Even the Fastest Man Alive can't outrun meme culture.
Page for the collection of the Arrowverse fandom's memes.
Since almost any line a character says in a loud, memorable, or dramatic tone can go memetic, this is most definitely not a complete list. Also, some of these meme explanations may contain spoilers, as the 'verse has a tendency to rapidly generate new memes as episodes come out.
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General
- X is [insert villain here]. Explanation Arrowverse shows, especially The Flash, are fond of mystery villains whose identities are integral to the plot. For the ones that are particularly well hidden, a lot of crackpot theories are made and rationalized (see Zoom, Prometheus, and Savitar).
- "To do this, I must become someone else. I must become something else." Explanation From the opening narration of Arrow. Frequently snowcloned.
- "Wow. So, everyone but Laurel." Explanation The response for whenever a character who was killed off is brought back to life, since the writers have refused to bring Laurel back no matter how much fans complain. This later got reversed when Earth-2 got destroyed in Season Eight of Arrow, where everyone on Earth-2 died except for Laurel.
- [insert force]: I ain't gotta explain shit! Explanation This meme originated in The Flash regarding the Speed Force. It has since been expanded into other phenomenon such as Time Force from Legends of Tomorrow.
Arrow
- I was Ra's Al Ghul. Explanation Starting in Season 4 of Arrow, Malcom won't shut up about being the former Ra's.
- Ra's Al Tittyfucking Ghul. Explanation For a while, a redditor named OnBenchNow
did episode synopses for the Arrowverse shows, for humorous purposes. One of their more legendary synopses included this gem,◊ which became its own sub-meme.
- Dialogue hallway. Explanation This meme is less of a joke and more of an observation on how frequently characters in Arrow either insist that everyone else leave a room in order for a private conversation to happen or go out into the hallway themselves.
- I'm convinced. Explanation In the Invasion crossover, when Barry introduces Kara to the Earth 1 characters, Jax asks why she's called "'Super' girl." When Kara shows her ability to fly and etches her sigil into the concrete with her heat vision, everyone looks all amazed and Diggle says, "I'm convinced."
- I'm ten steps ahead of you and you haven't even figured out what game we're playing yet! Explanation Stated by Prometheus in Arrow and used by fans to describe twists and reveals employed by the writers.
- It's Cupid, stupid. Explanation Cupid has said this line. It's often mocked when she is discussed or appears.
- Did you get those compstat reports? Explanation After his identity as Prometheus is revealed, Chase still shows up to work as DA and tries to interact with Quentin and Rene on a normal professional level, while they're disgusted to even be in his presence. This is shown in a scene where Chase is trying have Rene get compstat reports to him. Predictably, they're openly hostile and threatening to him.
- "What? No! Ray! OLIBUR!" Explanation In a frequently mocked scene from season 3, Felicity, through tears of fear, says: "what? - no - Ray - Oliver!" Except, when she said "Oliver," it sounded like "Olibur."
- Shunovabitch. Explanation Paul Blackthorne tends to fuse the words 'son of a bitch,' which Quentin said a lot when he was crusading to bring the Arrow down.
- Eat a dick. You can eat one too.Explanation These two lines are frequently quoted tweets from Echo Kellum (who plays Curtis).
- Tom. C'mon. Explanation When a person made a jab at season 4 of Arrow on Stephen Amell's Facebook page, this was his response.
- I did X because I WANTED TO! AND I LIKED IT! Explanation Oliver loudly yells this at "Adrian Chase" after being tortured by him.
- Kid. Explanation This is what Slade calls Oliver.
- I keep my promises. Explanation Slade said this to Oliver several times in season 2.
- NANITES COURTESY OF RAY PALMER. THEY'RE DELIVERING A HIGH FREQUENCY PULSE THAT'S DISABLING YOUR SPEED. YOU'RE NOT GOING TO BE RUNNING AROUND FOR QUITE A WHILE.Explanation When Oliver helped Barry fight Eobard Thawne in season 1 of The Flash, Oliver shot Thawne with a arrow designed to prevent him from using his powers. When he did so, he unnecessarily explained what the arrow was and that Ray Palmer had invented it, leading to the creation of this copypasta. Also a frequent target for snowclones
- DON'T TALK TO HIM! DON'T EVEN LOOK AT HIM!!!Explanation In the season five finale, when Oliver manages to save his son from Chase, Chase tries to banter to William and Oliver yells at him to shut up.
- OLIVER QUEEN IS ALIVEExplanation In the season one intro sequence, a reporter cuts into Oliver's monologue to say "Oliver Queen is alive"... in every. Single. Episode. Inevitably, it became a copypasta.
- I ship SuperArrow. Explanation A crack pairing between Kara and Oliver that keeps getting brought up by fans who dislike the Oliver/Felicity pairing. Started to be used more when it was revealed that Kara's and Oliver's Earth-X counterparts are actually married.
