History Main / PassthePopcorn

* During the [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar First Battle of Bull Run/Manassas]], a number of people from the nearby towns brought picnic baskets to watch the battle. They started running once the Union soldiers ran right into them trying to escape the pursuing Confederates.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fortnite}}'' has the "Jumbo Popcorn" emote where the player will spawn a giant tub of popcorn and start eating it until they move.

* One of the most [[MemeticMutation memetic]] uses of this is in the music video of Music/MichaelJackson's "Music/{{Thriller}}". In the movie theatre, Michael is happily munching away at popcorn while his girlfriend is freaking out at the horror film they are watching.

* In an ad for Advertising/{{Progressive}} Insurance, the two guys from the competition break into the Progressive Store ''Film/MissionImpossible'' style to steal the Progressive Price Gun. Flo and her sidekick are watching all this on security cameras while eating snacks. The sidekick wonders if they should call the police while Flo says "Nah, this is just getting good."
* The UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague released an SuperBowlSpecial spot celebrating 100 years of the League's existence. It featured a dignified celebration interrupted by a football cake topper coming loose and a mad Pavlovian reaction from the current and retired players at the sight. Cue a [[BallroomBlitz crazed and messy pickup game]] among all the players...except the table with the surviving 1972 Dolphins (the only undefeated team of the Super bowl era). The old men just sip their champagne and laugh at all the craziness.

* In ''Doomquest'' (an ComicBook/IronMan / ComicBook/DoctorDoom crossover) ComicBook/{{Mephisto}} forces Iron Man to fight a demonic version of his father. He magically summons some popcorn to enjoy while watching but discards it because he forgot the butter.
* In Creator/JohnByrne's ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'''s run, a weakened ComicBook/{{Galactus}} lands in New York and attempts to eat the Earth's lifeforce. The FF, ComicBook/TheAvengers, and ComicBook/DoctorStrange join forces against him. Franchise/SpiderMan is about to join the fray when ComicBook/{{Daredevil}} stops him, saying the two of them would only get in the way. Spider-Man accepts this but says that he wishes he had some popcorn.
* In ''[[Franchise/{{Batman}} Gotham Knights]]'' #9, Dick Grayson and Tim Drake (ComicBook/{{Nightwing}} and ComicBook/{{Robin|Series}}, respectively) have this conversation. A later panel shows that they actually followed through on it.

* In the ''JLA vs. the Crime Syndicate of Amerika'' arc of ''[[Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica JLA]]'', the Justice League's [[ThePsychoRangers evil counterparts]] from a MirrorUniverse (the Crime Syndicate of Amerika) end up in the "good" universe while the Justice League takes on the Void Hound, a mechanical creature easily capable of destroying planets. True to form, instead of helping out, they relax in comfortable chairs provided by the Power Ring (the alternate universe's Green Lantern) and eat popcorn... also provided by the Power Ring. As he says, "It's kind of tasteless, but hey, it's lo-cal."
* ''ComicBook/MarvelAdventures - Avengers'': After meeting superheroes for the first time, ComicBook/{{Loki}} turns an ordinary crook into the Wrecker just to see what happens when a different sort of mortal is given powers. He spends the rest of the issue enjoying the show, complete with a tub of popcorn as the Wrecker tussles with Spider-Man.

* In the ''ComicBook/OriginalSin'' tie-in for ''ComicBook/LokiAgentOfAsgard'' (''Thor & Loki: The Tenth Realm'') [[spoiler:Old Loki]] [[VillainBall can't help themself]] but meddle to see a fight between [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]] and ComicBook/{{Angela|AsgardsAssassin}}. They even pause the scrying spell to conjure up popcorn for the occasion.
* ''Siege: Storming Asgard'', a lead-up profile special for [[ComicBook/{{Siege}} the Marvel event]], mentions a potential battle between ComicBook/{{Ares|Marvel}} (of the ComicBook/DarkAvengers) and Tyr (Asgardian war god). The note from the compiler of the profiles? "Check on our stocks of popcorn in case this happens."

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':
** ''ComicBook/SupermanFamilyAdventures'': In issue #2, ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} and the Franchise/TeenTitans eat popcorn while they watch Superman fighting Bizarro.

