, which has become a classic out of context panel. In general, older Joker memes tend to be goofy but modern Joker memes are edgy. But both give the iconic clown lots of baggage.
Doctor Doom
Doctor Doom is probably the biggest Marvel character to not have an MCU portrayal. But audiences still know a few facts about Doctor Doom. And that’s due to his massive status in memes. Doom’s hamminess and over the top nature made him a perfect fit for them.
Doom’s burning hatred of Mr. Fantastic has become a meme when he yells “Richaaards!” He iconic cackles and robot duplicates have become go to reference for comic fans. He even played an important role in the meme status of fellow Marvel Meme Squirrel Girl. But perhaps everyone’s favorite is the panel where he toots as he pleases.
Reverse Flash
The Flash has tons of iconic villains, but his arch-enemy will definitely always be the Reverse Flash. This Flash from the future has been a major enemy for Barry for decades. He’s got powers over time in addition to Flash’s standard speed. But his biggest character trait is definitely how petty he is.
Eobard Thawne has violated the time stream to humiliate Barry at every single place he can. The lengths he will go to hurt Barry definitely extended to petty things like tripping him. This has caused Reverse-Flash to meme extensively, both the CW and comic versions. His most popular meme is definitely “It was me, Barry!”
Ethan
Ctrl+Alt+Del is a webcomic of mild popularity from the mid 2000’s. While it did get its own published collection, it never hit the same highs of other webcomics like Penny Arcade and Homestuck. But this mediocrity is precisely why the comic became memes. Protagonist Ethan became the central meme around somewhat entitled jokes about gamer attitudes and culture.
The comics were standard fare for the archetype. Some of the dialogue has aged so poorly that it unedited can be a joke. But the comic’s most enduring meme is the strip Loss, where Ethan finds out his wife has had a miscarriage. The dramatic turn falls flat, as the comic is structured like it’s building for a punchline. Re-creating the comic has become a very popular meme format.
Moon Knight
Moon Knight is seeing a resurgence with his upcoming new show. But the hero with the shattered psyche has been a meme icon for long before that. This is due to the character’s sheer bizarre nature. His odd adventures makes panels almost indistinguishable from edits, like seen above.
But Marc Spector’s bizarre adventures include all kinds of shenanigans. The character’s fractured psyche means he’s often doubting himself and his allies. Despite his mysterious aura he’s often quipping non-sequitur. Sometimes these are edits, but sometime he really is taunting The Punisher about his dead family.
Aquaman
For a very long time, Aquaman was one of the least popular members of the DC family. This is probably due to his somewhat infamous portrayal on Superfriends, which poisoned the character for years. Now that the character has a film, he seems to be better understood by the mainstream. But before then it was up to memes to show people how cool Aquaman could be.
Aquaman’s mastery over fish and water could actually be quite effect. All life contains water and is descended from fish after all. These memes would usually show Aquaman in the midst of using these powers in an epic splash page (no pun intended). It’s unknown how effective these memes were in increasing the character’s appeal, but he definitely is more beloved now.
Sauron
Despite having the same name as the villain from Lord of the Rings, Sauron is a mad scientist from Marvel. He’s a lower tier villain who occasionally butts heads with the X-Men. Despite looking like an pterodactyl, he’s actually an energy vampire. He’s a rather obscure character, so if one has heard of him, it’s through his memes.
Sauron’s best known appearance is from his appearance in Spider-Man and the X-Men #2. In it,he attempts to transform people into dinosaur minions. Spider-Man points out he could use that technology for good, and he simply retorts that he wants to turn people into dinosaurs. The line became an instant hit, perfectly highlighting what makes a good mad scientist in a comic book.
Snowflame
All the other characters on this list exist outside of memes to at least some extent. Even Sauron is still an X-Man villain even if he’s most famous for his meme quote. But Snowflame is a character who only really ever became known for memes. This supervillain is one of DC’s most audacious characters ever created.
Snowflame was a Colombian drug lord faced by the New Guardians in the 1980’s. And because subtlety was not consulted, he gained his powers from snorting cocaine. In order to gain incredible super strength, speed, and fire abilities he had to constantly be snorting white powder. The character remained obscure for decades until online comic fans brought him back into the spotlight, which even earned him an appearance in modern Marvel comics.