- You have failed this omelette.Explanation A line from when Olicity was picking up speed, and earned flak for the cringeworthy romcom situation surrounding its conversation
- Still a better love story than Olicity. Explanation As Olicity became more and more controversial this meme was born, in vein of the famous "Still a better love story than Twilight" meme.
- This doesn’t change anything, hoss. Explanation A line said by Rene to Oliver during the widely derided schism arc of Arrow season 6 rife with Conflict Ball and Jerkass Ball.
- "This comment has made Felicity emotional." Explanation A sarcastic reply on social media regarding criticisms on Felicity using pictures of her crying in reference to her controversial characterization as overly emotional in Seasons 3 and 4
- "Obviously, this particular comment didn't age too well." Explanation A line from Diggle in "Emerald Archer" when watching himself give an interview where he says Oliver isn't the Hood and no type of hero. Almost immediately after it aired, the line quickly gained traction as a way to respond when someone makes a comment that, well, ages poorly.
- "Scimitar, another big DC universe character" Explanation Statement by Wendy Mericle, a writer for the show, despite there being no such character existing in DC comics.
- Barry Allen at the funeral Explanation Echo Kellem, who played Mister Terrific, posted three group pictures of the cast and crew surrounding Oliver Queen's tombstone on his Instragram. The third picture shows Barry's actor, Grant Gustin, holding a peace sign which eventually becomes a meme.
The Flash
- Angry helicopter noises. Explanation When the Reverse Flash appears, in addition to his theme music, and his vibrational effects, there are helicopter effects that also play, though it's unclear if they are something the other characters can hear or not.
- "Wow. So everyone but Iris." Explanation People were complaining in Season 1 that Barry told lots of people his secret identity. But for some contrived reason he leaves out the woman he cares most about. This is actually even said by Iris' boyfriend, Eddie.
- CALCIFIED SPEEDFORCE ENERGY Explanation When Barry tries to shot Savitar with the Speed Force canon, Savitar nullifies it by holding up a piece of stone that he claims is made of "calcified speed force energy."
- Fridgeposting. Explanation A redditor made a post jokingly arguing that the Reverse Flash was a refrigerator, and references to it still turn up.
- Everyone is Jay Garrick. Explanation As the mystery of who Zoom was began to develop, more and more references to characters being Jay Garrick in some way turned up. Zoom had introduced himself as Jay Garrick since the season 2 premiere, as he wanted to 'play the hero.' In one scene, he showed Caitlin his Earth 1 counterpart, an ordinary man sharing his own real name: Hunter Zolomon. In another scene, Barry's dad (Earth 1) mentioned that his mother's maiden name was Garrick. In yet another scene, Zoom tells Joe that if he revealed the identity of his unknown prisoner (known for wearing an anonymizing iron mask), he wouldn't believe him. As it turned out, the man in the mask was the Earth 3 Jay Garrick, who was the counterpart of Earth 1 Henry Allen (Barry 1's father). The Earth 2 Flash had in fact been Zoom himself all along. This (of course) inspired jokes.
- The Caitlin Curse. Explanation Ronnie Raymond died in the same episode as he married Caitlin. Grodd got punched into another universe after trying to be nicer to Caitlin than he was to the other members of Team Flash. Zoom started getting obsessed with Caitlin and ended up as a mindless speedster-eating monster Basically, if a character gets too close to Caitlin Snow, viewers get nervous.
- Booty Spivot. Explanation References to Patty Spivot's "booty" are frequent on the Arrowverse subreddits.
- Inter-dimensional council of Wells. Explanation When Harry Wells (of Earth 2) decides he wants to leave the team, they try to look for versions of Wells in other universes, leading fans to speculate the existence of an entire council of Harrison Wellses. This eventually became a reality in season 4.
- Some would say ____ is the reverse. Explanation When the Reverse Flash is "trapped" by the STAR Labs team inside a force field, Dr. Wells tell him that they designed a trap that could hold the Flash, who he is just like. He retorts: "I'm not like the Flash at all". Some would say I'm the reverse."
- Run, Barry, run! Explanation Frequently said by numerous characters, most notably Eobard Thawne.
- Who's the villain now!? Explanation Also said (rather dramatically) by Thawne in Season 3.
- You can't lock up the ___ Explanation In Season 2, villain Zoom makes the claim "You can't lock up the darkness," when the Flash attempts to incarcerate him. Frequently snowcloned.
- You CAN lock up the ___ Explanation Ironically, Zoom (now as Black Flash) does get locked up in Legends of Tomorrow, resulting in this reversal of the joke.
- For centuries. Explanation Eobard Thawne told Cisco: "to me, you've been dead for centuries." This is frequently combined with other memes, eg., "it's been unclear for centuries."
- A speed mirage, if you will. Explanation Another phrase from Thawne, when he explained to Cisco how he could be in two places at the same time, which is also combined with other memes.