* {{Invoked|Trope}} in ''ComicBook/YoungJustice'' #7: During a meeting of YJ's parents and guardians, Arrowette's mom starts a fight with [[ComicBook/WonderGirl Wonder Girl's]], and [[ComicBook/{{Superboy}} Dubbilex]] asks [[Franchise/TheFlash Max Mercury]] if they shouldn't be doing something.

* One ''ThimbleTheater'' sunday strip has Franchise/{{Popeye}} get into a DinerBrawl with someone else at Roughhouse's Cafe. Rather than call the cops, Roughhouse begins charging people admission to watch the fight.

* In ''[[Fanfic/SkyholdAcademyYearbook Love is a Mystery]]'', the chapter "Masked Skyhold" features a singing competition inspired by ''Series/TheMaskedSinger''. Since [[VideoGame/DragonAgeII Varric]] is at home in Kirkwall, he's participating as a panelist via livestream, and at one point complains that he's out of popcorn and asks Cullen to pass him some. They've engineered a clever visual prank that makes it look like Cullen is handing a bowl of popcorn to Varric through the ''internet''; no one is fooled, of course, but they're all very entertained.
* In ''Fanfic/MaulingSnarks'', a ''Literature/{{Worm}}'' fanfic, Contessa likes appearing with popcorn at places that will have something enternaining happening soon, such as Taylor beating seasoned heroes to set an all-time record in a sword-fighting obstacle course, gang members being taken down with demonic duck speakers, and [[BreadEggsMilkSquick Slaughterhouse Nine tearing apart the Council of the Teeth]].

** Plankton [[CasualDangerDialogue eating popcorn in a beach lounge while Krabs is about to get fried]] during ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongeBobSquarePantsMovie.''
** In ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongeBobMovieSpongeOutOfWater'', as [=SpongeBob=] and his friends chase Burger Beard down the street, the seagulls watch them go while eating popcorn. While this happens, one seagull yells to Burger Beard, "That's what you get!"

* Creator/JonStewart occasionally did this during his time on ''Series/TheDailyShow'', when the news got really interesting. This is usually followed with Jon hilariously saying "Go oooooooooon!" before cutting a follow-up clip of whatever the story was about. Sometimes he'll also do a SpitTake.

* ''Series/{{The Sandman|2022}}'', "[[Recap/TheSandman2022S01E05247 24/7]]": As the diner descends into chaos from the effect of the magical artifact John brought in, John calmly wanders into the kitchen and raids the freezer for a tub of icecream, which he eats out of as he watches the chaos unfold.

* In ''Webcomic/HelpDesk'', when [[https://www.ubersoft.net/comic/hd/2011/12/gauntlet-thrown Mark Zuckerberg challenges]] the Dark Lord of [=PayPal=] to a duel for a spot in Cabal of Evil Visionaries that Rule the Computer Industry, Steve says, "I'll just go make some popcorn, shall I?"

** See also [[http://www.ma3comic.com/strips-ma3/soaps_in_brazil Senna listening to Gary's story while eating chips.]]

** And when [=DiDi=] and Maura end up fighting for Lynn’s favors, Lynn is very happy to sit and watch. (A little heartlessly, but hey, she didn’t make them do this.) Then the hotel room service waitress shows up with the meal Lynn had ordered — and [[http://www.ma3comic.com/strips-ma3/room-service she and Lynn end up sitting side by side, sharing the food and the show.]]

* ''Webcomic/{{Weregeek}}'': Abbie [[http://www.weregeek.com/2007/03/02/ breaks out the popcorn]] when Joel and Dustin get into an argument.

** An [[https://www.reactiongifs.us/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/popcorn_the_joker.gif animated GIF]] of ComicBook/TheJoker from ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' is often used too. It's from "The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne", where Hugo Strange is auctioning the secret of Batman's identity (on videotape) to Joker, Two-Face, and Penguin. There's a similar one from ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague''.