- Barry fucking the timeline. Explanation Barry causing huge changes to the timeline via time travel - notably Flashpoint- was described as him fucking (as in fucking up) the timeline. Quickly evolved into describing Barry literally having sex with the Timeline.
- Unclear. Explanation At one point in the Flashpoint, that timeline's version of Caitlin asked Wally if she had just been kidnapped. (Barry had just used his speed to carry her without warning away from work and into STAR Labs... forgetting that Caitlin didn't know him at all.) Wally said simply that it was: "unclear."
- Emo Barry, the Saddest Man Alive. Explanation Fan Nickname for Barry of the Bad Future in "The Once and Future Flash", due to his weird hair that makes him look like an Emo Teen (resembling "Emo Peter" from Spider-Man 3) and excessive Wangst over Iris' death.
- Patty is Zoom. Explanation After many, many wild, crackpot theories about who Zoom really was, the fandom "settled" in the most absurd candidate possible and ran with it. Even after Zoom's true identity was revealed, people still bring this meme up as a joke.
- Earth-2 Lives Matter! Explanation Fans joke about how Team Flash seems to be fine with killing off or causing the deaths of Earth-2 metahumans sent by Zoom to attack Barry, when the team previously went out of their way to apprehend and lock up Earth-1 metas that attacked.
- Barry Allen really is the fastest man alive! Explanation People often mocked Barry Allen's claim of being the Fastest Man Alive when there have been several speedsters introduced as faster than him. Then it's revealed that the Season 3 Big Bad, Savitar, who is by far and away the fastest speedster to ever be introduced on the show, is actually a future version of Barry Allen. Meaning that Barry really wasn't lying about being the fastest man alive in the end.
- Drunk!Barry. Explanation The only universally liked part about the episode "Girls Night Out" was seeing Barry Allen get absolutely plastered for the first time since becoming the Flash, and quickly becoming a Fountain of Memes.
- "I'M THE FLAAAAAASH!" Explanation Drunk!Barry frequently made this proclamation in this fashion. Thankfully, he was so wasted that no one took him seriously.
- Chicken Wings. Explanation Drunk!Barry looked down for a moment. When Cisco asked why, he replied that nothing was wrong — he just loved chicken wings a lot.
- "Why didn't Rose make room for Jack on the door? There was plenty of room for both of them!" Explanation After Joe has a heartfelt talk with his future stepdaughter Joanie, Barry abruptly and rather emotionally asks this question, which is referencing the ending to Titanic (1997)
- You are not ___ . We are. Explanation In one particular episode in Season 4, Iris reminds Barry that he isn't alone and that he has his team, which makes it Team Flash. The line "You are not The Flash, Barry. We are." keeps getting mocked, as Barry literally is The Flash. It's not meant to be taken literally, but that doesn't stop it from sounding silly when taken out of context.
- This house is bitchin'.Explanation A phrase that Barry apparently kept writing in cryptic symbols, according to Cisco's deciphering algorithm. The line is brought up several times in the series to the point that it has become a Running Gag. Turns out, it was Barry's future daughter, Nora, who said it.
- RIP chinstrap. Explanation In regards to the new Flash suit lacking the chinstrap from the previous seasons.
- "Schway." Explanation Nora's use of Future Slang from Batman Beyond in her monologue rekindled its memetic status.
- After Ralph theorized that one world in his "manyverse" theory is a world where Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is never made, many viewers immediately commented on wanting to go there.
- Nora is Thawne. Explanation Due to Thawne claiming in Crisis on Earth-X that he could and would disguise himself as anyone, fans started claiming he's actually Nora.
- "My goals are beyond your understanding." Explanation When the Reverse Flash is temporarily captured in Season 1, he taunts the heroes with this. It is now used as a meme to justify questionable decisions.
Legends Of Tomorrow
- Did you know Kendra used to be a barista? Explanation For the amount of times Kendra mentioned she was a barista.
- Ray Palmer fuckup counter. Explanation For how many times Ray has messed up in Legends. Later snowcloned when Nate started taking that role in the plot.
- All women in history are lesbian. Explanation A joke deriving from Sara's repeated dalliances with numerous women throughout history, including Queen Anne of France and Queen Guinevere of the fabled Camelot.
- Haircut. Explanation What Mick calls Ray.
- Timeforce. Explanation Similar to how "Speedforce" is used to "explain" a lot of temporal nonsense.
- Gang-banging the timeline. Explanation In reference to the above Flash meme of "Barry fucking the timeline", the season 2 ending scene shows that the Legends have broken time to such an extent that it makes Flashpoint look downright plebian in comparison, leading to jokes that they...well, gang-banged the timeline.
- Beebo. Explanation The stuffed toy worshiped by the vikings as a god quickly became a hit on the Internet near instantly, with many making praises to Beebo and adopting "Beebo Day" as a replacement for Christmas.
- Hi X, I’m Dad! Explanation Damien Dahrk’s reaction to his daughter being annoyed by him is "Hi annoyed, I’m Dad!", which has spawned into various forms of the line.