* During ''Creator/CleolindaJones''' recap of ''[[Literature/{{Twilight}} Breaking Dawn]]'' when they near the part where Bella realizes that Jacob has imprinted on her infant daughter:

* In Website/ThatGuyWithTheGlasses-related shows:

* The Titans East manage to produce some hammerspace popcorn for Control Freak's rant in ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans''. In a later episode, Kid Flash eats a hoagie and a bag of potato chips (which he stole from Mammoth) while watching the Hive Five argue with each other. What makes it even better is that Kid Flash was ''in a cage'' at the time. While the Hive Five were arguing, he ran out of the cage to get the hoagie, and ''then got back into the cage'' so that he could watch the argument. And then did it ''again'' to get the bag of chips.

* ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'':

* During the height of the Rod Blagojevich hoopla in 2008-09,[[note]]Rod Blagojevich, then governor of the state of Illinois, was caught being almost parodically corrupt. Long story short, when UsefulNotes/BarackObama was elected President he was a sitting US Senator from Illinois with two years left to serve out his term; Obama, therefore, had to resign from the Senate, leaving his seat vacant with two years to go before the next scheduled election. Under US and Illinois law, the Governor of Illinois is supposed to appoint the new Senator when one of Illinois' Senate seats becomes vacant between elections. Blagojevich, already under suspicion for corruption, was caught trying to sell the seat to the highest bidder, and despite audio recordings of phone calls of him practically spelling out "I'm selling this Senate seat, how much will you give me?", he persistently denied any wrongdoing.[[/note]] both Creator/AndersonCooper and [[Series/TheRachelMaddowShow Rachel Maddow]] broke out the popcorn on their respective shows [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnhFiGWcYlo while airing clips]] of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aR3RMtxrFdw a press conference]].

* During the chaotic [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Speaker_of_the_United_States_House_of_Representatives_election 2023 US Speaker of the House election]] where infighting among the incoming Republican majority led to the expected Speaker Kevin [=McCarthy=] repeatedly failing to gather enough votes for '''''14 times''''' (the first time multiple ballots for Speaker had to be drawn ''[[https://history.house.gov/Historical-Highlights/1851-1900/The-longest-and-most-contentious-Speaker-election-in-its-history/ since 1855]]''), the Democrats - who given the extreme tension between parties at the time - naturally basked in the pure schadenfreude of the chaos across the aisle and relished the opportunity to mock their political opponents, chosing to simply sit back and invoke this trope. Many members took to making posts on social media about popcorn in relation to the election, such as [[https://twitter.com/tedlieu/status/1610316616679530497 this one]] from Democratic Congressman Ted Lieu.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperMarioBrosMovie'': While Donkey Kong is beating up Mario, who is attempting to beat him so that he, Peach, and Toad can use the Kongs and their karts to defeat Bowser, Cranky Kong picks up a banana and is smiling. This is in comparison to Peach and Toad, who are horrified by Donkey Kong's actions.

* The UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague released an SuperBowlSpecial spot celebrating 100 years of the League's existence. It featured a dignified celebration interrupted by a football cake topper coming loose and a mad Pavlovian reaction from the current and retired players at the sight. Queue a [[BallroomBlitz crazed and messy pickup game]] among all the players...except the table with the surviving 1972 Dolphins (the only undefeated team of the Super bowl era). The old men just sip their champagne and laugh at all the craziness.

** In "[[Recap/JusticeLeagueS1E8And9InjusticeForAll Injustice for All, Pt. 2]]", the Joker brings out a TV that is showing surveillance of the Justice League headquarters in space, which is where Lex Luthor's hired supervillains planted a bomb in to kill off Batman's friends. He places the TV right in front of Batman, who is being held prisoner.

* ''Film/{{SWAT}}'' (2003): TJ quite literally when Boxer and Street argue about Boxer's sister.

* Music/AesopRock's "Gun for the Whole Family" makes frequent reference to simply sitting back idly while two sides of a conflict kill each other. Exactly how big those two sides vary from verse to verse, but frequent references are made to viewing the whole spectacle, rooting for neither side in particular and, yes, doing so while eating popcorn. A small excerpt:

with a couple Milk Duds and buckets of popcorn.''

* During the climactic battle near the end of the first half of ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}} Revolution'', Xellos can be seen on the sidelines eating popcorn.

* Just before the FinalBattle of the massive ''LightNovel/Overlord2012'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13152722/209/God-Rising-The-Cult-of-Ainz God Rising: The Cult of Ainz]]'', Ainz and the Guardians (save for Shalltear, who is one of the field generals) gather in Ainz's chambers to watch via the Mirror of Remote Viewing as [[TheChosenOne Neia]] leads the combined armies of Ainz's followers and allies against the Theocracy's last remaining forces in Kami Miyako. To mark the occasion, Ainz insists on his minions having popcorn as they watch, which they treat as a "delicacy" of the Supreme Beings.

* The ''[[Manga/RanmaOneHalf Ranma]]'' story ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3733763/7/The-Silent-Horse The Silent Horse]]'' has Ranma's duel with Kunō interrupted by Ryōga who is showing up late for his own duel. Ryōga and Kunō proceed to argue, then fight, over the right to fight Ranma. Akane asks if they forgot who they were actually there to fight, only to be interrupted by Ranma offering some Pocky and watching the fight.

* ''Webcomic/SailorRanko'': [[http://sailorranko.com/comic/chapter-11-cover Youmas]] (demons from ''Anime/SailorMoon'') [[http://sailorranko.com/comic/chapter-11-page-15 watching]] Akane beat [[Manga/Ranma12 Ranma]]. [[RuleOfFunny Even though they don't eat human food.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', in "Jared has Aides", Cartman covers for {{Butt|Monkey}}ers (who was grounded but was forced to leave the house) and while they're answering regular phone calls from Butters' parents (being able to convincingly imitate Butters), proceeding to insult Butters' parents. Eventually Butters returns just in time and Cartman leaves. After that he sets up a lawn chair and grabs a drink and some popcorn and sits on the front lawn as Butter's parents get home and storm in, so he can listen to them giving Butters a royal beatdown. [[BreadEggsMilkSquick And remarks that if he were older,]] [[ADateWithRosiePalms he would "totally start jacking off right now."]]

* During the chaotic 2023 US Speaker of the House election where infighting among the incoming Republican majority led to the expected Speeker Kevin [=McCarthy=] repeatedly failing to gather enough votes (the first time multiple ballots for Speaker had to be drawn in a ''century'') the Democrats who given the extreme tension between parties at the time naturally basked in the pure schadenfreude of the chaos across the aisle and relished the opportunity to mock their political opponents chose to simply sit back and invoke this trope with many members making posts to social media about popcorn in relation to the election such [[https://twitter.com/tedlieu/status/1610316616679530497/photo/1 this one]] from Representative Ted Lieu.

* During the chaotic 2023 US Speaker of the House election where infighting among the incoming Republican majority led to the expected Speeker Kevin [=McCarthy=] repeatedly failing to gather enough votes (the first time multiple ballots for Speaker had to be drawn in a ''century'') the Democrats who given the extreme tension between parties at the time naturally relished the chaos across the isle and the opportunity to mock their political opponents chose to simply sit back and invoke this trope with many members making posts to social media about popcorn in relation to the election such [[https://twitter.com/tedlieu/status/1610316616679530497/photo/1 this one]] from Representative Ted Lieu.

* During the chaotic 2023 US Speaker of the House election where Republican frontrunner Kevin [=McCarthy=] was not elected in the first ballot (the first time multiple ballots for Speaker had to be drawn in ''over a century'') due to [[WeAreStrugglingTogether interference from his own party]], Democratic Representative Ted Lieu made a post on Twitter of him "going to the House floor." The picture, naturally, [[https://twitter.com/tedlieu/status/1610316616679530497/photo/1 involved him holding a bag of popcorn.]]

* Gargamel eats popcorn while he watches the Smurfs plan a coup against Papa Smurf through his crystal ball in ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs2021'' episode "The Smurfs Show".

* Devil Smurf in ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'' episode "It's a Smurfy Life" is seen eating popcorn after watching Angel Smurf reveal to Handy what life in the Smurf Village would be like if he never existed.

* There's a moment of this at the end of the ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'' tale, [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/duke-till-dawn Duke Till Dawn.]]